Humminbird Not Coming On - Again

the fuse should be 3 amp MAX, seriously, 3 amp MAX....  dont ask how I know this...

While I agree in principle I've been using 5A fuses as I have a stash of them laying around.

Why do you say 3A and how do you know this?  Seriously ...

-Allen

with 5A fuses I blew the board fuse on my 565 three times and when I complained to Humminbird that I was using a 5A fuse and it was still blowing the main fuse, the service rep said to use 3A.  since switching to 3A I have not blown the board fuse.

Interesting, I didn't even know that there were board fuses.

If I was blowing a board fuse with regularity, I don't think I'd be looking how to protect it with an external fuse.  A board fuse should never burn as part of normal operation.  I'd be asking the question, "why is it burning in the first place?".

-Allen

according to humminbird, the fuse is there to protect the rest of the electronics, duh, and it is commonly blown when a battery is connected.  Apparently, the way the unit is designed, initial current from connecting the battery can lead to a spike in effective current (or something like that) and the fuse blows...


I'll be in electrical physics next year so perhaps I will understand better then.  For now, I have a humminbird and eventually when I have spare $$ I will replace it with a Lowrance.  So I keep a 3A fuse in line to the unit.

according to humminbird, the fuse is there to protect the rest of the electronics, duh, and it is commonly blown when a battery is connected.  Apparently, the way the unit is designed, initial current from connecting the battery can lead to a spike in effective current (or something like that) and the fuse blows...


I'll be in electrical physics next year so perhaps I will understand better then.  For now, I have a humminbird and eventually when I have spare $$ I will replace it with a Lowrance.  So I keep a 3A fuse in line to the unit.

I just don't think it is common, and if it was, it should be externally replaceable and you shouldn't have to send it back to the factory or protect it externally with another fuse.

Yes, initial connection of a battery can cause a surge, but in connecting FF's hundreds of times in the past 10 years, I've never burned an internal fuse.  Has anyone else?

I'll ask some contacts I have in Humminbird Engineering.

-Allen

I would not have guessed that it drew that much initial current (though very brief) when connected to a battery.  Interesting.

I'm not the poster child for common sense when it comes to fuses on my yak.  I, personally, do not have an in-line fuse on my FF setup aboard the yak.  Guess I'll have to put one in-line one of these days.  In all my history with FF units, I cannot EVER think of a time when I've burnt a fuse on any of my Lowrance or Eagle units (dating back over 25 years to the "flasher" erra)

Allen, I agree that it should not be an issue, especially given that these units are designed for big deep cycle batteries and my little old 5ah betteries were tripping the fuse (since this time I use all 7ah batteries), and that the fuse should be replaceable by the consumer (like on Lowrance units).
I used to use an Eagle and it never had the problems this HB 565 does...



I'm curious what the Humminbird engineers say.

Allen, I agree that it should not be an issue, especially given that these units are designed for big deep cycle batteries and my little old 5ah betteries were tripping the fuse (since this time I use all 7ah batteries), and that the fuse should be replaceable by the consumer (like on Lowrance units).
I used to use an Eagle and it never had the problems this HB 565 does...



I'm curious what the Humminbird engineers say.

Actually, these "little" 7Ah gel cells can surge with the best of them.  It's not the size ...

Also, in our use case, we're constantly disconnecting/connecting, whereas in a big boat, the battery is always connected.

-Allen

I LOVE the HB 561 that a member steered me towards...so much that I got another for my 2nd kayak...it does however have little brass male to females that I have to deal with to unhook-hook up the control head...and the little suckers broke off once now from the power cable and the head had to be sent to them before I ruined it trying to pry/drill the male out the head

the Lowrance elite 4 that Amy won at the P.I F raffle and is now on my green kayak, is more high tech and while super nice and functions loaded ...I miss the HB 561 for how simple it was at first a bit as I learn to use the lowrance,,,the upside is the plug in the back of the head is more protected and locks better imo

I had no power on the HB after only like 5-10 uses...broken brass tip on the power wire...sucked ass

Allen, I agree that it should not be an issue, especially given that these units are designed for big deep cycle batteries and my little old 5ah betteries were tripping the fuse (since this time I use all 7ah batteries), and that the fuse should be replaceable by the consumer (like on Lowrance units).
I used to use an Eagle and it never had the problems this HB 565 does...



I'm curious what the Humminbird engineers say.

Actually, these "little" 7Ah gel cells can surge with the best of them.  It's not the size ...

Also, in our use case, we're constantly disconnecting/connecting, whereas in a big boat, the battery is always connected.

-Allen

I'm aware, I was just noting that as a disclosure since a lot of folks may know what I use as of late... 

I don't know how you guys break the HB pins. 100 days a year on the water for 5 yrs and have never had an issue. I have had different units but the current one has been used at least 200 times.

At least if you break a pin in the power plug, you can buy another power cord for $10. With my Lowrance, the power and transducer are combined into 1 plug...so if you break it, you're screwed.

At least if you break a pin in the power plug, you can buy another power cord for $10. With my Lowrance, the power and transducer are combined into 1 plug...so if you break it, you're screwed.

Actually, the 2014 & newer Lowrance models use a separate transducer & power cable.

fwiw they sent me another new power cable with the head unit that they took the broken pin from...they had already sent me one power cable when the problem started but then the old cables sheered pin slid into the head unit when trying to remove it..16$ shipping got me a fixed head unit and two cables
so far HB has been fine by me
using grease now on the pins

I like the way the Lowrance head unit  clicks off and onto the deck mount better... the power and transducer cable is not part of the tugging process to pop the head of the base

I spent some time with my 688 today.  I rigged direct wires from my battery to some tiny alligator clips that I attached directly to the head unit female pins.  Pressed the button...on she comes.  So the head unit is fine, but no matter how much I connect and disconnect the HB PC 10 cable to the head unit, it doesn't come on.  I've removed the cable from the mount and pushed it directly into the head all the way so I know it's pushed in as much as it can be...but still no juice.  Yes, I do have an in-line 3A fuse, but it's fine both visibly and electronically - I tested the voltage at the cable pins using my voltmeter, it's fine with about 13 volts.

Conclusion is for some reason the pins on the PC 10 cable are just not making electrical contact with the 688 female pins.  The only next step I can think of is to purchase a new cable and rewire - what a PITA!  Wiring through the hull is a lot of work.

If there are other suggestions I'd like to hear them.  Was thinking there must be something like a really soft solder I can put in the female pins to make the fit tighter and increase electrical contact.

Have you put an ohmmeter across the cables?  What did it read?

I've had this happen before, a couple times.   The battery side of the wires corrodes up the wires.   This increases the resistance on the wire enough that the IR drop, due to the current draw of the FF head units, causes there to be not enough voltage to reach the head unit.

Note that if you just connect to the battery and read the voltage on the other end, you'll likely read the battery voltage.  This is because a voltmeter is high impedence, meaning it will draw little current so you won't have any IR drop.

Cut back about 3 inches of the batter side of the cable and reconnect.  This clears up the problem whenever I've had it.

-Allen

Thanks for the suggestion Allan, I'll try that tomorrow.

Thanks for the suggestion Allan, I'll try that tomorrow.

Take some pictures!

-Allen