Humminbird ice 45 problems

[Nilsfisher]

I'm having problems with my ice 45. Humminbird support says "to make sure the support cable is holding the transducer strait" well, I don't have the support cable on, it hangs perfectly straight. I cleaned off the transducer and tried everything I could think of on the ice. here is a link to the video I took of the problem.

[DTro]

What voltage is your battery at? If that checks out fine, I would guess it's a transducer problem.

My gain is almost always above 20.

[Nilsfisher]

during the time of the video it was reading 95%. I ran the flasher for about 3 hrs and when I got home I checked it and the voltage said 90%. I think I can rule the battery out. im thinking its the transducer also.

[harvey lee]

LIke DTro, my gain I run from approx 20-35.

Could be a transducer, could be something else. The unit may have to go back. Talk with Humminbird.

Both units I have are flawless.

If you can find someone that also has a 45, maybe yuou could try thier ducer and see what happens, that would at least elimante that part.

[PerchJerker]

I have used an Ice 45 a few times this year and have had the same thing going on ----- not as bad as the problem you have ------- and mine doesn't do it all the time ---- but at times it shows so much "junk" in the display that you can't even mark a jigging spoon and minow head -------- and the digital depth readout gets funky. It's annoying as he77. For now I refer to it as my "hunk of junk" flasher.

I noticed yours is worse on the wide beam, mine is worse on the narrow beam, almost not even usable on the narrow beam at times. That could be indicative of transducer issues for both of us. Regardless, I'm going to need to have mine fixed too. Post what you find out about yours. Good luck with it!

[gixxer01]

I would check the transducer connection at the back of the unit first. Give it a good smack also!

[Nilsfisher]

I checked everything out on the ice just before the video and everything seemed fine. the battery was fine, transducer clean, connections fine also. I'm going to call humminbird customer service and actually talk to someone, because email isn't really getting any results. I'll post the final result when I get it.

[harvey lee]

Far from a hunk of junk Perchjerker. Neither of my Birds have shown this issue.

Might want to contact Humminbird as you could have an issue.

[PerchJerker]

Far from a hunk of junk Perchjerker. Neither of my Birds have shown this issue.

Might want to contact Humminbird as you could have an issue.

Yah, I know I've used other Bird flashers and never seen this problem before. I decided to replace an older flasher with a Bird flasher this year, mostly to avoid any interference issues when we had a bunch of guys in a permanent house, but the one I got has this periodic issue. Annoying but I know it's not right and needs to be fixed. I've only used it about a half-dozen times and don't always have the issue, but then all of sudden it pops up and drives us nuts

[reddog]

How much have you used the unit? If you are not using the cable support, then you are pulling the tranducer out of the water with the transducer cable, instead of the cable support. This puts undo stress on the intersecting point between the cable and the transducer, and may have damaged one of the connections at that point, even if it looks good externally.

[Nilsfisher]

I used the support cable the first time it gave me trouble. I made sure that with the support cable in place, and the transducer was hanging straight. after reading many posts on FM, others have not been using their support cable and have not had issues. I'm going to assume that the transducer cable is supported the same as the vex's, on the inside of the transducer. it would be a poorly designed product otherwise and probably wouldn't last if it wasn't. I'm going to call Humminbird support monday and see what they say. hopefully they can send me a new transducer and i can try it out to make sure.

[reddog]

I'm going to assume that the transducer cable is supported the same as the vex's, on the inside of the transducer. it would be a poorly designed product otherwise and probably wouldn't last if it wasn't.

I agree, the cable support is a PITA. Brand new, out of the box, mine wouldnt hold my transducer securely. I used black Etape to firm up the grippers.

Does Vexilar provide a cable support system for their transducers?

good luck..

[Nilsfisher]

I contacted customer support. Very nice people. They said it was probably a transducer issue and are sending me a new one. I really hope that solves the problem.

[reddog]

Let us know what you find out when you get the new one.

Nice to hear they took care of you.

[Nilsfisher]

for the guys that have not had to exchange transducers, can you check to see if the serial number that is taped to the transducer cable, matches the serial number of the unit itself. I believe I was sold a return unit and someone swapped transducers cause the serial number on the yellow tag on the transducer cable does not match the serial number of the unit. Please check to see if my theory is true or not.

