Humminbird network / transducer question…

Ok all, I’m pretty technical and really don’t anticipate too many issues with what I’m doing just looking to get some best practices or practical advice…

I’ve got a new boat on order, delivery in Feb, with it I’ve got all new electronics coming… 1198si & 858c at the helm and an 1158di on the bow. I have the 5 port hub and am networking all 3 units.

My real question is in regard to transducer config for the helm…

1) the 858 will have its own ducer mounted on transom – for a backup since this unit will mostly be a GPS.

2) the 1158di on the bow will be using the US2 transducer, I know the DI will be disabled when the ducer setting is US2, willing to at least try it before I mount an external ducer to the TM, I have network capability as well so I could use / view the rear mounted DI, not ideal again but we’ll see how it goes. Maybe another now unit with SI is in my future.

3). The real issue I’m mulling is with regard to the 1198si and the transducer(s) I need for it. Given this is my first si unit what is the best arrangement? I want to use this unit as my depth finder at the helm, including the SI, I also want high speed performance, I realize with the side stuff that doesn’t work, but down will. Can all of this be accomplished with the single SI transducer with relative confidence or should I get the humminbird splitter and add another DI ducer for better high speed perf and mount the SI ducer up higher. Also, do I understand it correctly that the humminbird splitter is actually a frequency / signal splitter – I don’t have to switch it tell it which transducer to use? Given ill have an extra DI ducer from the 1158 I was thinking this scenario is pretty cheap insurance…

Thoughts appreciated!

Joe

I run a 998 with si ducer on the transom. It works great at high speeds so I don’t really see a need for the splitter and the 83/200 ducer for high speeds. That being said I had one laying around so I mounted it back there as a spare and ran the wire up to the unit (not connected) just in case I would ever hit anything with the si dicer. I have yet to have to use it. As long as you have the si ducer mounted in the correct spot to avoid turbulence and it is at the right angle it will work great at high speeds

Typically the 1198 SI transducer is not used for high speed readings. It may work on some hulls with a lot of time invested in tweaking trans position. Try a high speed (in-hull) transducer with a “y cable”. You are correct about the Y cable. You do not have to switch between transducers. You will be able to get your high readings from the “in-hull” trans and SI readings from the SI trans.

Are you going to be running an ethernet port to link all 3 units?

I’m somewhat confused by your post. What units do you have exactly? I’m guessing 1198c SI, 858c HD, and an 1158c DI? First, none of those units have an internal GPS, so you’d need an external GPS puck. Second, I didn’t think universal sonar would work with DI units. After looking at the 1158c DI manual though, it looks like it does accept the Universal Sonar 2, you just have to select that for the transducer. They cannot even get 2D sonar from a SI transducer though.

Wherever you mount your down imaging transducer, that sonar data is only readable by down imaging head units (example, neither your 1198c SI unit nor your 858c unit will get sonar from the down imaging transducer).

By contrast, your 858c WILL be able to get 2D sonar data from your side imaging transducer. Your 1158c DI will not be able to get sonar data from the side imaging transducer though.

As far as high speed depth readings from your side imaging transducer. As long as you get it set up correctly, you should still be able to keep contact with the bottom at high speeds and continue reading 2D sonar.

Trying to answer a couple of your questions:

1.) You will not need to mount the 858 transducer if you don’t want to, since it’ll read sonar from the side imaging transducer.

2.) Your 1158c DI should be able to read data from the universal sonar2, but you may want to contact humminbird to confirm that.

3.) I can’t help much with this question. Others with more experience on the SI transducers and head units will have to weigh in on this, like the two commentors above.

One other bit of info is that your 1158DI unit will NOT read the DI from the 1198. These 2 transducers are different and they do not interchange.
From what I have heard and have experienced!

What Eric said is correct. In fact, the DI will NOT read any sonar data from the other SI transducer. The only thing you’ll benefit from connecting them by ethernet, is waypoint and trail data.

Dont know about networking, because I dont let my units talk to each other.

I can tell you this, if you are willing to tweak your HDSI transducer for optimum performance, it will be worth the effort.

Thanks for all of the insight, it is a good sounding board.

I do realize that all of the different units won’t share sonar data, I was hoping there was a little more flexibility than there is but I’m really not that concerned as I plan on each unit using it’s own transducer. I wish that I had the bonus of US2 with DI but I’ll try it out and see how the standard sonar works versus the pain of cables / wiring on the outside of the trolling motor with a DI transducer, that’s easy enough to add later.

I was aware I had to add the separate GPS antenna, debating one or two as well as which one, thinking the extra 50 bucks for the puck with the heading sensor but there isn’t a whole lot out there in terms of information about that.

I guess, as the last poster said, mostly what I am concerned about is sharing waypoints / trail info or maybe I should bite the bullet and upgrade all three to SI units and be done with it, at least have the option to share the SI.

I have done my homework, to some extent and realize in order to maximize the performance of the SI unit I may need to tweek the SI ducers location.

Thanks for the help, keep it coming!

My experience with a 858di on the bow and a 898si on the console is that the down imaging on the 858 is way better than it is on the 898. I installed the di transducer on the trolling motor and it works great. My units share a GPS puck. Some people will say to mount the GPS puck as close to the depth finder as possible. The GPS puck on mine is about 1/2 way between the two units. Works fine for me. Good luck with your new electronics. Love those HB units.

eyewall, your 858 WILL actually get sonar from the side imaging transducer. And if you can get the bow unit hooked up to the US2 on the trolling motor, your 1198 and 858 CAN get sonar from that as well. You’d just have to select that transducer instead of the transom one. Really, they CAN all share sonar data with each other, other than the down imaging unit.
2D sonar information is shared very well between units, except for DI head units.
Hopefully that makes sense.