Transducers

[raymond]

Hey Everyone
Gotta question about transducers.
On my console i have a lowrance 332 color screen.And when i am graphing i can see bait balls and fish arches at say 40 feet.
When I put down my trolling motor and try and graph those same fish I see nothing.Yes i see the bottom and all the contours but no arches no bait fish.I have both graphs set up the same and see nothing.
On the console graph i have a skimmer transducer mounted on the transom and on the trolling motor i have a puck.
Could there be that much difference in the cone degrees that i cant see with the puck.On my trolling motor i have a lowrance color 102 not a bad unit.

[kwik man]

If you can see the bottom the transducer should be working. Know for your settings what is the ping speed set to. At 40 foot it should be some were around 50 to 80 %
know is it in auto sensitivity. If you do not want to adjust it all the time leve it in
auto sensitivity. Adjust the sensitivity up too 85 to 90 %. Set the colorline to
60- 80 % try that let me know if it works.

[kopper_bass]

Raymond,
my first question to you would be: how old is the transducer on the TM?

If it's more than a year old, i would consider replacing it. Because you see the bottom contour (very obvious hard target), but no details like fish, trees, etc. (much more complex, soft target), then i suspect this is the problem. (at least this is what i have experienced with the same issues).

A quick way to check this is to just swap your graphs (just bring the front graph back to your console and plug it in there). if you now see detail on this graph when connected to the transom transducer, then its surely the puck transducer up on the TM. time to replace it. I replace mine every other year just as a force of habit.

i have seen many times that this transducer will go bad 3-4x faster on the TM, than those on the transom, or in your bilge area.
a few key reasons why, i think:
1) A lot of guys leave the front graph on when running from spot to spot. this means the transducer is banging away in the air with little/no resistance; vs. when it's in the water. (kind of like running the pump with no water). I think this contributes greatly to quick deterioration of those puck transducers. I would recommend you always turn the graph off, or pause it when pulling up the motor to run to another spot. this will ensure the transducer is stopped and not banging away on your run to the next spot.
2) the TM twists and turns on the cables, causing ever slight kinks and stress in the cable. this, over time has some effects on the TM transducer and likely plays a role in its deterioration. This just doesnt happen with the other transducers on the boat.
3) Constant banging around on the TM, while mounted to the front edge of the boat. The front of the boat sees the most jolting and vibration on the boat; the transom sees the least. This constant effect takes its toll on the electronic equipment, so it stands to reason that this transducer would fail sooner than the one on the transom. Also, if you don't have a tie-down strap or ram mount for your TM; get one.
4) Lastly, its the most exposed to getting banged up while in the water. what can seem like an innocent bang or ding into a rock/ tulles, or big stick, can easily damage the transducer hanging below the TM housing. be careful not to bang it into things.

hope this helps.
Good luck,

Kopper

[raymond]

thanks kopper and kwik man-
Yes kwik man all those settings sound right and i even played around with others.
And kopper thanks for your detailed reply.I did switch the units around and did see an improvement.
I thought it had more to do with the degree angle of the transducer.
I used to have a skimmer on the trolling motor and switched to a puck(different degrees i think)
Wondering if i should get another skimmer what do you think.
Was out the other day and coulnt spoon cause i saw nothing down there on the tm then when I looked on the console
I saw everything and not talking just a bit of fish here and there but stacks of them.
Frustrating

[Sugar70]

A quick way to check this is to just swap your graphs (just bring the front graph back to your console and plug it in there). if you now see detail on this graph when connected to the transom transducer, then its surely the puck transducer up on the TM. time to replace it. I replace mine every other year just as a force of habit.

[Leon Pugh]

Raymond this may be normal. It depends on the transducer type how much overlap there will be and in what area of the cone they are positioned. Locate a object on the bottom with the front unit and watch the rear as the boat moves slowly until it shows on the rear unit to give you a feel for it. Keep in mind that the shallower the water the smaller the area that the cones will overlap. Also keep in mind the mounting angle of the transducers, very rarely is the rear one pointed straight down. You can get optional wide angle transducers.

[swordfish]

I like a puck transducer on the trolling motor its much stonger for shallow water bangs and bottom bumps. Less breakage...sounds to me you may need to get your units fine tuned , ping speed ect

[mark poulson]

I think Kopper hit it on the head in his reason #1.
I used to burn through a transducer a year, because I never turned the bow graph off when I pulled the tm up and moved.
With my new HDS 5, I put it to sleep whenever I move.

[Leon Pugh]

I have never had a transducer fail and never turn them off!

[raymond]

Thanks for the replies I got the thing working and then it stopped again,then it worked again.I guess transducers do go bad.Its funny that you can see all the structure but not the bait.Like it half works.Dont know how thats possible.Oh well

[SKIPER]

I have two 332's on by boat and had the same problem. Occasionally the one on the trolling motor would work fine and then for some reason only show the bottom with nothing in between. Sometimes it would also show a depth that was not correct. A new transducer on the trolling motor fixed the problem. As a side note, I never left the unit on when not in the water so that was not the reason it went bad.

[kopper_bass]

raymond,
glad you got it figure out - sort of. seems it is just going bad and you need to replace it.

Its actually simple to think why a transducer can read the bottom, but not necessarily identify fish.
The bottom is an absolute, and its a very simple target to locate - its everywhere. Fish are not.

think of it this way - even without my glasses, i can see that there is a roadsign ahead, but i cannot read the letters at all. My eyes still work, i see the big stuff, but i cannot read the fine print without proper vision.

your puck has poor vision!

good luck,

kopper