Sonar interference from trolling motor, help!!

[codyl74]

Oct 28, 2021 19:55:40 GMT -5 herringbone said:

Question: Codyl74, are you in an aluminum boat? This may help with both you and johnr.

Yes, I am in an Aluminum Xpress Bay boat. I was thinking about that as well.

[codyl74]

Oct 28, 2021 12:27:02 GMT -5 johnr said:

I have the same issue still. My ducer is mounted on the Xi5 TM, though not on the head anymore. I’ve done all I can to isolate and keep it away from the head with no luck.

I can filter out some of the interference, but not all. The amount of interference varies depending on sonar screen and settings.

Funny thing is, my Livescope transducer is 2’ away and has no problems.

Glad to hear livescope is working. My 2d and Clear-vu work great.  It's only Side scan with interference.  Garmin support said that makes sense that Side vu is interfered because the EMI is mostly on the surface of the water.

[johnr]

Interesting input from garmin.

The first time I noticed the interference on this unit was with traditional 2d and downscan to a lesser degree. At that point, side scan was working just fine. Since then I’ve seen them all have it, but not always simultaneously. For instance, trolling recently and my 2d was pretty fuzzy with interference. Switched over to downscan, it was almost perfectly clear. And I’ve seen downscan so bad at times you can’t see the bottom, and 2d or sidescan are relatively OK. Point being, I don’t really think it’s just confined to side scan.

Not sure if it’s an ‘Auto’ setting that I’m missing somewhere or just a gremlin in the system.

Aluminum boat here too.

[herringbone]

Just thinking of your hardware used to mount ducers, aluminum boats, and other components that may be causing the electrical interferences via the water carrying the current. Johnr, I remember reading something you posted about fish being spooked by the sonar powers anyway. This tells me they’re sending some pretty strong waves out. Not saying this is what it is, but something to think about.

[codyl74]

I originally mounted mine to the TM. I then moved it 3 feet away on an aluminum down rod setup to get rid of the interference. It got rid of the down scan and 2d interference completely, but side scan interference remains. I even get a little interference on my Transom mounted transducer. I did learn that my Minn Kota riptide Terrova is not internally grounded and does not come with a ferrite choke like some models do. I purchased two mix 77 Ferrite rings and I am going to wrap ducer cable through them and see if it helps. Most my interference is very visible in the dark areas of the side scan. It's still usable but I feel its taking a little away from the details.


Side scan

[george]

I have a minn kota Riptide Ulterra 80 thrust 24v with no transducer at base of motor.  The problem the motor caused was vertical line interference on my Garmin 106sv.  After several trips to the Minn Kota service center we solved the problem.  For some reason Minn Kota decided not to ground the motor or put the inline fuse in my model.  Not sure if they did the same thing on other models as well.  We solved the problem by installing a new coil lead with a grounding lead part # 2991272 and a ground wire #640-316.  Mine was under warranty but cost of parts was about $90.00.  The upgraded wiring solved the problem.  I have no idea why Minn Kota doesn't fix this problem.  I have read that this problem is happening to hundreds of people!!  We spend big money for trolling motors and sonar products.  In my case over $5000.00.  The vertical interference was so bad due to having the trolling motor cause the problem was due to not having the motor grounded.  Come on Minn Kota fix the problem before shipping the products!!