Fish Hawk transducer location

[Frogger]

I did the switcheroo last night with my head unit and probe. Family member has the same unit as mine(X4D). At first, the probe would not work correctly with his 'ducer and head unit. We thought the probe was bad, so we pulled it out of the water and took the batteries out of it and let it sit while we put down his probe and tried my head unit to test it. It worked, but the numbers were way off, so we did a factory default reset on the head unit. All was good after that, so we assumed the head unit was good. We decided to try my probe again with my head unit. IT WORKED! We all were totally blown away. My probe, his 'ducer and my head unit worked. We put his head unit back on just to test my probe to make sure it wasn't a fluke. That combo worked too. So, at this point I am looking hard at the 'ducer. Today, I am going to try and adjust the angle of my 'ducer back to parallel with the water surface. I tipped it up thinking the blowback was making the transmission spotty. FH told me the element in the 'ducer is built with 10 degrees into it to allow for blowback and to mount it flat. Why the probe would not work correctly(numbers were way off and some missing) at first is totally confusing, but we had it working after I pulled all the batteries and let it set for a while. IDK.

Not sure if any of this helps you(OP), but we are looking at the same problem it seems.

Matt

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Great test and good way to trouble shoot the issue. Takes a lot of the what if’s out of the equation .


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[guffins fisherman]

Update: brought my boat to a sand beach where I could get in and look at the 'ducer angle. I had it tilted up ~15 degrees. Add that to the already 10 degrees built into the 'ducer element, and I was likely not receiving signal well from the probe. I adjusted it to parallel with the surface of the water, and it seemed to work well all the way up to 4 MPH.  Couple that with the reset to factory default of the head unit, and I think/hope they are talking better now. 

 

As far as the OP putting the probe into a bucket, that may not be deep enough to receive well considering the 10 degrees built into the 'ducer.  I hope my trials and tribulations and possible success give you some insight into solving your problems. 

 

Matt

[Diversion]

Appreciate all the info so far, I just need some time away from work so I can figure out my setup. Whatever my outcome is I'll be sure to update so that it hopefully helps someone else too.

[Yankee Troller]

On 8/4/2021 at 8:22 AM, Gregger300 said:

Not to get too far off topic but I've been thinking of getting a Fish Hawk for next season but after seeing posts like this and talking with other fishermen who have trouble with their units I am not sure its worth the money. I understand that they have excellent customer service but when I buy a product I just want it to do what its supposed to without all the headaches. Are there any other good options on the market or is Fish Hawk pretty much as good as it gets?

 

Remember, you only hear the bad online. The guys with no problems generally don't go online and brag about products they paid for.

 

Doesn't sound like an interference issue with other electronics. I run a 50khz on the Trojan, granted it's 15' away from the FH ducer, but there is no interference there. On my Lund I have my MEGA SI, 83/200, and FH transducer stacked right next to each other. No issues there either. 

 

I have heard of guys not running resister spark plugs in their engines getting engine interference.

 

Hope you figure it out soon. It's a valuable tool.

[AnglingAddict]

Agree with Rick - We have 50/200 KHz thru-hull on the boat as well as have a Garmin Panoptix Transducer on the transom mounted 4" from the FIshHawk - all work as they should.  Resistor plugs, and RFI Plug wires certainly help.  Also make sure that your extra Fish Hawk Transducer cable isn't just coiled up and sitting next to a bunch of other wires/cables as when the bundle is coiled you can get inductive interference - better to coil the excess then give the bundle a half twist so you have a figure 8 loop - this will minimize any inductive interference that might be present.   

[Sk8man]

I would also echo Rick's comment. many of the things suggested are possible sources or things to consider; not hard fast complaints about qualitative issues with the units. Fishhawk makes excellent units and they provide excellent servicing. I have had the Fishhawk X4D for a few years and it has performed flawlessly alongside my Lowrance finder (83/200 khz) and the Fishhawk transducer shares a screw with it on the transom The comments offered here shouldn't be a reason not to buy one. Whether they are worth the money for someone to purchase is a separate question related to their own financial state and taste or need and not related to the quality of the Fishhawk.

[guffins fisherman]

With some perseverance, renewed patience and some tinkering, I was able to fish my x4D all day today with almost no glitches.

Matt

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Diversion]

I made a short test run and my FH now works, I changed nothing in my setup, other than sending in my probe & display for testing. So I have no idea why it stopped working for two trips and now it works again. Glad it works again but not really confident on what the issue was. Thank you everyone for all your tips and suggestions.

[guffins fisherman]

I honestly think disconnecting the head unit from the power and removing the batteries from the probe resets the codes or something, and they begin talking better. Essentially mine did the same thing. Only thing I did differently was to reset the head unit to factory settings. Good chance FH did that when they had it too.

Good to hear it works. Now go fishing.

Matt

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Lake Ontario United mobile app