HDS-5

[Ron Stoll]

Ken, I heard that it is not a good idea to flushmount the HDS-5. What
do you think? Thanks, Ron

[Ken Sauret]

I haven't heard of any issues with flush mounting any of the HDS units. If there are any, please let me know.

[PeteD]

I have a HDS-5 flush mounted on my console and a HDS-5x on the bow, I haven't had any problems what so ever with them.

Peted

[roaroar]

I have a HDS-7 flush mounted in the front and it works great. Just make sure if your mounting it up front you do not let the trolling motor power cross HDS cables. It still has some issues with lines at depths of 15 plus feet but i am told that the new 4.0 coming soon is going to help this.

[Ken Sauret]

The thin vertical lines can be interference with the second transducer in the boat being on at the same time. The large bold lines that appear when you step on the trolling motor are electrical interference caused by the trolling motor. Either the ground wire inside the shaft is missing or has a bad connection and not grounding the motor or there is a flat spot on the brushes causing the motor to arc when in operation causing the interference or the armature is bent causing a vibration that the transducer is picking up.

[timegg]

I'm having the same problem with verticle lines when I kick on the trolling motor. I have a minn-koto fortrex 80. I was told to add RF filters. I added 2 and it's made no difference. What are your suggestions? Will I have to get inside the trolling motor to fix the problem? any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Ken Sauret]

If you have interference when you initiate the trolling motor, then it is coming from the trolling motor.

You will need to talk to a dealer as to how to address one of the problems I mentioned above or if they can find a different issue with the motor that is causing the interference. I don't have the experience to tear down a trolling motor and diagnose a problem. I am passing on information that has been discovered to be the problems that have been addressed and the interference fixed.

The main point being that if the screen is clear when the trolling motor is off and the interference only appears when the trolling motor is in operation then you need to look at the trolling motor as the cause.

[timegg]

thanks, i talked to minn-kota and they gave me some things to try.

[Paul Cormany]

timegg

What things did Minn Kota give you to try?

[Ken Sauret]

Hello Paul,

Some of the issues I've heard of that cause vibrations that the transducer can pick and show a large black line up through the screen but don't interfere with the operation of the trolling motor itself are;

possible bent armature

flat spot in the brushes that cause an arc

or the ground wire that runs from the ground on the direction indicator light at the top of the motor head to the negative on the brush plate is either missing or loose at one end or the other.

This interference has something to do with the trolling motor because it doesn't appear until the button is actuated on the motor. The faint vertical lines are interference from the other transducer in the boat and are not associated with the trolling motor. These appear even when the trolling motor is not in operation.

To eliminate these lines, stop the other transducer by going into the menu and check "stop chart" or put your other HDS unit is "standby". To do this hit the power button and hit enter, to exit standby hit the power button and then hit exit.