Fishfinder electronics problem, driving me crazy

[4wheeler]

I've got a Raymarine DS500X fishfinder. Every time, or almost every time I start my outboard engine (Johnson 175 hp 2 stroke) the fishfinder shuts off. Sometimes it starts eight back up, sometimes it does not. The hot wire from the fishfinder was attached to my accessories switch, then I changed it to my electronics switch, no change. I'm almost to the point of running a wire directly to the battery but I don't want to do that because the fishfinder power wire will stay hot ever after I turn off the battery switch.

Any suggestions, this is driving me nuts!

[midway]

I had a similar problem, different brand, the fix was to wire straight to the battery. Something in the harness was causing the problem, the only thing affected was the ff. Maybe you could run new wires from the batteries to your fuse panels, both + and -, that would give a solid power supply to the fuse panes. Somewhere in your harness there is a bad connection that is causing either a loss of power or a momentary loss followed by a spike, that drives the electronics crazy, the reason that it will start right up or not.

[greg]

I had a similar problem, different brand, the fix was to wire straight to the battery. Something in the harness was causing the problem, the only thing affected was the ff. Maybe you could run new wires from the batteries to your fuse panels, both + and -, that would give a solid power supply to the fuse panes. Somewhere in your harness there is a bad connection that is causing either a loss of power or a momentary loss followed by a spike, that drives the electronics crazy, the reason that it will start right up or not.

The problem is your engines draw so much current starting it drops the voltage down below the thresh hold the electronics will tolerate and they shut down. Even though its momentary, it's enough to cause a shutdown.

You have two solutions, one is to install a dedicated house battery with a vsr or isolator between it and the starting battery. That will prevent the voltage drop due to the current draw.

The other is to add a circuit with a small battery that will carry your house load over until the current draw ends. I forget the name of that gizmo but you should be able to google it easily.

The house battery and vsr is probably cheaper and more effective ion the long run.

[welder]

X2 on Gregs post.

[Chisox]

X3 on gregs post! When the electronics are on the start batt, well, that's not a good thing...

[4wheeler]

Okay guys thanks for the reply's. Now that I know the problem maybe I can come up with a solution.

Another question then, I have two batteries and a battery 1, 2, both, off, switch. I usually switch back and forth to start. If you don't have the electronics on the start battery how do you charge the other (house) battery since the outboard does the charging?

[CaptWill]

Okay guys thanks for the reply's. Now that I know the problem maybe I can come up with a solution.

Another question then, I have two batteries and a battery 1, 2, both, off, switch. I usually switch back and forth to start. If you don't have the electronics on the start battery how do you charge the other (house) battery since the outboard does the charging?

4wheeler,

I had the same problem on a previous boat. My batteries load tested good, so what I did, was to put the battery switches to "BOTH", and leave them there. I could then start the engines, and the electronics didn't re-boot due to the voltage being pulled down too far.

You can try it, and you may find that your FF will stay up and running, and in the "both" position, your engine will be charging both batteries. It maybe charging both of the anyways, as often there is an isolating doide that will allow that, so you would have to check that.

The downside to this is that IF you go out drift fishing, engine off, all electronics running all day, stereo blasting, etc, you may run both batteries down and not be able to start the engine.

Make sure your battery capacity is up (load test the batt), and all connections clean and tight... battery connex, and all wiring to FF, including fuses in the line to the electronics, and the ground wires. If all that is ok, try running the switch in "Both" and see what happens.

If it works, either continue to do that, knowing the risk of draining both of them, or add another battery in parallel with #1, do effectively double the capacity.