Humminbird Interlink Trouble

I think I may have a bad interlink. Both locators switch between Interlink Connected and Interlink Disconnected repeatedly on there own. Anyone have any experience with this?

A buddy’s unit did exactly that. Replaced Interlink on warranty and worked fine.

That’s not what I was wanting to hear but I’m thinking the same thing. Sucks that the warranty is over on this one. Is it a 1 year warranty?

Your correct, 1 year limitted warranty. Page 34 or 36 of the owners manual has all the info for warranty claim and out of warranty repairs. If it is out of warranty, it doesn’t hurt to call for a price.

Otherwise, I would contact Wade at Jolly marine. Awesome customer service and very fare pricing!

I assume you have verified the connections are not loose???

Skeeter Boat Center has “awesome customer service”, as well and Gregg is very knowledgeable in Humminbirds, and they are right by you.

I’d consider / ask Gregg about getting the new Ethernet connection, depending on which units you have. Interlink will be old news soon, if not already. good luck…

I tried the Skeeter Boat Center twice today but they must be closed for the Holiday. Its irritating because I was there yesterday getting filters. I have a 798 (bow) and a 898 (dash) so the ethernet cable is out of the question, at least I think. I hope they have a used interlink around there so I can try it out and make sure its the problem.

I’ve been waiting for any potential wrinkles to be ironed out before getting the Ethernet (998 / 898) and ditching the Interlink. You’ll probably have your situation solved by that time. Try Gregg on Monday….I wouldn’t doubt someone’s upgraded recently and he might have / know where to find a used Interling. Good luck…

Hi Scott – If you installed an 898 with a GR50 GPS Receiver (antenna) and the 2 are sharing an antenna, I would do the latest downloads – 898_v5.410.bin for the 898 and 798c SI_v5_450.bin for the 798 and then reset the interlink before getting too frustrated – 99 times out of 100 that will fix it.

Hey Gregg,

Wow talk about customer service, you guys are the best. I have the 798c on its own GR50 GPS Receiver and the 898 is also on it’s own GR50. I sat in the boat with the laptop and installed the latest updates in each unit, still no success. I’m interested in resetting the interlink. By that do you mean I can delete the interlink’s software and reboot/restore it? The 898 said it reprogrammed the interlink during initial start up. Can I do that again, if so how? I hope this helps you help me.

Thanks

P.S. Do you guys have any used interlinks around I can try out if it comes to that? Also I’ll be on Wissota chasing a Crappie for a while if Easter gets to be to much for you tomorrow.

Scott, the link below will guide you through a true reset – back up all of your data on a card and then pull the card before you do anything.
Reset HB Interlink
We are doing Easter dinner right after church tomorrow, them I am going to take the boat on the Chetek Chain to break it in. I need my 2 hours on it before I start my St. Jude pre-fishing.
I can pull an interlink out of a demo if you need to try one Monday.

One day I’ll have boat new enough that I have to break in the motor. I have to admit I’m slightly jealous. I cant think of a better way to spend some time on Easter day.

I have another question for you, I heard that I may be able to use a ethernet cable. Will it work with the 798c or only the new model 798 HD?

Happy Easter!

When it comes to the 5″ screens, the ethernet cable will only work with HD units Scott.
Happy Easter right back at you!

Have fun in the new ride Gregg! Happy Easter to both, and good luck Scott. Hope you get things working.

ps- Scott, like the other gentleman mentioned, make sure you verify all the connections are tight. I had an issue last year that I was blaming the Interlink with as well, but tracked it down to a connection (can’t remember which one exactly) up in the bow that was the culprit. Looked like they were connected, but at closer inspection they weren’t tight. good luck…….

The boat we have been talking about in this thread is my partners boat. On my boat I have 798ci HD SI (bow) and a 898c SI (dash). I see the ethernet hook up on the 898c SI but where does it hook up to the 798ci HD SI? Also how much better is the network if I convert to a ethernet cable from an interlink?

Happy Easter to you as well Mike!!

Scott, for your HD unit there will be an adapter cable that goes into the collector that your unit snaps in to – the other end of that short adapter cable is threaded like your 898. I have not spent much time on the water with the ethernet system, but I have yet to see a negative aspect of it over the Interlink.

Just got a new interlink via FedEx. I open the box and see two wires with big black pucks on them. Cable Chokes? What the heck do these things accomplish and do I really need them?

Anyone know if I need to use these choke cables?

The chokes are there to help eliminate interference. I would go ahead and use them it will not hurt anything.

I am having the same problem. I upgraded software on my 997si and 917, and on my friends 997si and 957. His works fine. I spent a lot of time troubleshooting with Humminbird and it was decided the interlink went bad on mine so they sent me another. It would start to merge, fail merge, and then say interlink disconnected. I borrowed my friend’s interlink and my set up works fine with it. Humminbird sent me a replacement interlink. Finally got it, pluged it in and the same thing happened. merge failed after about 15 seconds and interlink disconnect comes up. Hard to believe it is the 3rd interlink with this proble (2 of them brand new from humminbird) but my friend’s interlink works with his boat and my boat, and the hew ones won’t work with his set up or mine. I even tried deleting all waypoint data and reset to factory settings, (except it still has software upgraded) but got same results. I am still working with Humminbird to get resolved. It is VERY frustrating. I will post what happens. Oh by the way, systems work fine independantly with their own GPS antennas.

Please do keep us posted as to what happens. It is very frustrating when you spend this kind of money and stuff wont work. Nothing worse than a day on the water irritated with your equipment!