Wagon-wheel interference issue

[JediBasser]

Please see the video of my interference issue. The video was easier than trying to explain everything. I did check the head fuse with a meter (good). I also looped excess cable as described by Wayne in another post below. I ordered f240 mix 77 ferrite rings from amazon that clip onto the wires, also suggested by Wayne. Hopefully those are good enough???? Can you see anything else on the video that I am not doing correctly?

Video:


link to ferrite rings (whatever these things are ) from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BPGGN3T...6FS46YVBH6K1S5

Thanks in advance!

[AlabamaDale]

Go to set up down to user mode and choose advanced. Opens up a lot more options. “Noise filter”

[suvowner]

https://www.minnkotamotors.com/suppo...y-depth-finder

test it in the water.

remove battery charger from battery that is running the electronics assuming you have different battery for electronics and for trolling motor. I had an issue where noise was finding its way from the TM battery to the electronics battery through the 3 bank charger. Basspro xps charger was replaced and same problem, switched to minkotta 3 bank and problem solved.

[JediBasser]

Go to set up down to user mode and choose advanced. Opens up a lot more options. “Noise filter”

Thanks, I was able to figure this out. Slightly different than described. None of the settings seemed to help. Option 3 was slightly better but only for moment. It was under setting and I switched to “custom” and it opened up a lot more options. Thanks again

[JediBasser]

https://www.minnkotamotors.com/suppo...y-depth-finder

test it in the water.

remove battery charger from battery that is running the electronics assuming you have different battery for electronics and for trolling motor. I had an issue where noise was finding its way from the TM battery to the electronics battery through the 3 bank charger. Basspro xps charger was replaced and same problem, switched to minkotta 3 bank and problem solved.

I unhooked the battery charger mad it was no change ��.

[Amistad Tackle]

Found this. Don't know if you are using an ethernet box. http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/in...p?topic=9660.0

[bombercraw]

Jeddi Basser, I feel your pain in a big way and hope that you find that magical solution that some have to eliminate this issue to render your 360 usable. So far I have not been so lucky. Here is everything I have tried which I had listed on a previous post a few months back. But as noted below, I have not been able to solve this issue:

I am on my last leg hoping that someone will have some additional suggestions on things to try to help me eliminate my interference problems. I started out with my old Motorguide Tour 82 which was a 2005 model when I added my Helix and Mega 360. Had bad interference with that setup and tried many things to eliminate to interference to no avail. I was able to reduce it some but not totally. As a last resort and from suggestions gained from others on this forum regarding the potential root cause maybe being wear on my old trolling motor causing the RFI issues, I decided to buy a new MG trolling motor (bought a new MG Tour 82). Once everything was installed, I found the RFI was as bad or worse than before. I have tried everything I can think of to eliminate the issue but have had no luck. Here are the things I have tried:

**Added ground wire from skeg to negative TM battery ground post-- (A little improvement but not much)
**Added ground wire from skeg to negative electronics (starting battery) battery post-- (no change)
**Tried running ground wires from skeg to various other places such as spots on the trolling motor foot pedal--(no change)
**Tried running ground wire between trolling motor battery ground to starting battery ground--(made RFI allot worse)
**Made sure transducer cables and electronics power cables ran down trolling motor bracket and not with trolling motor power cable
**Cable management--made sure to figure 8 excess transducer cables inside bow
**Added choke provided by HB between onboard charger and starting battery--(no change)
**Unhooked onboard charger wires from starting battery to test it--(no change)
**Added TM1 choke on trolling motor foot pedal power supply wires --(no change)
**Added a quantity of 5 240-mix 77 ferrites to the Mega 360 transducer cable --(no change)
**Added a quantity of 6 240-mix 77 ferrites to the SI transducer cable (transducer that came in box with HB 12)---(saw a little improvement but not much)
**Added ferrites provided by HB to various electronics power cables--(no change)
**Tried powering Bow HB electronics from separate stand alone battery outside the boat--(no change)
**Tried wrapping the various cables inside the bow in aluminum foil to shield them--(no change)
**Tried all the various noise filter settings on my HB Unit--(saw a little change but not much)
**Been on the phone with HB for countless hours trying to solve to no avail--last thing they told me is that they think it's my trolling motor and suggest I call MotorGuide
**Called MotorGuide, and explained all of this and begged for help.........they had no suggestions beyond what I have tried and told me to call HB.......LOL

Also noticed that the RFI issue gets exponentially worse while on the water vs testing in my garage. I have also tried trial and error testing on the water trying to solve this issue.

I am literally at my wits end having spent hours and hours and days trying to solve this issue and am at the end of my rope. The interference is so bad that it renders my mega 360 useless. It is so frustrating to spend thousands of dollars on electronic equipment to have an issue like this that makes them unusable.

[jym]

https://www.minnkotamotors.com/suppo...y-depth-finder

test it in the water.

remove battery charger from battery that is running the electronics assuming you have different battery for electronics and for trolling motor. I had an issue where noise was finding its way from the TM battery to the electronics battery through the 3 bank charger. Basspro xps charger was replaced and same problem, switched to minkotta 3 bank and problem solved.

