Lowrance X-4

[janines.fishtales@cox.net]

HELP! I am so frustrated with this device! The fine young men at OEX have been absolute dolls, but we can't figure out what is happening with this thing. They even went so far as to give me another unit.

CJ moved the transducer to the hull at the bow of my kayak. He has removed it once and refastened it because he thought there may be air bubbles. CJ, chime in when you see this as I try to explain what it's doing.

So the depth numbers flash at some inaccurate depth. It shows no bottom at all. It also has either a solid black screen, or it has vertical thick black lines across the screen. The water temp is not accurate either. I am told the depth setting should be set to manual with a preset depth reading. I have done that. There are times when it works part of the day, and times like yesterday, where it did not work at all.

What do you guys think? Is this a transducer problem? Does anyone have one of these? What is your experience? I didn't think about it at the time, but I should have taken pics of the screen and what it is doing.

Janine

[chxh8me]

I had a somewhat similar problem with my humminbird.... innacurate depths, sometimes blank screen, water temp not accurate. And this was after I had used it previously with no issues.

Turned out the transducer connection wasn't quite tight enough.
Originally I had it rigged with just the transducer cable coming through the hull and out of the FF mount, without using the cable connector holder.
I reinstalled the mount with the connector holder and it works fine now. Just had to fix the loose connection.

No idea if that is any help, but figured I'd chime in.

[janines.fishtales@cox.net]

Thanks for the suggestion. Anything helps. I will look into it.

Janine

[RedSledTeam]

You can also try to "reset to factory defaults" on if it is a screen settings issue.

[alanw]

I had similar screen problems a few times. First thing I'd do is reset the unit to factory defaults. Get it working that way first, then you can tweak the manual settings to your liking.

First time I had the problems was due to air gaps in my goop, confirmed by pouring some water on the transducer which cleared up the signal. Re-gooped it and it's working good.

I'd say it's most likely transducer mounting or wiring problems. Having the same problems with a second head unit pretty much confirms this. Did you try a new transducer with the new unit?

[salty pirate]

I hade the same unit and never had a problem. I mean it got rolled in the surf and completely soaked and the only time it had a problem was when the battery got low.
I would guess its a wiring issue since you say it works fine sometimes. def get a pic of it when it happens. and reset to default as mentioned above.
Also the lines up and down could be interference from another ff on the same freq.


Eli

[FISH11]

I agree with ALANW try adding a little water to the inside of the kayak (like just enough to 1/2 way cover the transducer) if works than it means it should be remounted because of air bubbles or larger gap. If it still not right than it's the connections at the back of the unit. Check for corrosion on the connector or the pins. If there is some clean it off and apply di-electric grease to both. Good luck.

[Carlos Gonzalez]

Any chance you to get other transducer and make a comparison?