# Flasher help!!!! Please!!!!!



## Bischoff66 (May 25, 2007)

I need a little help figuring out what went wrong here. I purchased this unit from Gabe. I got it wired up for running off of a 12v battery. It seems to run fine. I put the transducer in the water just under the ice and it seemed to be pretty level maybe not perfect but darn close. Played around with the two adjustments but never could get her to work right. I could see fish near the bottom but never could pick them up on the flasher and only picked my lure up half the time if that. Any help on how to get this working right. Please know that I am not saying anything bad about Gabe. He has been very helpful with this. He was a little puzzled as to why it wasn't working right also.


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

Hi Bish, I used to have an old Lowrance before I got my Vex, mine would have the same problem. I bought a little round level and super glued it to the bracket holding the transducer. I found that if the bubble was directly in the middle of the level, I could read my bait and fish, if it was off even a bit, it would barely read it. The older sonars don't have quite the power as the newer ones do, but they still work and catch fish. Also, make sure the Sensitivity is turned up to wear you see your bait through out the water column. Hope this helps, and maybe some of the other guys will chime in with input.

Rich


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## nixmkt (Mar 4, 2008)

Suggestion to try. To check if being level is your problem, since it has the mounting brackets on it, bolt a thin section of wood to one bracket. Perhaps an old ruler or part of a yardstick or similar. Hold the wood stick vertical in the ice hole, then tilt it slightly in various directions and see if the flasher signal improves. If so, not being level is the problem. Not sure how you could glue a flat bubble level to your bracket. Hard to see in the pic if the top of the transducer is parallel to the bottom. If it is, put the bubble level on it and see if it hangs flat. If not, you can stick weights on the transducer with hot melt glue on the high side to level it up. Use a 5 gal. bucket of water to check it. If the top is not parallel, bolt a block of wood to the brackets that's large enough to put the bubble level on. Use the bracket adjustment screws to get the top of the block parallel with the bottom of the transducer. Add weights to get it to hang level.


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## tomb (Oct 9, 2004)

You could rig up some kind of a float system for that with a piece of pool noodle. Attach the transducer to the bottom, then adjust for level orientation with weights if necessary.


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## fishingguy (Jan 5, 2006)

Try turning the sensitivity up. If your fishing in 15' of water, turn it up so you can see a good second bottom reading at 30'. You will have a good read on the bottom at the second reading and a good read on suspended fish on the first.


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## Bischoff66 (May 25, 2007)

Thanks for info so far guys. I currently have it rigged up like tomb said. I took the brackets off and put a piece of pool noodle on the wire. and then I adjusted it on the water to get the transducer down in the water far enough. I had the sensativity up just to the point right before I got the reading at 30 I will have to try that one.


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## fishingguy (Jan 5, 2006)

There is a lot that flasher can tell you! You have to use it and know what to look for to gain experience. Say your in the 15' and have to turn the sensitivity up to 6 to see the second bottom. Move to another location, say 20', and you only have to turn the sensitivity up to 3 to see the second bottom. That tells you the bottom composition. Harder bottoms less sensitivity, softer bottoms need more. Tells you the difference between mud and rock. After using your flasher for awhile, you will be able to make a decent guess on what is down there..... I kind of miss my old flashers.


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## papaperch (Apr 12, 2004)

LEVEL LEVEL LEVEL This is the most important thing on these old flashers. The closer the transducer is to being level the more info and accurate the reading. To prove this to yourself place the flasher on a bench. Hold the transducer in your hand, you will not even get a bottom reading until the transducer approaches level.

Second most important is type of battery, Do not use 2 six volt dry cells. The cold weather snaches the juice out of them in minutes. A 12 bike battery will work or lawn garden battery. Before the gel cells came out I used to use motorcycle batteries.

This is why the modern flashers have gone to suspended of transducers or with a flotation device like vexilar. These older flashers transducers were designed to be bolted to a boats transom. My first ice fishing flasher was an old Lowrance. It was a headache to maintain the level position even after several " rube goldberg " solutions.

The newer flashers have it all over the old style. If you get serious about ice fishing I would bet a modern flasher gets penciled in as a " must have. "


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## Bischoff66 (May 25, 2007)

Thanks for the info. I was using a 12v battery for a vex to power it I think that is what you mean. I am laid off so didn't have the money to buy a new one at this point but I will look into one when I get back to work and all. I figured this was a cheap solution for this season


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## WishinIWuzFishin (Jun 17, 2009)

I probably will regret making this post but I have to question some of the comments being posted. I have the exact same Humminbird flasher on my boat as my only depthfinding, (fishfinding) equipment, and owned my first one over 30 years ago. Even if you spent a lot of time trying to mount the transducer so it would be level with the boat in the water, how could you possibly keep it level with wave movement, boat motion, and on my boat, just me shifting positions. The transducer certainly doesn't remain level all the time and I have no problems getting readings. I think the comments on it being exactly level are exaggerated. However, I have never considered mine as a "fishfinder". It's sold as a "depthfinder". My only concern is finding depth, dropoffs, structure, bottom composition etc, which I never have trouble reading even when drifting in waves or being rocked from another boats wake. At first when I read the comment about "seeing" his lure underwater I thought he was joking. As far as I know I have never "seen" my bait or lure on my flasher. Of course, I never looked for it either. As for testing the transducer on a bench, if you mean shooting the sound waves that come out of the transducer through air, I always was led to believe that it wouldn't work when shooting through air. Air or ice slush would definitely affect the display. That is why care must be taken when mounting on the transom to always have solid water contact. In my opinion you may just be expecting to much from a flasher unit. If I have just not learned how to read mine properly I'd love some lessons. Just my 1 1/2 cents.


