False Bottom Help

[SkinOmyTeeth]

I have a false bottom problem that comes and goes - 1/2 the time everything works great, 1/2 the time I have the following problem. As you can see by the photo (bottom tracking on), when I do get a false bottom it's only in the 2D chirp mode. When I turn chirp off, the bottom depth reads correctly. I have messed with various chirp frequencies and it doesn't matter what frequency range. Get this error in all depths and the error will be anywhere from a couple of feet to 15 feet. When bottom tracking is also turned on in DI, it will mimic the 2D readings and also jump to the true depth when chirp is turned off. Anyone else experienced this? Have contacted HB but haven't gotten any resolution from them. SOLIX 10 Gen 1 with latest S/W and directly wired to battery. I also have another depth finder and it reads bottom at the non-chirp frequency - I can turn it off and the results are the same so it's not an interference issue. Thanks

[Hooked247]

Is the Solix 10 at the bow or console? What gauge power and ground wire is run to the Solix? What else are you running off the same battery? How long have you had the Solix? Battery age and specs? A lot of these issues are power related. I went through the same issues. Here's a recent post http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=982776

[liketrolling]

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=981755

look at Tugger post

[SkinOmyTeeth]

Is the Solix 10 at the bow or console? What gauge power and ground wire is run to the Solix? What else are you running off the same battery? How long have you had the Solix? Battery age and specs? A lot of these issues are power related. I went through the same issues. Here's a recent post http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=982776

I have had it at both bow and console exhibiting this issue. Wire is 8 gauge and its the only thing running off of a new Interstate SRM-27. Funny thing is I had this problem when I first got the unit (~9 months ago) and thought it had gone away with 3.040 and 3.4 update and has come back with 3.60

[bobcoy]

Hooked, Your bottom is an average of the depth within the cone. With the chirp on and the bottom line selected it will show the actual bottom below the transducer but the bottom signal of the average depth still is the same on the screen. If you had the depth displayed I wager the depth would have remained the same. Bob

[drawde]

I agree, the screen shows a consistent depth.

[SkinOmyTeeth]

Right - the screen shows a consistent depth but when Chirp is selected the bottom tracker drops 5 to 10 feet below it and the depth reading drops along with it! i.e. instead of displaying 38 feet in the above figure, it displays 42 feet.

[Bob B]

HMMMM .... that does seem odd. Seems like someone else would have chimed in if this is a software problem.....or everyone just leaves their chirp on and don't know the difference.
Makes me wonder which one is correct. Was there any kind of short weed growth?

[SkinOmyTeeth]

No and I have it happen in 80ft of water also. Since no one else seems to have this problem I'll assume I have an "issue" with my unit. Called HB and they said they misplaced my files and would get back to me asap.

[bobcoy]

Skin, so I understand. You have a second unit on at the same time, I can see interference on you pic when you have it selected to chirp. When you turn the second unit off you still have the same situation with the depth changing as in your example? Do you still have the telltale marks(crosstalk) in the water column? If you change your chirp frequency sweep so they are not the same do you still have the same situation? Bob

[SkinOmyTeeth]

I have a Lowrance that came with the boat and the transducers are 22 ft apart, only operating 83kHz and when I turn it completely off there is no change in the operation of the Solix. I did try various frequency ranges in both the Medium and High Chirp frequency settings and got the same results. Thanks

[bobcoy]

This is indeed a mystery. I will try to get down to the boat later and see what mine looks like but I am stuck with 3.3 till I decide I don't need my Onix. The updates went 3.040, 3.110, 3.120, 3.230, 3.300, 3.360 Then 3.4. Did you have the problem at 3.30? Bob

[SkinOmyTeeth]

Pretty sure my unit was good with 3.3.

[Hooked247]

I pulled the specs on your battery, and it's not really an optimal battery for running these new power hungry electronics if it's also your cranking battery. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Interstates website shows the SRM-27 is a deep cycle only battery, not a Dual Purpose, with 600 CCA, 160 Reserve at 25 AMP, and 88 Amp Hours.

I have had it at both bow and console exhibiting this issue. Wire is 8 gauge and its the only thing running off of a new Interstate SRM-27. Funny thing is I had this problem when I first got the unit (~9 months ago) and thought it had gone away with 3.040 and 3.4 update and has come back with 3.60

[SkinOmyTeeth]

I pulled the specs on your battery, and it's not really an optimal battery for running these new power hungry electronics if it's also your cranking battery. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Interstates website shows the SRM-27 is a deep cycle only battery, not a Dual Purpose, with 600 CCA, 160 Reserve at 25 AMP, and 88 Amp Hours.

That battery solely powers my Solix. Did some more experimenting waiting for HB to get back to me and noticed that I get this "problem" when I ran parallel to the shore ( 25 - 35 ft deep) with my port side closest to shore. The port side SI was bright and the starboard was very dim also. When I ran in the opposite direction the SI beams evened out to a certain extent and the bottom tracker tracked correctly. So I thought maybe my SI was causing a problem so I repeated with the Ping turned off in both SI and DI but got the same results. Perplexed???

[bobcoy]

Skin, Did you check for level on your SI transducer?Side to side mainly but front to back also? When on the trailer is one thing but depending on boat loading at idle speeds can be quite different. Being a bit of a porker myself, If I am fishing alone I get a bit of list to starboard. I moved my transducer down some on the port side to even out the transducer and balanced out the signal strength a bit. There is also an offset adjustment for that in the SI menus.(sensitivity offset) Bob