lowrance lcx27c

[oldguysrule]

Does anyone else have a problem with losing the bottom? It does not matter shallow water or deepwater,high speed or low. I will be going along and all of a sudden it will lose the bottom and start flashing. I have done a soft boot and still makes no difference it still does it. The unit is only 2 years old???? Any suggestions ?

 

[HiTechKoke]

My 26cHD does that from time to time and it annoys me and I can't figure out why it does this. It does seem to keep recording the bottom and it's just the depth number that does not register in my case.

 

[SilverBullets]

The depth reading on my Huminbird 777C2 goes crazy once in a while. Seems to happen just in certain area's of the lake around turn over. Adjusting the sensitivity helps.

 

[Propnut69]

My 26cHD does that from time to time and it annoys me and I can't figure out why it does this. It does seem to keep recording the bottom and it's just the depth number that does not register in my case.

I have the x-135 and mine will do this same exact thing. It will still show the bottom,but the digital reading will start to flash. Sometime mine will lose the bottom for no reason. One thing I have found that helps, is to zoom in to 2x. This helps for when you want to know how deep the water is,without having to see the bottom on the graph. This is my second transducer in three years . Until Lowrance ups the quality of their products,and fixes these problems,i wont be buying another Lowrance.

 

[SmokeOnTheWater]

I'm currently waiting for my new Lowrance HDS 5. I sent my older LMS 332c in for a bench check for a overheating screen display. This thing was getting hot enough to burn your skin. I sent it in, they checked it out and they're sending the newest upgrade for half the price the retail outlets are charging. Sure hope I won't be disappointed? Don't hesitate to give them a call or visit their website. http://www.lowrance.com/Support/

Product Support - Depth Reading Troubleshooting
Here are some solutions that have helped many of our customers.

Losing Depth When the Boat is Moving
This is likely due to turbulence in the water surrounding the transducer. You may need to move the transducer lower in the water or to another location. The transducer cannot send or receive signals through air bubbles.

Losing Depth in Shallow Water
It can be difficult for a high-powered unit to capture the lightning-fast return in shallow water. Turn off the automatic sensitivity setting and manually reduce the sensitivity until the unit locks onto the bottom.

Losing bottom over weeds
When trolling over weed beds in 20ft of water or less, you may experience vertical bars, loss of the chart picture, or the digital depth. First, do a soft reset of the unit. Click here to find the reset procedure for your unit. Then go to the Full Sonar Chart screen. Press Menu and select Sonar Features. Now turn the Chart Manual Mode to On. This will leave everything in Automatic Mode except the depth. Now go back to the main menu and set the depth range for the depth you are in such as 0-20 feet.

Losing Depth When Another Sonar Unit is On
If two or more sonar units using the same transducer frequency are operating at the same time, one or more of them may lose the depth reading due to interference. It is like two radio stations trying to both broadcast on 97.3FM. In shallow water, if the transducers are far enough apart, you may be able to operate them together. However, the deeper the water, the wider the beams spread out. When they cross each other, the interference occurs.

No Depth Reading at Any Time
Clean the bottom of the transducer. Make sure the beam is shooting down (see picture below). Check your transducer connection to the back of the unit. Check the connector pins for corrosion. Check the cable for frayed or pinched areas.



Phone a Friend
If a friend has the same transducer and power connection on their boat, try your unit on their cables. If your unit works on the other boat, you transducer may need to be replaced.

 

[HiTechKoke]

There's definitely enough people seeing this same problem to know they have a problem somewhere. My transducer is clean as a whistle so turbulence or bubbles are not the issue when going 1-2 MPH. I think it is a software issue. I have noticed the issue less since upgrading to newer software but it still happens every once in a while.

Kevin

 

[oldguysrule]

Is there an aftermarket transducer that will work? Or will lowrance replace the transducer if it is bad?

 

[Kokaholic]

My lcx27c does these things also, along with loseing the gps location from time to time, then will work just fine. I'm like propnut69, when this thing finally poops the bed, I'm lookin at something other than lowrance until they can get it together. I don't know of one person who owns a 27 c that hasn't had problems with it. The 28c also

 

[SuperD]

Is there an aftermarket transducer that will work? Or will lowrance replace the transducer if it is bad?

An Airmar P66 is a great after market transducer with approx. 50 times greater signal strength than the stock Lowrance. As for the situations where the FF is losing bottom, check the voltage reading at the unit via the screen display. On my Lowrance, if the battery or ground connection is low, I get mis-readings. These units are very sensitive to voltage drop. If any of you troll with an electric trolling motor, use of downriggers, radio and FF/GPS draw the battery down because it isn't being charged by a running motor.

 

[oldguysrule]

Thanks to all I will be on the horn first thing today to try to find some answers from lowrance and will let you know what they say

 

[Kokaholic]

Good luck with lowrance, they have been pretty bull headed with most who have called them

 

[KOKANEE]

I have the lowrance LMS 332 and its doing the same thing loosing the bottom and blinking. Thought it was broke. Sounds like Im not alone. Makes me feel better. The part about voltage drops makes sense. I run a seperate battery for all my acessories. And it does seem to fail later in the day after running everything. Thanks for tip.

 

[Bduck]

I have the X100C. I like its features but do lose the bottom as well at high speed. I've been thru 2 xducers in less than a summer season. I like the unit overall but can't justify just yet on getting newer HD unit like I want until problems are resolved on these products. Public feedback on product review shows alot of cons over pros. Perhaps there's something in what SuperD was saying about the Airmar xducer. Unfortunately its $$$$'s.

 

[HiTechKoke]

Good points on the voltage and ground checks. I have plenty of voltage, 12.7 a 12.8 most of the time as I recall as I am getting constant charge back from The kicker and run two batteries for starting and electronics separate from the trolling motor battery system. The ground is something to check for sure.

Kevin

 

[SuperD]

One last troubleshooting tip. I was having real difficulty with my GPS side blinking out and I thought it was my antenna. It turned out to be my SD chip had gotten loose or a little film on the contacts. I took the chip out, wiped it on my jeans and snuggly put it back in. Everything was perfect again.

 

[KOKANEE]

Hey Thanks Super D. My GPS on the finder has been doing that as well. I'll give that a try next spring when I break out the boat from hibernation.

 

[Propnut69]

Good luck with lowrance, they have been pretty bull headed with most who have called them

Oh how right you are Mark. Lowrance's customer service leaves a lot to be desired. One of our members here ,used to be a Lowrance Rep. Last summer he confirmed what ,many of us already knew. Lowrance's quality on their transducers sucks!!. It's one reason that Lowrance was pushing the HDS series to market so fast. About the only good thing about this is,that replacement transducers are fairly cheap.. In my book Lowrance has a long way to go,to get back to where they used to be.

 

[Targa165]

I love my HDS-5. Everything works great no problems at all. I replaced an X47 lowrance that came with the boat. Had the same problems with it that everyonbe else is having.

 

[Petty4life]

im going to contact lowrance this week and if i dont get satisfaction i will be replacing it

 

[fishslayer13]

Interesting, as my huminbird does the same thing !
It started this last summer. Mine will do it when the sun is on the back of it through the window. If I put a towel behind it, it wont do it as much but still will.
A call to huminbird got me a--- adjust your sensitivity,didnt help so sent it in and they say nothing wrong it has to be the transducer. Replaced it and it still does the same thing . Was thinking of going to a lowrance but dont know now.