I agree with first line in #3. Not sure what you are expecting to see in the garage. Notice that the flash you see when you turn the tm on is gone after a sweep.

[Outsider]

Jeddi Basser, I feel your pain in a big way and hope that you find that magical solution that some have to eliminate this issue to render your 360 usable. So far I have not been so lucky. Here is everything I have tried which I had listed on a previous post a few months back. But as noted below, I have not been able to solve this issue:

I am on my last leg hoping that someone will have some additional suggestions on things to try to help me eliminate my interference problems. I started out with my old Motorguide Tour 82 which was a 2005 model when I added my Helix and Mega 360. Had bad interference with that setup and tried many things to eliminate to interference to no avail. I was able to reduce it some but not totally. As a last resort and from suggestions gained from others on this forum regarding the potential root cause maybe being wear on my old trolling motor causing the RFI issues, I decided to buy a new MG trolling motor (bought a new MG Tour 82). Once everything was installed, I found the RFI was as bad or worse than before. I have tried everything I can think of to eliminate the issue but have had no luck. Here are the things I have tried:

**Added ground wire from skeg to negative TM battery ground post-- (A little improvement but not much)
**Added ground wire from skeg to negative electronics (starting battery) battery post-- (no change)
**Tried running ground wires from skeg to various other places such as spots on the trolling motor foot pedal--(no change)
**Tried running ground wire between trolling motor battery ground to starting battery ground--(made RFI allot worse)
**Made sure transducer cables and electronics power cables ran down trolling motor bracket and not with trolling motor power cable
**Cable management--made sure to figure 8 excess transducer cables inside bow
**Added choke provided by HB between onboard charger and starting battery--(no change)
**Unhooked onboard charger wires from starting battery to test it--(no change)
**Added TM1 choke on trolling motor foot pedal power supply wires --(no change)
**Added a quantity of 5 240-mix 77 ferrites to the Mega 360 transducer cable --(no change)
**Added a quantity of 6 240-mix 77 ferrites to the SI transducer cable (transducer that came in box with HB 12)---(saw a little improvement but not much)
**Added ferrites provided by HB to various electronics power cables--(no change)
**Tried powering Bow HB electronics from separate stand alone battery outside the boat--(no change)
**Tried wrapping the various cables inside the bow in aluminum foil to shield them--(no change)
**Tried all the various noise filter settings on my HB Unit--(saw a little change but not much)
**Been on the phone with HB for countless hours trying to solve to no avail--last thing they told me is that they think it's my trolling motor and suggest I call MotorGuide
**Called MotorGuide, and explained all of this and begged for help.........they had no suggestions beyond what I have tried and told me to call HB.......LOL

Also noticed that the RFI issue gets exponentially worse while on the water vs testing in my garage. I have also tried trial and error testing on the water trying to solve this issue.

I am literally at my wits end having spent hours and hours and days trying to solve this issue and am at the end of my rope. The interference is so bad that it renders my mega 360 useless. It is so frustrating to spend thousands of dollars on electronic equipment to have an issue like this that makes them unusable.

Interference issues are the worst!!!!!

A couple of ideas for you to try ....it appears your problem started when you added the 360 and the Helix. Because of what you have tried, and the small amount of difference it made, narrows it down in my mind.

See if you can borrow a helix from a friend and test it on the water. No change... then see if you can borrow a 360 to test on the water. No need to install it, just hold it over the side of the boat while it is hooked up. No change ...then the T/M is the likely cause.

One other question, does your interference change when the T/M is off/on? Or is there any change with speed? Is the interference less or gone when running the T/M at wot (maybe the PWM is the issue)?

[bombercraw]

Interference issues are the worst!!!!!

A couple of ideas for you to try ....it appears your problem started when you added the 360 and the Helix. Because of what you have tried, and the small amount of difference it made, narrows it down in my mind.

See if you can borrow a helix from a friend and test it on the water. No change... then see if you can borrow a 360 to test on the water. No need to install it, just hold it over the side of the boat while it is hooked up. No change ...then the T/M is the likely cause.

One other question, does your interference change when the T/M is off/on? Or is there any change with speed? Is the interference less or gone when running the T/M at wot (maybe the PWM is the issue)?

