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  1. #1
    Member Sammiew's Avatar
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    M360 Interference on Fortrex TM

    Guess it’s my turn with the M360 interference issues. Maybe it won’t be as bad with it mounted on a Fortrex TM as it would be on the fancier models.

    Brief description of my setup. Helix 12 SI + G3N on the console and the bow. Helix 10 SI G2N (bass pro version) on the bow for mapping. All three units attached together with Ethernet cables and the Ethernet switch box. Both M360 and the switch box have separate on/off power switches. Everything is powered from fuse box under console and feed by a 10 gauge wire with a inline Switch at the battery. On the 360 wiring I attached the drain wire to the ground side of the feed from the fuse box. (For the rusting screw issue) The only thing I tried today on the water was to pull the fuse out of the onboard charger positive side charge lead to my starting battery. Not sure that would work or need to remove wire completely. I’ve attached a photo if it will open on what it’s doing when the TM pedal is pushed. 360 wiring is run along the base of the TM and not on the TM wire/steering cable. Sorry for long post but just giving a idea of what I have. Thanks for any suggestions that may help.

    https://i.postimg.cc/nz125HMm/392615...-F7-C145-D.jpg
    Last edited by Sammiew; 05-27-2020 at 09:10 PM.
    2015 Ranger RT188 (white) * 2015 Etec 115 * Minn Kota Fortrex #80 * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N @ Helix 12 G4N on bow * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N at console * M360-MEGA Live
    Blue Water LED Red Deck Lights, LED White Light in Rod Box & Trailer Backup Lights * V-T2 Live Well Vents * Lew's Rod and Reels. Cool Foot pad on t/ motor .

  2. Member Wayne P.'s Avatar
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    #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Sammiew View Post
    Guess it’s my turn with the M360 interference issues. Maybe it won’t be as bad with it mounted on a Fortrex TM as it would be on the fancier models.

    Brief description of my setup. Helix 12 SI + G3N on the console and the bow. Helix 10 SI G2N (bass pro version) on the bow for mapping. All three units attached together with Ethernet cables and the Ethernet switch box. Both M360 and the switch box have separate on/off power switches. Everything is powered from fuse box under console and feed by a 10 gauge wire with a inline Switch at the battery. On the 360 wiring I attached the drain wire to the ground side of the feed from the fuse box. (For the rusting screw issue) The only thing I tried today on the water was to pull the fuse out of the onboard charger positive side charge lead to my starting battery. Not sure that would work or need to remove wire completely. I’ve attached a photo if it will open on what it’s doing when the TM pedal is pushed. 360 wiring is run along the base of the TM and not on the TM wire/steering cable. Sorry for long post but just giving a idea of what I have. Thanks for any suggestions that may help.

    https://i.postimg.cc/nz125HMm/392615...-F7-C145-D.jpg

    Both the positive and negative conductors are antennas for RFI.
    Wayne Purdum
    Charlottesville, Va.
    Helix 12 CHIRP MEGA+ SI G3N/G4N, Helix 15 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G4N
    SOLIX 12 SI/G3, Helix 8 CHIRP MEGA SI+ G4N, Ultrex 80/LINK, MEGA360,
    MEGA LIVE, LIVE TL

  3. Member Sammiew's Avatar
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    #3
    Thanks Mr. Wayne, I will give that a try to see what happens. I did try the noise filter setting and that didn’t help. Hoping it’s something simple.
    Last edited by Sammiew; 05-28-2020 at 01:18 PM.
    2015 Ranger RT188 (white) * 2015 Etec 115 * Minn Kota Fortrex #80 * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N @ Helix 12 G4N on bow * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N at console * M360-MEGA Live
    Blue Water LED Red Deck Lights, LED White Light in Rod Box & Trailer Backup Lights * V-T2 Live Well Vents * Lew's Rod and Reels. Cool Foot pad on t/ motor .

