Lowrance HDS Carbon troubles

[Sifor10]

Hi everyone,

Recently upgraded my Elite Ti to a HDS Carbon 12 (running latest firmware)

Been working fine for the past few weeks on my totalscan transducer but today I lost bottom on the plane (not unusual for my boat) then once I stopped to fish, the sounder would not find bottom again, both sonar (all frequencies) and downscan/sidescan were stuffed.

I restarted the unit, pulled out power and sonar plugs at rear of unit, cleaned, reinserted etc which did nothing - I still had 'bottom' being read only about 2-3m in 35m deep water....Also ended up getting a downscan image being overlaid entirely/intermixed with the sonar image (looked completely stuffed!).

Eventually I did a factory reset on the unit and that fixed it for the rest of the day.

Any ideas what this might of been? Will see how it goes tomorrow.

Kinda concerning given this is an expensive unit.

[Volvo]

Sounds like a hook tripleshot problem lol. Ide send it off to Lowrance get it checked if it does it again.

[scottar]

The most likely answer (given lowrances track record) is a software bug. Over the years through the models I suspect they have had software updates than I have had hot dinners. If it does it again, make sure you photo document it so you have evidence that the fault occured and then contact Navico (or your dealer depending on where you purchased it). In the meantime just check regularly for software updates.

[Volvo]

Hi everyone,

Recently upgraded my Elite Ti to a HDS Carbon 12 (running latest firmware)

Been working fine for the past few weeks on my totalscan transducer but today I lost bottom on the plane (not unusual for my boat) then once I stopped to fish, the sounder would not find bottom again, both sonar (all frequencies) and downscan/sidescan were stuffed.

I restarted the unit, pulled out power and sonar plugs at rear of unit, cleaned, reinserted etc which did nothing - I still had 'bottom' being read only about 2-3m in 35m deep water....Also ended up getting a downscan image being overlaid entirely/intermixed with the sonar image (looked completely stuffed!).

Eventually I did a factory reset on the unit and that fixed it for the rest of the day.

Any ideas what this might of been? Will see how it goes tomorrow.

Kinda concerning given this is an expensive unit.

How did you go with Lowrance and your unit??, They did the right thing by me and replaced with new unit ..

[Sifor10]

Thanks everyone, yes I thought it might be a software bug given it fixed itself after a factory reset.

It hasn't done it again (touch wood) but sometimes the sonar gets a bit slow updating in shallow water.

Will keep an eye on it...

[Moonlighter]

One thing that the Lowrances (and other brands too) do NOT like is a poor power supply. They can and will do weird things if they are not getting a solid 12v. I have personally seen strange things happen that were fixed as soon as power supply issues were sorted out.

So I would suggest checking your battery, terminals, wiring and connections to make sure they are all tight, in good order, no corrosion, fully charged etc.

Also, its a good idea after doing any software updates, to do a “soft reset” as this reboots the software and ensures everything is hunky-dory after the update. But make sure you backup waypoints and settings to a SD card or to a tablet using the Navico app first, just to be safe and ensure you dont lose anything. In fact, doing a soft reset every 6 months or so is not a bad idea.

The kinds of problems you had can also be caused by power to the unit being cut off before the unit is turned off And shut down properly. It is much the same as shutting down a PC by pulling the plug out of the power point - the PC software doesnt shut down properly and it causes problems. Same thing for the HDS or any other MFD unit if they suddenly lose power.

There have been some pretty significant software updates and new features released in the last 12 months by Lowrance, which is great, but occasionally some bugs do arise - mostly they are fixed pretty quickly with a further update.