Hi Outsider, thanks for your response. I have actually tried to switch out my two Helix units to eliminate that as the problem. I have two Helix 12 units (one at bow and one at the helm), and that made no difference. I forgot to mention that in the list of things I have tried. I have not tried the idea of testing another 360 unit. And as far as your question regarding whether the RFI occurs when the trolling motor is on and or off, it only occurs when my trolling motor is running and the extent of the RFI does change depending on what speed I am running the TM at. But the interference is present 100% of the time if the TM is running no matter what. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had interference issue with my old MG Tour trolling motor as well and after not being able to resolve, decided to buy this brand new MG Tour. Same problems exist, so I don't believe it's any faulty issue with the trolling motor (although it's definitely the trolling motor causing the interference). Regarding your suggestion that it might be the PWM, that could be the issue, however I am getting the interference at all speeds on the trolling motor, even when wide open. Just not sure what else to try or if it's time to give up....................I'm spending too many hours trying to trouble shoot this mess vs being on the water doing what I enjoy.
thanks

[JediBasser]

See my fix below. (Kind of)

[suvowner]

1. test it in the water, meaning boat in the water. the ground function of the fuse in the trolling motor head has to be in the water to do its thing, that alone may reduce the interference significantly.
2. I would replace the fuse in the trolling motor head, even if you think it looks good
3. get a Garmin trolling motor. - no steering cable and the brushless motor should have much less rfi interference compared to the minkotta and motor guide

[Starkfishes]

It seems that one of the last ‘easy’ tests suggested above would be to borrow a buddy’s Mega 360 and hold it in the water to see if you have interference.

I don’t know if this would have any merit so someone please reply if it’s not helpful, but maybe bring a friend and have them hold your Mega 360 in the water towards the rear of your boat so as to decrease its proximity to the trolling motor itself. It seems to reason that if your interference is trolling motor induced by reason of something ‘faulty’ in the trolling motor itself, it would be significantly reduced by adding distance between the Mega 360 and the trolling motor.

One final idea, I would be curious to know what would happen if you put your Helix and your Mega 360 on another boat. Would you still have the same issue? If not, you’ve at least narrowed the problem down to something in/on your boat. If you do have the interference, it isn’t as helpful of an experiment as the other boat may have the same problems as yours, unless they also have a Helix and Mega 360 and theirs are not experiencing the same interference as yours. If that’s the case, it’s a HB problem.

[Pelican]

I had interference and tried most of the recommended fix’s above with very limited results.
I finally cleared mine up by placing two Ferrite (240-Mix 77) rings on my power cables right at the base of my TMotor.
I’m running a MG Xi5.

[JediBasser]

Can you define “base of my trolling motor” and where did you buy the ferrite rings?

[Thndrchkn]

I know HB recommends double grounding the 360 but my interference was traveling back up through the second ground wire

[River-Bandit]

When I first got my 360 i ran the cables like you have it and put a fancy T&H Marine cover on the cable,,, had interference out the a$$ ,, rerouted the cables down the side and my issue mostly went away,,, every once in awhile it will come back some but not often and not bad,,,,,,going to order some rings and put on power cables and hopefully it will be totally gone ,,,,,,,, and like others have said take your boat to the lake to really test

[Outsider]

Hi Outsider, thanks for your response. I have actually tried to switch out my two Helix units to eliminate that as the problem. I have two Helix 12 units (one at bow and one at the helm), and that made no difference. I forgot to mention that in the list of things I have tried. I have not tried the idea of testing another 360 unit. And as far as your question regarding whether the RFI occurs when the trolling motor is on and or off, it only occurs when my trolling motor is running and the extent of the RFI does change depending on what speed I am running the TM at. But the interference is present 100% of the time if the TM is running no matter what. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had interference issue with my old MG Tour trolling motor as well and after not being able to resolve, decided to buy this brand new MG Tour. Same problems exist, so I don't believe it's any faulty issue with the trolling motor (although it's definitely the trolling motor causing the interference). Regarding your suggestion that it might be the PWM, that could be the issue, however I am getting the interference at all speeds on the trolling motor, even when wide open. Just not sure what else to try or if it's time to give up....................I'm spending too many hours trying to trouble shoot this mess vs being on the water doing what I enjoy.
thanks

Based on your answer above, It appears that the T/M is the cause of your interference. Because it causes interference even at full power, I am leaning away from the PWM on the T/M. However I am not sure that isn't the cause because I don't know how they are bypassing their PWM in their motor under full power.

I would be more suspect of an inducted RF issue or brushes on the T/M. Because this has happened on two separate T/M's, the brush theory is less likely, but can not be ruled out entirely.

So that leaves an inducted issues. Try separating your transducer wires from any T/M power wires as far as possible. You can do this on a temporary basis just to determine if that is indeed the cause. If you get results, then work on rerouting the wires to reduce/eliminate the problem. If separating the transducer and power wires makes no difference, then I would be looking at the T/M itself as the cause and not the wiring.

Good Luck.

[Tone357]

After reading through all of the "physical" fixes. Everyone may not know that sometimes the issue is software related. I have found that occasionally, it needs a tune up. The way to do that is to perform a system restore, then switch user mode from "angler" to "custom", then try each noise filter. I turned mine to #2. My Helix was wagon wheeling today every time I touched the trolling motor. I performed what I just described, and after that, I could run my Ultrex on 10 without any interference whatsoever! Here's a picture to prove it! Note the speed

[OK_BassBum]

That is a chore to do if your fishing a tourny. God help us with the software problems!