Thanks guys for all your input in the past posts.

[DTro]

I just went and looked...

No Serial# on my trans. I might have taken it off though.

[leech~~]

I agree, the cable support is a PITA. Brand new, out of the box, mine wouldnt hold my transducer securely. I used black Etape to firm up the grippers.

Does Vexilar provide a cable support system for their transducers?

good luck..

I think this has been posted before but the cable support system on the Humminbird flasher units was added to get around a legal Patent issue with one of the other flasher brands. They are worthless and I tossed mine the first day I had it!

[reddog]

I'm thinking theyre not going to match. Did you register your unit with Humminbird?

[Nilsfisher]

yeah, I registered it the day after I got it. I was just curious. Humminbird is sending me another one anyway, should be here thursday. Hopefully it will be new and not a refurbished one.

[Bucket_Butt]

I bought my Ice 45 on December 30, 2011 and sent away for the $50 rebate! I'ts been out on the ice about half a dozen times so far and really like all the great features. Last night mine did the same thing as yours did in your video. I am going to top off my battery tonight. Right now i'm at 60% I did hear somewhere that these flashers will do goofy things when the battery gets low. I suspect that even though I am reading 60% it's really lower. If it keeps doing the light show, I'll be calling Humminbird HQ for a replacement transducer.

BTW..I couldn't find a serial# anywhere on the transducer.

Good luck out there

[fisherman-andy]

Well I dont have an ice 45 but I figure my ice 55 is pretty close. I have seen similiar issues as yours with my 55. Typically just turning the unit off and on again works in most cases.

I have the annoying surface clutter mark in the 6ft range on wide beam & narrow on normal gain settings for each. When im on 5ft water or less on the wide beam looks like the clutter in your video unless I change it to the narrow beam. The lx5 Marcum on the other hand was flawless in 6ft.

I have looked at models and gain settings on display units at stores and they dont have the same issue as mine. Either those units have newer software or tuning, or more likely my ducer is bad and becoming worse after 2years.

I find it that if I apply slight pressure towards the top of the ducer the surface clutter disappears. Either way I wish I had another ducer to swap out with and test. Will likely order a new ducer after the hardwater season is over as backup.

[Nilsfisher]

The new transducer came via fedex today. it was a new in package with the support cable, float and stops. at the top of the cable towards the connector, there was the same yellow tape with a 12 digit number on it, just like what my "bad" ducer has (except the numbers are different). This makes me wonder if the ducer that was in the box when I got my 45 wasn't the original one. I put it on the unit but haven't had a chance to try it out yet. hopefully sunday I can get a chance to try it. I'll keep ya posted.

[Nilsfisher]

well, I tried it out with the new transducer and I had the same problem. I'm thinking that the main unit is bad. I just decided enough is enough and I didn't want to send it in to customer service so I returned it for a different unit/brand all together. I won't say what cause I know people will be bias, but needless to say, the headache is behind me now.

[walleyeman1]

My Ice 35 just started showing clutter from bottom to about a foot off bottom.It would be fine if I fished crappies but I fish walleyes. I bought it new last January. I had not had any trouble with it before. It also at sometimes stays on after I have shut the unit off. I will have to contact Humminbird and see what I need to do.

[fishwater]

It also at sometimes stays on after I have shut the unit off.

My ice-55 has been doing this lately as well. It'll stay on and lights up like a pinwheel. I've been needing to disconnect the battery to shut it down when this happens. It'll work fine for a while, then not turn off again.

[walleyeman1]

I gave my transducer a smack last night and the clutter went away and operated perfect for the evening. This is to bad, if the transducer has problems with it. I really like the screen and it had worked very good until the clutter problem.

[BETZLURE]

The cables are real soft rubber, I got my line rapped around it the other night and happened to notice that it cut thru the rubber to the metal sheild on the trxdr cable. I got it taped up but i wonder how long it will be before water gets to the transducer. Did you have any nicks in your cable. thinking i'll be buying a spare just in case, bummer because i've only had it since december.