Humminbird 385ci loses bottom randomly, then recovers

[genEus]

Just installed, and the FF works great at trolling speeds and at high speeds, without losing bottom or showing noise, etc. However all of a sudden it will show garbage on the screen, like 0.6ft depth and lots of noise on the screen, for about 30 seconds, and then goes back to normal. This happened twice yesterday while trolling at 3mph in 100ft of water.

I know lots of people complain about losing bottom at high speeds. I don't have that problem, though...

Anyone have any ideas??

Thanks!

[Thun]

I had the Lower Range on my unit set to 60 feet so when I went deeper than 60' the bottom disappeared and the graph registered the difference only in depth. In other words , when I was in 61' feet of water, the graph showed I was in 1' of water with the Lower Range set to 60'. If your units Lower Range is set at 100', maybe you were in 100.6' of water when it only showed 0.6? Not sue if that's what's going on with your unit but it might be worth checking out.

[genEus]

Interesting, but I doubt it. I trolled from 40 to 140 FOW and this issue occurred in both deep water and shallow water. I was actually stopped at one point, while my dad was reeling in a fish, and I noticed the FF went "nuts" for about 30 seconds, then went back to normal. Someone at another forum suggested it could be caused by another electrical device turning on at the same time, causing interference. It could be my bilge pump I suppose; I'll have to check it out I'm on the lake.

[Hooked on Kings]

Had the same problem with my bird when i first installed it on my boat, even took it back for a replacement, only to have the second unit do the same thing. Then bass pro told me it was interference and to wire direct to the battery, that solved the problem, it's been working great since.

[genEus]

Had the same problem with my bird when i first installed it on my boat, even took it back for a replacement, only to have the second unit do the same thing. Then bass pro told me it was interference and to wire direct to the battery, that solved the problem, it's been working great since.

 

This jives with what the other poster said. That sounds awesome (even if it's a pain in the rear to have to wire directly). 

[Sk8man]

I think that will correct the problem...a lot of time the shielding on the wire is too thin or broken or absent in some cases and could be either the depth finder or other proximal wires creating the interference.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Sk8man

[jimmy]

we downloaded the latest revisions from the humminbird sight and i turned off the surface clutter . I would say the surface clutter was the issue because i no longer have the problem . I tried turning it back on and immediatly lose the depth so i know that took care of it. lets hope it helps others.