Sonar is working erratically. Loses bottom and flashes. Anything to do other than replace the transducer?

Take note if when the vertical lines appear on the screen if the depth numbers begin to flash. If this is the case then the transducer has lost bottom contact and the unit is trying to reacquire bottom contact. If the transducer is parallel to the bottom of the lake while your boat is not moving then, the next time you have it on the trailer, turn your unit on and go listen and or feel the transducer to see if you can hear and or feel the tick or sonar ping. If you can't your transducer may be faulty. If the loss of bottom contact occurs when you are moving it will happen at a certain speed. This is the result of air bubbles passing under the transducer and disrupting the sonar signal causing loss of bottom contact.

Transducer not parallel to bottom - kicked up. Manually set depth to see if the auto depth is the problem.

your system is not locking to bottom ( bottom lock) go into menu scroll down to functions click it see if bottom lock is high lighted if not turn it on by clicking on it if it is on ..you need a new transducer

burned up get a new one they do that at times( no bottom lock)

verify cable harness integrity at base connection of transducer , replace cable or check settings easy fix would be change display unit if unit under warranty as replacing transducer is not easy and economical

MY XD510c works fine then flashes 2.5 and fills the screen with black red blue white vertical lines...then after an amount of variable amount of time goes back to working for awhile

Hello Keneth,
Is The transducer In Side the Hull Or Mounted On The Transom?
If Inside Remove It And Re Fit It Using Epoxy Glue Ensuring No Air Pocket Between transducer And Hull.
If transom Mounted Replace Transducer.
Hope this Helps
Gordy

This problem is most likely linked with your transducer.

1. Check your transducer cable and make sure the plug terminals are clean, as well as the plug on the back of the unit.
2. Make sure the transducer cable is plugged in correctly and securely.
3. Make sure the transducer is in the water and mounted according to the directions, parallel to the bottom of the boat
4. Turn the unit on while the boat is in the water, but with the engine OFF.

IF it works when the engine is off, but vanishes when the engine is on, you may be having electrical interference.

IF it works when the engine is running, but vanishes when the boat is moving, it is a turbulence problem. Move the transducer.

IF it does not work at all, try borrowing a new or a "known good" transducer and seeing if it works then. If so, replace the transducer.

Let us know if these work or now.

Hi there.

Ok in WIDE beam mode the cone extends out 45 degrees from the transducer. This covers a fair area, but is best used only in shallow waters as the beam may not have enough power to penetrate deeper waters effectively. 30ft should be fine for WIDE mode however. Using a bit of trigonometry, the beam would extend to a diameter of 60 feet from the center point of the transducer on the sea/river floor.

The beam is a direct beam... It is not a rotational beam from the transducer... i.e. it does not rotate like a radar beam but shoots downward in the cone arc constantly. Imagine a torch being turned on and off very rapidly... The light shoots straight out from the torch in its own cone shape. This is essentially what the transducer does when it shoots out a signal every millisecond or so.

The image you see on the screen is the result of the hole cone of signals, however, the strongest sonar returns occur near the center of the beam. Weaker returns are shown which are located towards the outer edges of the sonar cone where the signal power is less. So if a fish passes right on the edge of the beam, it will only show up as maybe 1 pixel on the sounder screen as it is a weak return on the edge of the sonar cone, whereas if that fish passes under the center of the beam, it will show a larger, more continuous or arched shaped return as the fish moves from the outside of the beam, through the center of the beam, and out to the other edge of the beam under the boat.

Regarding the flasher... I would advise not to use this. It does work by showing a continuous top and bottom reading which displays as constant flashes around the circle readout. Anything it picks up in the beam will show as flashes in between the top and bottom readings. Using the display is far better and with practice allows you to better identify fish and bottom structure readings. Flashers were earlier forms of sonar readouts. Some older folk still like them but I believe the normal display is better for finding and identifying fish and can show structure shape as well (the flasher mode really cannot).

Hope that helps!

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First, ensure that the transducer face is pointing down when the boat is level in flat water. You may want to do this step like a tv antenna, adjusting the angle of the transducer while watching the screen.
If that doesn't work, then try moving the transducer further into the water and repeat step one.
Sonar systems are (largely) directional, and will work best when parallel with the seabed (or lake bed etc)