Ice ducer conundrum

[sincityrednek]

I just had an XI 9 20 get delivered tonight for my Helix 5. I hooked it up, put the ducer into a 5 gallon bucket of water to test it and it reads 8.3ft.....what the heck? That looks weird, what do you guys think?

   Thanks, Leo

[3300]

sounds about right.
we use whats known as the floor test. that is to have your transducer held up at 2 feet above a hard floor like cement or tile. set it gain until you see the floor. it should be between 8 and 10 feet on your sonar.

you don't need water to test it.

[sincityrednek]

sounds about right.
we use whats known as the floor test. that is to have your transducer held up at 2 feet above a hard floor like cement or tile. set it gain until you see the floor. it should be between 8 and 10 feet on your sonar.

you don't need water to test it.

Thanks 3300. I was kinda worried lol.

Leo

[ice dawg]

In my opinion you should read the correct depth using water. The reason you get more depth when suspending a transducer in air is that the signal travels slower in air than water which makes the depth reading look deeper. A transducer suspended with two feet of water under it should read two feet. A transducer suspended in air two feet above a hard surface should read about 8.5 feet. 

[sincityrednek]

In my opinion you should read the correct depth using water. The reason you get more depth when suspending a transducer in air is that the signal travels slower in air than water which makes the depth reading look deeper.

Thanks, I thought it should of read correctly. Well we will see this weekend on the lake. God I hope I don't have to send it back and wait for another one.

Leo

[ice dawg]

I have a feeling everything will be ok once you are on the ice. An easy test to see if a transducer is working is to rub the bottom with something made from wool. If your flasher screen goes wild it is working. Most sonar units don't read correctly in a couple feet of water.

[3300]

Thanks, I thought it should of read correctly. Well we will see this weekend on the lake. God I hope I don't have to send it back and wait for another one.

Leo

the floor test will tell you what you need to know, so your not worrying anymore. it already is showing some thing, so it's not dead anyway.

per your first test, it may not be set up correctly for that shallow of water yet.

[sincityrednek]

Thanks for the help guys. Holding the ducer about 2' above my hardwood floors I was marking something at roughly 8'-9'.

[ice dawg]

You should be good. 

[sincityrednek]

Awesome thanks for the help

[sincityrednek]

Had it out today and it worked flawlessly 

[ice dawg]

Great. I have a Helix 7 and a Helix 9 in my boats. Very nice units. Both are the new G2 models.