Lowrance DSI Problem

[Bracey]

G'day. I recently bought a Lowrance 4xDSI at the boat show. Fitted it myself without any problems. I'm happy with the images but a recurring problem I am having is that it loses the bottom and indicates 0.5m. The frustrating part is that it is only occasionally and can't even be isolated to a particular speed/rpm. Sometimes it does it when drifting. Spoke to Lowrance and they said could be a software problem (can't update these ones) so the retailer sent me a new head unit. Same problem. Retailer then sent me a new transducer and cabling. There is a electronic filter between the power terminals and the transducer so not wanting to go to the effort of swapping transducers I swapped the filter only. Took it out yesterday and it was fine for the the first 4 hours then started playing up??? My last component to change is the transducer, but that's a lot of stuffing around when I feel it is going to have the same problem.

Has anyone else had this issue with a DSI. I'm thinking of swapping it for a normal sonar. Other thing is the picture is good but with such a narrow beam I can't see the downrigger bomb.

Any info or advice appreciated.

Cheers, Bart

[rjc123]

I also have recently purchased the 4x dsi. Haven't used it much yet but already when setting it up i had a few technical errors... It is probably irrelevant but it has a max of 80m depth (your probably not in water that deep with that particular sounder anyway..) I probably haven't been much help being relatively new to sounders but maybe it would be worth getting someone to have a look at the connections etc..

Tom

[zook2001]

I was having a similar issue with my HDS5 and lowered the transducer 1cm, problem fixed although I can't see why it needed to be changed. If it's a software problem maybe a hard reset would work, the key combination should be in the manual.

[Bracey]

Thanks for the replies. I have tried a hard reset and that didn't make any difference. This has been happening in only 10m of water so depth not the issue. The transducer is positioned as per the manual. If it was the location of the tran why would it work for 4 hours over various speeds and depths and then start playing up? What are the chances there could be a fault in the transducer. Do these things fail much?Bart

[zmk1962]

I don't have your unit but it seems to me you have changed the head unit and the electronic-filter the only thing left is the transducer and it's associated cable. Maybe there is a crack or compromise in the cable and when you swapped the elec-filter you disturbed the transducer cable and got a temporary connection (that lasted 4hrs). Could explain why you start off ok then after some use and associated vibration lose signal. I think you are going to have to temporarily rig the replacement transducer to eliminate the current transducer and it's cable.