lowrance depth sonar

i installed a new lcx25C and everything runs great except for the sonar…i havn’t had it off the driveway yet but it reads a depth of 8 ft when obviously it’s only about 2 ft…my brother-in-law told me that it would read right unless it’s in the water…any ideas?…thanks in advance and have a great weekend!!!

pistolpete,
I am not positive, but I believe it has to do with the density of water compared to the density of air when it comes to returning echoes. I think it is probably reading correctly for air.

dave

I agree with your brother-in-law. Mine doesn’t read correctly in the garage. I usually get a reading around 7-10′. Just as a check, check your keel offset I think it is called in your Sonar set up menu I think.

Mine says 8 feet in the driveway too. Works fine in the water. As posted above, air isn’t dense enough to transfer the sonar echos correctly.
You’ll be fine.

Sound (or sonar waves) travels almost 3 times faster through water than air. Your sonar is working fine.

-J.

Yeah, Its actually a little over 4 times. Sound travels through the air at around 1100 feet per second, but it travels through water at 4800 fet per second. Since it is approximately 4 times slower in air, your depth finder should read about 4 times the actual distance. By the way, this is a good way to test your sonar without putting it in the lake. You will notice that the sensitivity needs to be maxed out to get a decent reading though.