Vexilar Problem

I am having an issue with my vexilar, it is new this year. I have the FL-18 model. The display is loaded with marks and i cannot find my jig, I can usually see it down to 5-10ft deep but after that it just doesn’t show up. Sometimes it wont show up at all until it hits like 10 ft. I have tried different power setting adjusting the gain but nothing works, either my gain is set too low and i cant see anything or to high and all i see is solid red. I have tried on both low power and reg power modes. I have tried this in depths from 16′ to 50′ with the same problem.Also on 3 different bodies of water. Anybody have any suggestions?

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Check all connections and make sure you have a good battery. If all of those are good, try swapping the transducer with a buddy’s if you know someone that has one.

X2 with ice nutz. I’m guessing the ducer but swapping out for a known good one will confirm.

One thing I’ve seen on my Vex, when losing the lure is not having the ducer far enough down in the water column. Make sure it’s beneath the ice and hanging straight. Free and easy test.

patk wrote:

X2 with ice nutz. I’m guessing the ducer but swapping out for a known good one will confirm.

One thing I’ve seen on my Vex, when losing the lure is not having the ducer far enough down in the water column. Make sure it’s beneath the ice and hanging straight. Free and easy test.

icenutz and Patk are spot on. The only other thing I would suggest is make sure you clean the bottom of your transducer. Just give it a couple of swipes on your sleeve or leg and then put back down. Also when hole hopping in the AZ mode briefly switch it to Norm mode when you drop down a new hole and then switch it back to AZ if that is the mode you want to fish with.

Fully charged battery?

Battery is fully charged, I just checked the voltage on the battery it read 13v so it should be fine. im guessing a transducer issue i will def try the swap when i have the chance.

If it’s new call vexilar and they will take care if you.

Have you tried a different lake? Could be algee or the crud in that body of water. I have an 18 myself and later in the season have that problem in some waters.

Are you fishing by anyone with a different model Marcum, Hummingbird, try pressing in your gain button to reject I have the same model and sometimes hole hoppin or just turned it on need to hit reject sometimes

Hey guys sorry for the late response been kind of busy lately. I appreciate all the input, problem was my transducer. I am borrowing a buddies old one untill the end of the season. Then i will send it in to vex to be replaced.

For others who read this I can add one more issue and root cause.

The picture is similar to the one above but it starts early in the water column and doesn’t impact the last 5-6 feet. Happened to me last weekend.

Issue: We were running rattle reels with tip up line for all but the last 5-6 feet.

Cause: Somehow the line picked up some bubbles, schmutz, or something. This was on night two and the unit was working perfectly on another hole seconds earlier. First thoughts were junk on the ducer or damn thing broke. Further checks revealed it was getting sonar feedback from the tip up line itself.

Yep, sometimes I have to pull the transducer and just rub it on my bibs, hard to believe you are havin that much trouble

Over the years I’ve had a few problems. Most of which have been simple things that were mine to correct.

Here’s a summary over the years. I hope this will be of help to others

Simple fixes:
rotating lights on fl-8, weird behavior on fl-22 – low battery(replace battery)
trouble seeing lure near the bottom and other odd readings – Ducer not low enough(lower ducer below the ice)
Odd readings and trouble seeing lure/fish – Ice/slush/junk on the bottom of the ducer(wipe it clean)
Tons of what looks like interference from bottom of hole to shy of 6 feet of lure – tip up line picked up air bubbles on the line. no issue with fl-22. worked perfect and reading the line
See lure from the next hole and not my lure: ducer stuck at an angle and pointed at the next hole(straighten ducer)

Ducer issues:
Unable to read lure and fish – bad ducer as the cord got damaged over time(replace 19 degree ducer)
Unable to read lure and fish – Bad ducer(replaced 2 Tri-Beam ducers). Per Vex this year they have since replaced the mfr of the older Tri-Beams and this will not be an issue going forward

See if the unit will air demonstrate on a hard surface. At about 28 inches above the hard surface you should get a 10 foot light on the unit.( max gain) If the unit will air demo ten feet or more you have a good transducer.