I have been lurking here for a bit and really appreciate reading some of the posts. I have a question regarding my Hummingbird 565 fish finder. It seems to only work when the boat is running. When the motor is off there is little to no fish being located, even when I know there are fish about… I can idle along and the finder starts dinging off the fish at different depths and different sizes. Kill the motor and it might go off once in a half hours time.
Are you sure when you are motoring around and seeing fish, that those arent just false readings? I had a finder once do the same thing, turns out it was interferance from the motor causing false readings and there just wasnt many fish in that area when stopped / drifting. Just a thought.
I had the same thing go wrong on mine and found out all it was was the bubbles created by the motor while it was running. That means your transdeucer is not mounted correctly or it just needs to be tighted down a little. I always wondered why they insist on mounting the transdeucer on the right side of the boat. When you are in motion the prop goes in the clockwise direction causing a “pocket” where there is no water, on the right side, usually where the transdeucer is located. Any thoughts or ideas?
TS
Thanks, I’m pretty sure the are not faults readings, too different. I can go for awhile with out anything and then read some here and there. I had the same problem with my other boat, but same finder.
I was out at the berry late summer by the latter’s and had a guy saying that his sonar was going off the wall and mine showed nothing with the motor off. Turned it on and there they were… I have adjusted the transducer several times and it doesn’t seen to help..
One thing i learned a while back, was on good fish finders with fish ID, to turn that feature off. It will take a little more effort on your part to learn what all the marks and curves are but in the long run you will be better off. I have seen this before that the fish ID may be signalling anything from algea to fish and confusing me along with it. Turn the Id off, set the sensativity low and work you way up till you begin to define the water column. Adjust you gray scale gradually as you go up in sensativity as well this will help you define between fish and structure. The best place to learn how to read your fishfinder is on the ice, in approx 30 feet with good fish action such as perch. I’m not trying to tell you how like i’m a know it all but just how i’ve learned to read sonars and flashers. Good Luck.
Yes, by all means turn the Fish ID off. Use the manual mode and read up on your settings . Do you have a good ground, that can affect your unit as well.
Then i think you are getting engine interferance. Sometimes this is caused by the wires of your Fishfinder being to close to any of the wiring going to your engine or controls. You might need to shield the wires from your Fishfinder .
Possibly you are stopping where there are no fish? It would make sense(kind of) that when you are moving and covering water(you still move somewhat when not in gear from the exhaust) you are marking fish. Just a thought.[;)]
I’m not an expert on fish finders, but there are a couple of things that I would recommend.
** 1- make all connections, power and ground directly to your battery. I don’t know if manufacturers recommend this, but it will eliminate the possibility of cross interference with other wiring systems in the boat. (I have installed many fish finders, and this has eliminated false signals)
** 2- Turn off the Fish ID feature. I don’t know why this dummy feature is even on the units.
*The ID feature will read as a fish, no matter what the actual target is. *
** It’s obvious that you have had the unit for some time, and have played with the controls, but I would still suggest that you “play” with them, until you have a good feel for the sensitivity of the unit.
** I can’t believe that interference (bubbles) would appear as fish in all depths of the water column. Also, do these signals appear on the screen, (motor running) in and out of gear?
**
Thanks for the replies. The weird thing about this is that the boat can be moving or just sitting still and the finder works fine with the motor running. Turn it off and all goes away, sitting still or being blown by the wind. The images that I see are fish, I’m almost certain of that. I have wondered if the finder was not getting the full amount of voltage to power the unit with out the current coming from the alternator. My battery is good and is delivering a full 12v.
I can’t imagine that I’m sitting next to 20 other boats on the berry, the fish are being pulled in right and left, and my finder is just looking at me like the deer in the head light thing…
Interferance is a common problem when grounding is done to the “Bus” side of an elelectrical block. If this is where you have it wired to I would suggest running new wires.
Also, after years of fishing, it wasn’t until I started Ice Fishing with my sounder did I really start to understand it. Boats move, hope fully, ice does not. When my transducer is perfectly still I can tune and adjust to my hearts content, no boat to steer, no other boats to watch for, just me and my sounder, sitting perfectly still.
ANY MOVEMENT, the slightest thing (640 pixels in the 30’ mode is about 1 and 1/2 inch per pixel). So a 2" movement on your boat can confuse what you see. On ice a single verticle pixel movement can only be a fish or crayfish. You can watch a jig the size of a flea fall all the way to the zoom window, on ice.
Can the 565 switch to like a 1/2 screen of the real time flasher on the right side of the screen? That would be a real help too.
Shawn, you neglected to tell us if the boat is stored for the winter, or if you have access to open water at the present time.
** I would like to work this problem out for you. We have all kind of help at your finger tips here on the forum, and I think that we can do it.
** I suggested that you connect the finder directly to the battery. I think that would help.
** When I do that, I take two wires, your choice of wire gauge, one white for power, and a black for ground. I run the wires out, and chuck the two ends to a hand drill, slowly start the drill which will twist them together. The don’t have to tight, just enough to keep them together. Solder them to the wire harness to the finder, and your set. Note: route the wires away from any major, high voltage wires running in the boat, like trolling motor wires.
** Stay away from tricky connections, like hooking them up to the ignition or standard grounding buss.
** Like mentioned above, the better you can isolate the finder from all other interference, the better.
**
Great info here, I like that website and will sit back and do some reading later today. My boat is currently down at Sugar House Awning getting a full cockpit enclosure done… The ice will break before we know it!!
I will reroute the wires, yes they are currently just hooked up under the dash, I think I will also run it off of the second battery to try and eliminate other noise.
Is there such a thing as a filter that goes inline for the power wire to the finder?
I have been also reading about how the power of the unit can increase the definition of the readings. My finder has only 2000 watts at peak and I see some that put out 4000.
The thing is, if I was getting a bad reading why would it be at different depths and come and go just like if it was really working? It does distort when the speed is increased of if you throttle up to spin the boat around..
Remember, my post is not about all the fish I’m seeing it’s about the lack of fish I’m seeing when sitting still.
I just purchased the same finder as you have. Do you have it wired directly to a battery or going through a fuse box? In my instructions it has you put a 3amp fuse between the battery and the head unit.
I have a Humminbird Panaroma, it’s older and not as good as yours. It has tri beam and 2000 watts. It is fine for what I do. It can pick up a leadhead jig in 100’ of water, good enough to jig for lakers at the gorge.
Your unit is plenty good, for all you know, you just keep stopping where there are no fish, there is this Geoff guy on here that has the same problem, no matter what boat he is in.[sly]
One thing i learned a while back, was on good fish finders with fish ID, to turn that feature off. It will take a little more effort on your part to learn what all the marks and curves are but in the long run you will be better off. I have seen this before that the fish ID may be signalling anything from algea to fish and confusing me along with it. Turn the Id off, set the sensativity low and work you way up till you begin to define the water column. Adjust you gray scale gradually as you go up in sensativity as well this will help you define between fish and structure. The best place to learn how to read your fishfinder is on the ice, in approx 30 feet with good fish action such as perch. I’m not trying to tell you how like i’m a know it all but just how i’ve learned to read sonars and flashers. Good Luck.