Lowrance elite 5 problem - help

[ben475]

Bought a used boat recently, has a lowrance elite 5 finder in it.

Took it out for its first run and found its not reading too well, appears to read ok at times then all over the place, eg. Showing 18m depth then 1.5m when still in deep water, although im only familiar with older basic finders and dont know much about newer ones it seems to lack detail also.

Some of the images ive been getting are below.

Possibly a damaged transducer?

Anyone had similar problems? Or any ideas?

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[scottar]

For starters, switch it to 200kHz. The 83kHz will be a wider cone and thus have less detail. It will also be more noise prone. It looks like you are losing the bottom while driving as well but try the 200 first. Might also be worth a picture or two of your transducer installation.

[ben475]

For starters, switch it to 200kHz. The 83kHz will be a wider cone and thus have less detail. It will also be more noise prone. It looks like you are losing the bottom while driving as well but try the 200 first. Might also be worth a picture or two of your transducer installation.

Ill get a transducer pic in daylight.
I tried the 200khz at one point didnt seem to fix my problems but ill keep it in mind for future.

Transducer copped a knock from the previous owners last trip, broke the mount point, ive done a little fix up by drilling a hole thru whats left of the mount, other than that it fitted in a decent position.

Happy enough to shell out for a replacement TD but i dont want to find out its an issue with the main unit, otherwise id be better off buying a whole new setup.

The erratic readings occured both moving at low speed (4-5kmh) and when not moving not at high speed.

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[scottar]

Ah. That changes things. Transducers have a ceramic crystal in them that can be damaged in an impact. I would see if you can find either a dealer that can plug your set in and test it briefly or someone that has the same unit that can try it confirm the head unit is ok and then buy a new transducer.

[ben475]

Thanks for the advice, ill see if i can do that before taking a gamble on a new td.

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[ben475]

Transducer mount.

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[tunaticer]

Kick the transducer down a bit more at the tail.
Very common transducer, there would be dozens laying about in sheds from upgrades.
I know i ditched two of that transducer about 6 months ago that had been gathering dust in my shed.
Put the question out there for a trial connecting either someone else's transducer to your unit or putting your unit on another boat for a test run.

[ben475]

Kick the transducer down a bit more at the tail.
Very common transducer, there would be dozens laying about in sheds from upgrades.
I know i ditched two of that transducer about 6 months ago that had been gathering dust in my shed.
Put the question out there for a trial connecting either someone else's transducer to your unit or putting your unit on another boat for a test run.

This transducer has the power cable spliced into it, it comes like that from factory, not sure if any old transducer can be connected up or it has to be one from the same model.

Ill put it out there and see if anyone in sth east melb has an elite 5.

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[Feral]

they were not a great model, if it loses the bottom it may not be able to find it again, or it might grab a thermocline and call that the bottom if you have the depth on automatic. Mine does that, I have to reset it to a manual range that covers the depth the boat is in then it finds the bottom again and I can switch it back to auto. Also they are prone to just switching themselves off after a while, and get quite warm.

I certainly wont be buying another lowrance after getting skimmed on this model.

[mace01]

My skimmer from my olds HDS 5 died in much the same way. Needed a new one. Mat.

[always trying]

I had same problems with the same lowrance and it done my head in trying to solve it so I bought a garmin 5dv sounder and just use the lowrance for maps. Pretty happy with my setup now.
Cheers

[ben475]

I had same problems with the same lowrance and it done my head in trying to solve it so I bought a garmin 5dv sounder and just use the lowrance for maps. Pretty happy with my setup now.
Cheers

Did u ever try a different transducer?

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

[always trying]

No I didn't try a different transducer or get it tested but did all the other stuff - frequency, relocation etc. Mine like yours came fitted to the 2nd hand boat and I was not happy with how it worked so rather than waste money and time on an old unit buying (what I consider to be a better sounder) was the best/easiest and maybe? cheaper $350 option for me.
Cheers

[Dignity]

Interesting that my mate has an Elite 5M and the TD looks totally different. If you want to bring your boat to the warm and sunny Queensland we could test it for you. 😆

[ben475]

No I didn't try a different transducer or get it tested but did all the other stuff - frequency, relocation etc. Mine like yours came fitted to the 2nd hand boat and I was not happy with how it worked so rather than waste money and time on an old unit buying (what I consider to be a better sounder) was the best/easiest and maybe? cheaper $350 option for me.
Cheers

Yea full replacement is an option.

I dont need heaps of features, this one will do everything i need if i can get it working.

On the other hand a new model wont be overly expensive as i dont need to go high end.

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk