Any Problems With Sidescanners?

[Sam]

Spoke with a guy who has a Lowrance down and side scanner and he told me that he gets trolling motor interference.

When he hits the trolling motor the Lowrance screen goes "blue."

This happened when sonar units first came out and it was repaired by the trolling motor and sonar manufacturers to remove the interference.

Just wondering if anyone out there has made the investment and if so, any problems????

Thanks for any feedback. 

[Tin]

None with the Hummingbirds. Just more fish in the boat. lol

Truly is amazing. See a rock you never knew was there, cast, fish, ect....

[Wayne P.]

Trolling motor RF interence can be present with any sonar equipment and any trolling motor brand and model. Some get it and get rid of of, some get it and never do get rid of it. Some never get RF interference. It is entirely random and different levels of severity.

It has nothing to do with the sonar equipment itself just the newest models have more electronic parts that make them more sensitive to RF interence, Mostly the motors that have variable speed are the ones that produce the interference.

The frequency of that RF interference can be any range. Some get it on the 200 khz sonar frequency, some on the 83 khz, 50 khz, 455 khz, 800 khz. or any of the others.

A friend of mine changed from a Lowrance X--- to a Lowrance HDS and the only way he could get rid of the internerence was to have his Motor Guide Tour with built-in transducer rebuilt and upgraded to the newest model of that style motor.

I went thru all that interference stuff last year with a Humminbird Side Imaging unit and Motor Guide Tour motors. I only had interference on the 455 khz SI freqency. I solved that and now that I have a Side Imaging unit with 800 khz SI frequency, I have some interference with that frequency.

It seems that Minn Kota is more proactive with that issue and resolution is easier.

Its still a crap shoot with whatever you have.

[Jig Man]

Last year I treated myself to a new MG TE82 to replace my nine year old one. It took my 520c unit out on slow speeds (turned the screen blue). It took me several trips to the lake trying all the things they wanted me to try, then they finally replaced the brush holders and put in an "internal grounding strap". That solved the problem.

A couple of weeks ago I put an HDS8 with side and down on the trolling motor setup. I now get interference on the 800 kHz. I haven't tried the 455 yet nor have I contacted MG until I try other settings.

[Wayne P.]

Here is what RF interference looks like on 455 khz SI when turning the motor on and off several times.

[sodaksker]

My buddy had side imaging on the bow and stern of both of his boats.  Both of them got interference  on  the unit at the console when using the tm.  His old boat got totaled in a storm, took delivery on the new boat in september. It does the same thing.  Water got hard before we had a chance to trouble shoot.  both systems installed by boat dealer.

I would be interested to hear any suggestions.

[Wayne P.]

The number one thing to do with Humminbird equipment is contact Humminbird customer service. They have just about heard it all and will have suggested remedies. They just need to know the motor brand and model, how the units are powered, and if they are connected together.

With a linked sytem, the connecton is an antenna for the console unit to get the RF interference from the trolling motor. There is a remedy for that.

[Long Mike]

I read somewhere once upon a time that if you coil your excess transducer cable into a figure 8 and then fold the figure 8 in half to make a 0, it will help to eliminate any noise.  I've never had an interference problem, but I've always used the figure 8.  It could be just luck on my part.