HDS 5 Sonar issues

So about three weeks ago I started having issue with the sonar. The HDS 5 is three years old and the thru-hull transducer is 6 years old.

I first noticed when the motor was on I would get diagonal lines through the sonar. I have checked the ground wire several times and it all seems tight. Then it seemed like when I would be moving at high speeds the depth reading goes to zero, but the diagonal lines were gone. In fact, it seems like it wasn’t reading at all.

When the motor is not running, the diagonal lines are gone. I am getting a depth reading and can see a line for the bottom. I am not getting any other details. When I look at the HDS 5 I have at the bow, I am getting all the details I would expect like weeds, fish, and bottom.

Here is a screen shot of when the motor is running. This was right away in the morning so you can see some bottom details, but later in the day I found that the bottom detail was gone and was just basically a line showing increasing/decreasing depths.

The transducer is still tightly secured to the hull and I am not having any issues with the GPS/mapping.

Anybody have thoughts? Electrical? Transducer going bad? Something wrong with the unit?

Thanks.
Brent

Sounds to me like the ducer is going out on you.

Look at all your electrical connections, if it only does this when the engine is running sounds like power issue. Try and run a sperate power wire directly to the battery to eliminate all connection issues

Swap the two units from front to back and see if you have the same issues. This might help to narrow down which transducer if any is giving you the problem.

I think I will start with the direct wire to the battery. Both the locators are in-dash so hopefully it doesn’t come to moving those around, but if it turns out not to be electrical that would probably be a good next step. Thanks!

Looks like it is the ducer. The direct wiring didn’t fix anything. So I stop at GM and got a new ducer. I just hung it over the side of the boat and just like that I had a nice crystal clear picture. So now all I have to do is install the new ducer…that might end up leading to another topic.

I wouldn’t rule out the way it’s mounted in your boat as the issue. Your test isn’t exactly complete. What I would do is pull your transducer that isn’t working and do the test over the side like you did with the new one. If it still shows the lines then I would agree its the ducer. If it works fine it has to do with your thru hull mounting. Good luck!

It was the ducer. New one is installed and all is well. thanks for all the advice.