  4. Member C130's Avatar
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    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Sammiew View Post
    Thanks Mr. Wayne, I will give that a try to see what happens. I did try the noise filter setting and that didn’t help. Hoping it’s something simple.
    None of the 4 filter settings helped at all? 2 and 4 were the same for me and helped quite a bit but didn’t resolve the issue. Try the wire from the trolling motor to the negative wire going to the battery also. I just connected it to my bow trolling motor plug negative wire that runs to the trolling motor batteries. That’s cheap, quick, and easy to give a try.

    Wayne knows a 100 times more than me, just thought I’d offer what I did and he helped me a lot as always.

    This may have been mentioned but make sure the mega 360 and your DI is on different frequencies

    Your interference at the bottom of the photo looks about how mine was with the filter setting on either 2 or 4. On 1 and 3 the entire screen was blown out big time.
    Last edited by C130; 05-28-2020 at 07:21 PM.

  5. Member Sammiew's Avatar
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    #5
    Thanks for the info Scott, just got off the lake and didn’t get to see your post. I will try the DI frequency change when I go back out. What I did try today was to unhooked both on board charging wires from the starting battery and tried the filter settings and made no difference at all. Tried both frequencies for the Mega 360 with no change. Before I left I rerouted my cables/wires best as I could to make sure no wires were touching the TM cable or power wires. My neighbor said he installed a device on the main power wire at the battery and it stopped the interference on the old 360. So the saga continues with the interference. Thanks for the info......
    2015 Ranger RT188 (white) * 2015 Etec 115 * Minn Kota Fortrex #80 * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N @ Helix 12 G4N on bow * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N at console * M360-MEGA Live
    Blue Water LED Red Deck Lights, LED White Light in Rod Box & Trailer Backup Lights * V-T2 Live Well Vents * Lew's Rod and Reels. Cool Foot pad on t/ motor .

  6. Member C130's Avatar
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    #6
    Maybe try the wire like I did and see if that helps it. Only took about 5 minutes to do it, I am thinking that is what helped mine. Mine went from bad to I can't tell any difference between using the trolling motor and not using it.

    https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared...snpTUAnBhNry8_
    Last edited by C130; 05-29-2020 at 11:56 AM.

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    #7
    I have the same problem, I have tried everything I can think of, I'm starting to loose hope, my uncle has a fortex with the mega 360 and is s clear. I have no clue.

  8. Member Sammiew's Avatar
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    #8
    This is what I found out today.

    1. I have almost no interference if the Mega 360 is using 455
    2. It maybe my unit after the update but I have to run sensitivity in the negative numbers. Today mostly -4 to -7 to keep from blowing out image.
    3. If I unplug the MDI+ transducer that is mounted on the TM from the Y cable it clears up the interference to you almost can’t tell it’s there. The sweeping of the 360 slows way down and ticks like a second hand on a clock. If I change the transducer to just M360 it still has interference unless I unplug the MDI+ transducer from the Y cable. The 360 sweep does the same thing when I unplug the Y cable.
    4. I ran a ground wire from the motor and tried it on the TM negative wire and the unit the 360 is used on negative wires. No difference at all was seen.
    5. Tried all the filter settings and it seemed #2 was making somewhat a difference.

    So disconnecting the external transducer gave me the best results and running the 360 on 455 also helped but the image was poor. That’s about all I know to do at this point.
    2015 Ranger RT188 (white) * 2015 Etec 115 * Minn Kota Fortrex #80 * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N @ Helix 12 G4N on bow * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N at console * M360-MEGA Live
    Blue Water LED Red Deck Lights, LED White Light in Rod Box & Trailer Backup Lights * V-T2 Live Well Vents * Lew's Rod and Reels. Cool Foot pad on t/ motor .

