FL8 repair

[hitthebricks]

I have old FL8 (10-12 yrs.) with a high speed and a ice deucer, but it no longer works. Question is, should I have it repaired or shell out the cash and buy a new one and do the new FL8's operate the old trandeucers. Another question is, are the FL18's or Marcums that much better,it would mostly be used shallow water, 10-30 ft. Thanks Bob

[18 inch Crappie]

Bob, take it to vexilar in Bloomington, I had an old Fl-8 also and brought it there. The tech fixed it for free while I waited. The new stuff is nice, if you get your vexilar fixed you could sell it on e-bay they go for around $200. Put that towards a new one if that is what you want. Or just keep the old one, it will work just as good and keep the $400 (new price)buy your wife or girlfriend something nice for christmas..

[Walleye Guy]

The Vexilar technicians are great. I would bring it there and get it fixed and then sell it on Fishing MN. I sold my FL-8 with a high speed transducer in a couple days. Upgraded to the FL-18... Yes an upgrade to the FL-18 or the LX-3 is worth it. The zoom features is worth the added price.

[Finlander]

Just go buy a new transducer first, or borrow some elses transducer to see if it works with that transducer.

I thought my FL-8 was shot when all it was was the transducer needed replacing as they are fragile and don't take alot of dropping on the ice or banging into something over the years to make them not work.

When you get another transducer to check your locator out, turn it on and set it at the lowest power setting. Then hold the transducer over the floor about 3 feet and raise it up and down. The locator will show a reading about 9-10' when it working correctly.

Good Luck!

[Ed Carlson]

Vexilar "Air Demo Test"

Set your Pro Pack, or whatever ice kit you have, onto a kitchen countertop or workbench in the garage. There must be a flat solid floor below, no carpet. Place a hard cover book on the carpet if you need to.

Hang the Ice-Ducer over the edge so that the bottom is about 24" from the floor. Make sure that it is hanging by itself in mid-air and not resting against anything. This is to insure that the transducer will hang straight. If you have a Puck transducer mounted on an arm, level it off so it is pointing straight at the floor. Now, turn the flasher on to the first range. With the Gain set to zero, you should see a mark at the 12:00 position indicating the top, or your transducer, and another mark at the 9 foot line indicating the bottom, or floor.

Notice how the depth is completely inaccurate. The reason is that the speed of the burst of sound coming out of your transducer is traveling much slower in the air than it would be in the water. So the unit thinks it's deeper. Also the strength of your system is much weaker in air than water. The top line should be mostly red in color. The bottom line may be green, orange, or red (depending on the strength of your system, how straight your transducer is, and the type of floor). If you cannot see the floor mark without having to turn your gain up, try a harder or smoother type of floor. If there is no change, the system has a sensitivity problem. You must see at least a green mark, on a hard floor, with the gain at minimum to pass the test.

You can judge the overall sensitivity of the system by doing this "Air Demo" test, but you can't tell if a weakness is due to the unit or transducer (which is much more common) without replacing one or the other with a known good component. To solve this, borrow a friend's transducer or bring your setup into your local Vexilar dealer and ask if you can use one they have in stock for your test.

If your transducer doesn't pass the test, it will have to be replaced. Weak transducers cannot be repaired

[hitthebricks]

My problem is I have to much response, all I need to do is turn the sensitivity up a little and the whole graph is filled with color. Where is Vexilar in Bloomington?

[Twitter]

Vexilar Inc

200 W 88 St

Bloomington, MN 55420 - 2752

(952) 884-5291

[Ed Carlson]

Clean the surface of the puck well and try the table test. It may have a film on it from storage. Be sure the surface of the ducer is clean and dry when doing the air demo test.

If it has always been over sensitive you may need to add an S-Cable on the unit to cut it back a bit.

The S-Cable will allow you to use a wider section of the gain dial to tune out unwanted clutter on the display. I ran an S-Cable on my older FL-8 SLT most of the time in the winter, and all of the time in the summer. They run about $19.

If the Vex shop is close to you I would let them look it over just to know what is what. If it is the brushes on the display ask about getting the new display as a replacement and it will be brighter and more daylight friendly just like the new units are. Odds are they do not even use the old displays anymore to replace worn ones.

[hitthebricks]

Took it to the Vex. repair shop yesterday. Those guys really are great. They tested it, opened it up, cleaned the contacts on the circuit board ( corrosion from moisture ), closed it back up, retested it, All at NO CHARGE and a free Vexlar hat to boot

[Ed Carlson]

Kewl! Great service Eh!