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## fishingguy (Jan 5, 2006)

Hey wishin, I agree. I never had a flasher that had to be level. I would of thrown it right to the bottom if that were so. Why would someone want one if it only worked when perfectly level? When I took it ice fishing, I would drill a hole about 2" deep, fill it with a water and anti freeze mixture and put the ducer in it. Shot through the ice to bottom and back again with no probs. Using the anti freeze,? I am sure I shouldn't of done that, but I didn't know any better at the time. It was a common practice back in the day.


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## papaperch (Apr 12, 2004)

Yep we are talking strictly ice fishing. Accuracy thru air is not good but will show importance of transducer being level. Not to toot my own horn but I do have a degree in electronics.

I rarely post on technical questions unless I know what I am talking about. If you are just looking for an argument you will have to go elsewhere. If you are willing to learn I will take you out on lake Milton and show you either one my flashers will show a 1/100 oz jig. If you are in to giving your money away we can even put any amount you would care to bet on it.

A modern ice fishing flasher does show way more info than you are refering to.


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## papaperch (Apr 12, 2004)

Forgot to add either you or the guy that agreed with you have probably never mounted a transducer on a boat. One of the tools the Manufacturers list in their installation guides is a LEVEL. All of my friend and relatives that fish come over to my house to get their new fishfinders installed.

Almost all manufacturers show in the instructions how to LEVEL the transducer for optimum performance. They also have a adjustment on the transducer mount to allow for the different pitches in transoms.


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## WishinIWuzFishin (Jun 17, 2009)

I have installed several transducers on transoms of boats. No expert but I have done it. And I always try to mount them so they are level with the water line when my boat is sitting at rest. But when the boat is rocking in waves or while running I'm sure the transducer is not level with the water and it does not stop working. I just happened to buy a new(used) fishfinder (a quite expensive one actually) recently and the manual says "the angle between the face of the transducer and the water's surface should not exceed 10%". That is quite a large angle actually. Add to that the rocking of the boat and I know a transducer does not have to be perfectly level to work. I'm not looking for an argument either but I don't think his problem is an unlevel transducer.


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

As I said in my post, I had the exact problem and when I put the bubble level on, never had a problem after that.


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## papaperch (Apr 12, 2004)

It does not have to be level to work. It has to be level to be at optimum. He is arguing about two different things . You can take a sparkplug out of your car and it will still run. But you can rest assured it will not operate to its true potential.

The older units do not have the power of the more modern units. In the olden days the cheaper units would not show a bottom reading in air. However a even a good one the transducer had to be close to being level. Before the invention the ice ducer Vexilar used to package their units with a bubble level. You had to glue the level at its so called "sweet spot ".

There are a few things I know quite a bit about fishfinders just happens to be one of them. If he would visit any icefishing site he would discover why it is important. If he would have read my original answer carefully he would have noticed the reference to ice fishing.

As far as any more on the subject I am done. This site is really going downhill in this respect. No one person knows it all about fishing. Thats what was so neat about the site . In the past you got answers to a question. Now all it does is spark a debate. If you have any further questions I'm sure" WishinI was fishin" can explain what his boat has to do with ice fishing


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## WishinIWuzFishin (Jun 17, 2009)

I apologize papaperch and to anyone else who read this thread. After reading your last post and and rethinking my posting I realize I am guilty of one of my biggest pet peeves of this site. People posting answers when they have no knowledge of the subject. I have never ice fished and was trying to compare my experiences with transducers on a boat to ice fishing. My only reason for posting was to be helpful but having never used a flasher while ice fishing I should have just kept my thoughts to myself. Once again I am sorry.


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## fishingguy (Jan 5, 2006)

I have mounted many ducers on my boats, friends and families boats. It doesn't take a degree. I am not bowing to your great knowledge. You said you did not want to start an argument but you do nothing but shoot insults. Your obviously a legend in your own mind. I was once as smart as you. So I get it.


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## tomb (Oct 9, 2004)

Bischoff: If you can read a pinmin in 20 fow with that flasher (I'm betting you can) you should be good for a while. Many of the newer flashers have a lot of nice features like zoom and interference rejection. But they still work pretty much the same as that one. Setting sensitivity when ice fishing is not the same as on the boat. Use your lure to set the gain. Turn it up until the jig shows near bottom, then turn down until jig dissapears, then bump back up a couple notches.

Also it should read through air when cranked. Hang it off the end of a table, you'll get a reading around 8'. Sound travels about 4 times as fast through water. It won't really show how it's going to work floating in water, but it's usefull to show your wife and friends what you look at when out icefishing. Here's mine in my kitchen:


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## tomb (Oct 9, 2004)

Wow, cool it guys, it's just fishing.


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## rattletraprex (Sep 1, 2005)

I have an old Eagle silent sixty that still works fine. Not the best for shallow water but can still mark my jig and fish when everything is set right. It's a portable but I have a box that holds the unit and converted it to use a vex battery. It can still use two 6 volt batteries but they don't last long and are expensive. I also have the trolling motor transducer with makes it easy to keep level. If you can find one of those cheap get it. I lost my first one and had to buy another plus an adapter and it wasn't real cheap. The more you use it the better you'll understand it. May put the silent 60 up for sell if anyone is interested. Wouldn't be without my Vex!


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## Muskarp (Feb 5, 2007)

Pappa, I don't think Wishin and Fishin were looking for an arguement. Boat movement and a level transducer are impossible to keep true. I think they just didn't understand the difference between seeing a Vibe on your flasher in open water and seeing a 1/64oz jig in 30' on ice. It's just that fine tune ice fisherman are looking for. Not just the bottom. But I'm guilty of flying off the handle too much on here also. So please don't take offense to this response. We're all just trying to learn a little. And it's the internet. Nothing ever reads like you intended it to.


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