  9. Member Sammiew's Avatar
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    #9
    Humminbird sending a Ferrite ring to install on the external transducer cable before it hooks up to the Y cable. Hope this helps with my issue. Ready to try this Mega360 and see what it does.
    2015 Ranger RT188 (white) * 2015 Etec 115 * Minn Kota Fortrex #80 * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N @ Helix 12 G4N on bow * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N at console * M360-MEGA Live
    Blue Water LED Red Deck Lights, LED White Light in Rod Box & Trailer Backup Lights * V-T2 Live Well Vents * Lew's Rod and Reels. Cool Foot pad on t/ motor .

  10. Member C130's Avatar
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    #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Sammiew View Post
    Humminbird sending a Ferrite ring to install on the external transducer cable before it hooks up to the Y cable. Hope this helps with my issue. Ready to try this Mega360 and see what it does.
    Hope the ferrite ring helps, I bought some online and just received them but don’t really need them now. My mega 360 was doing exactly as yours, I’d unhook the MDI transducer and the interference would pretty much go away and the sweep was really slow, barely moved.

    I had planned to unhook the wire I ran when I went fishing yesterday but never did. I just wanted to confirm that’s what resolved my issue. I’ll unhook it one day and see if the interference comes back.

  11. Member Sammiew's Avatar
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    #11
    I finally got rid of the interference on my bow unit when using the Fortrex TM and the M360. Humminbird sent me a ferrite ring to install on my 360 transducer cable before it plugged into the Y cable. When I pulled out the transducer cable to install the ferrite ring, I also coiled up the extra cable to make the figure 8 and then doubled up the two ends and tie wrapped them together. I also had a 2’ x 2’ piece of rubber mat laying around so I put this on top of my TM wires and then had all the transducer wiring on top to keep it separated. It probably was the ferrite ring that fixed it or maybe a combination of the three things I did. All I know for now that the interference is gone for the time being. Thanks for all the help with this issue...
    2015 Ranger RT188 (white) * 2015 Etec 115 * Minn Kota Fortrex #80 * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N @ Helix 12 G4N on bow * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N at console * M360-MEGA Live
    Blue Water LED Red Deck Lights, LED White Light in Rod Box & Trailer Backup Lights * V-T2 Live Well Vents * Lew's Rod and Reels. Cool Foot pad on t/ motor .

  12. Member bombercraw's Avatar
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    #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Sammiew View Post
    I finally got rid of the interference on my bow unit when using the Fortrex TM and the M360. Humminbird sent me a ferrite ring to install on my 360 transducer cable before it plugged into the Y cable. When I pulled out the transducer cable to install the ferrite ring, I also coiled up the extra cable to make the figure 8 and then doubled up the two ends and tie wrapped them together. I also had a 2’ x 2’ piece of rubber mat laying around so I put this on top of my TM wires and then had all the transducer wiring on top to keep it separated. It probably was the ferrite ring that fixed it or maybe a combination of the three things I did. All I know for now that the interference is gone for the time being. Thanks for all the help with this issue...
    How did you get the ferrite ring over the M360 cable end? HB sent me a ferrite ring as well but it's not large enough in diameter to be able to install it before the Y cable because the M360 plug is too large to go through it.

  13. Member Sammiew's Avatar
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    #13
    Quote Originally Posted by bombercraw View Post
    How did you get the ferrite ring over the M360 cable end? HB sent me a ferrite ring as well but it's not large enough in diameter to be able to install it before the Y cable because the M360 plug is too large to go through it.
    Must have been a smaller ring. I managed to only get 5 wraps around the ring it was so tight. Might have to shout back them to send another ring.
    2015 Ranger RT188 (white) * 2015 Etec 115 * Minn Kota Fortrex #80 * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N @ Helix 12 G4N on bow * Humminbird Helix 12 MSI GPS G3N at console * M360-MEGA Live
    Blue Water LED Red Deck Lights, LED White Light in Rod Box & Trailer Backup Lights * V-T2 Live Well Vents * Lew's Rod and Reels. Cool Foot pad on t/ motor .