depthfinder interferance

  • wkw
    Posts: 730
    March 19, 2006 at 10:38 pm #1249369

    I have a MinnKota Power Drive trolling motor with the universal sonar. The depth finder I am using is a Eagle FishMark 320. The depthfinder seems to work fine when the trolling motor is off, but when I turn it on I get some interference and the screen shows little or no detail.
    The screen also gets a black vertical line on it right when power is applied to the trolling motor. Any suggestions?

    sliderfishn
    Blaine, MN
    Posts: 5432
    March 19, 2006 at 10:43 pm #431383

    Is the graph wired to the trolling motor batteries?
    Has this always happened? Or is it just started recently?

    Ron

    wkw
    Posts: 730
    March 19, 2006 at 10:54 pm #431387

    I just got the boat Slider. The depthfinder is wired to the control panel in the bow that powered by the crank battery. It is not connected to the trolling motor batterries.
    We even tried to run a seperate wire direct from the depthfinder to the crank battery and it still got interference.

    cade-laufenberg
    Winona,MN/La Crosse, WI
    Posts: 3667
    March 19, 2006 at 10:57 pm #431388

    in my boat, i always have to Make sure the Battery is fully charged..Sometimes when my battery starts getting low, i can run my trolling motor, but my fish finder wont turn on. I shut off the trolling motor and the fish finder works. In my case they are both connected to the same battery. Not sure in your situation however. I have never heard of a trolling motor causing interference.

    2jranch
    Arcadia, WI
    Posts: 851
    March 19, 2006 at 11:03 pm #431391

    I had a similar problem and the cure was to ground the battery to the boat. It did the job.

    wkw
    Posts: 730
    March 19, 2006 at 11:05 pm #431393

    Thanks Cade. The batteries in the boat are all brand new and fully charged. Could there be some kind of frequency
    issue between the motor and finder? Would a noise filter take care of it or would it reduce the sensitivity of the finder?

    wkw
    Posts: 730
    March 19, 2006 at 11:07 pm #431394

    How do you ground the battery?

    TritonMike
    Posts: 3
    March 20, 2006 at 12:27 am #431403

    I know this doesn’t help your problem immediately but the reason why you are getting interference is because of the board that Minn Kota uses causes interference with your fish finder when the trolling motor is in use. Motor Guide used to have this problem until they went digital with their Trolling Motors. There was some helpful hints on the BFHP that I saw that might minimize the interference.

    Mike

    derek_johnston
    On the water- Minnesota
    Posts: 5022
    March 20, 2006 at 12:36 am #431405

    Triton Mike is correct. Your going to get some interference with the Universal Sonar with some locator’s. Its rare but it does happen.

    2jranch
    Arcadia, WI
    Posts: 851
    March 22, 2006 at 10:36 pm #432377

    Just run a wire from your battery ground to a piece of metal next to you battery box.

    ferny
    Stillwater, MN
    Posts: 622
    March 22, 2006 at 10:55 pm #432384

    Can you move the depthfinder power cord away from the trolling motor cables? If you try all those other tips and it doesn’t work you can find some clamp on ferrite choke noise suppressors from Radio Shack. They just clamp over your depthfinder powercord and help suppress the spikes. They worked for me.

    Good Luck,
    Ferny

    wade_kuehl
    Northwest Iowa
    Posts: 6167
    March 22, 2006 at 11:07 pm #432391

    Is that an RF choke Ferny? Hear that can work well.

    derek_johnston
    On the water- Minnesota
    Posts: 5022
    March 22, 2006 at 11:12 pm #432394

    Are we still talking about the US motor?

    wade_kuehl
    Northwest Iowa
    Posts: 6167
    March 22, 2006 at 11:13 pm #432395

    Quote:

    Are we still talking about the US motor?

    Oops.

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