Lowrance Hook2 7x TS Not finding bottom

Hi guys,

So I just recently discovered that my Lowrance Hook2 7x TS intermittently stops working, as in the sonar won't read the depth. When this happens, the depth will be displayed as "- - -", and the sonar will stop "scrolling" for lack of a better word. This is mounted on a Hobie PA 14. Connections are good, battery is good. The unit was bought 3 years ago, so it is already out of warranty. Here's what it looks like:



Here's another image - water was over 100' deep here, and bottom was not found. DR Ball is at 30', but the unit is not even interpreting that as the bottom, so this must be a different issue:


I also discovered that if I power up the unit while I press the page down button, it will start up in a "System Check" mode where the unit will run various tests. I ran the Sonar Test while this was happening and the unit reads "Out of Spec" for various readings (Depth, Temp, Speed).



Has anybody experienced this before? If so, what was your solution?
Thanks in advance!

Hi guys,

So I just recently discovered that my Lowrance Hook2 7x TS intermittently stops working, as in the sonar won't read the depth....

....water was over 100' deep here, and bottom was not found. DR Ball is at 30', but the unit is not even interpreting that as the bottom, so this must be a different issue:

It's a Lowrance. Drop it over the side and it will find bottom.  Just kidding...don't litter.  

I hope you get it figured out.  If I'm reading it right, your voltage looks a little low (11.9V). 

Lol, thanks snopro!

The battery directly reads 12.18v when tested with a multimeter after being fully charged. It's a .2 difference with what the FF reads, which based on my research shouldn't be that much of an issue, but I'd love to hear what voltage other FFs are reporting. At the end of the day it's much cheaper to replace a battery than the fish finder .

 

The battery directly reads 12.18v when tested with a multimeter after being fully charged. It's a .2 difference with what the FF reads, which based on my research shouldn't be that much of an issue, but I'd love to hear what voltage other FFs are reporting. At the end of the day it's much cheaper to replace a battery than the fish finder .

 A little corrosion in your wiring maybe causing the voltage difference?  Try it with a different 12v and see what happens.

I agree with snopro to try another battery.
According to Lowrance published specs, your unit should work down to 10.8 V DC.
Since the test screen is showing the expected voltage range of 12.85 to 14.15 V DC, that's for a fully charged battery.
Your unit should work just fine at 11.9 V DC, otherwise its defective.
You should also measure the DC current to make sure it's around 1.25 A DC for normal operation at 13 V DC.

this happened with me on a Hook2 doubleshot.  I found changing the ping/refresh rates helped. 

The battery directly reads 12.18v when tested with a multimeter after being fully charged. It's a .2 difference with what the FF reads, which based on my research shouldn't be that much of an issue, but I'd love to hear what voltage other FFs are reporting. At the end of the day it's much cheaper to replace a battery than the fish finder .

 A little corrosion in your wiring maybe causing the voltage difference?  Try it with a different 12v and see what happens.

Sounds like corrosion in the wiring to me as well. This was a really common problem for me for years.

Entirely different Lowrance unit, but with the same issue.  I found the voltage at the plug was -2.1 volts from the voltage at the battery (i.e., voltage at the battery was 12.1, voltage at the plug-in end of the power cord was 10.2, and I probably lost a bit more as it passed through the pins.

If you haven't already tested the power cord, I'd do that first.  Then look at the connectors for any signs of corrosion.  It doesn't take much to drop the voltage out of operating range.

If you put the sonar unit in a bucket of water you should be able to feel or hear it clicking.

If no dice, the sonar unit itself has died.  Not that uncommon.

Maybe find another user with the same unit (that fully functions) and try swapping head units or sonar units (whichever is easier) to test.

Be sure to test your sonar on the borrowed test unit, and the good sonar against your head unit.

You will figure out one or more results:

1) Your sonar is bad regardless of head unit,
    Double check your connections going to your sonar.
    If all is good, replace your sonar unit.
   
2) The borrowed sonar works fine with your head unit.
     Double check your connections going to your sonar.
     If all is good, replace your sonar unit.

3) Your sonar works fine on the borrowed head unit.
     Double check the output connections of your head unit.
     Might have an interior break you can't see.  Time to
     replace your head unit.

Thanks a lot everyone for all the responses...

There is no rust/corrosion in the wiring, so that shouldn't be a problem. I took out the unit yesterday to test it in a 5 gal bucket just as INSAYN mentioned. I could hear the sonar clicking and the head unit was not registering bottom. May or may not be an issue because the bucket is not deep enough to get good readings.

Here's what I will do:

1. I have a 32 gal bin that should be tall enough to better determine bottom. I will test the unit there.
2. I do have a friend that has the exact same unit and his has worked fine for many years. I will try to test both sonar and head unit by swapping them with his. This is the best test and should give me a pretty good idea if the unit is defective or not.
3. In the meantime, I will get a Garmin Striker Vivid 7sv so that my kayak is ready to go again.
4. Long shot - if the unit is defective, I will call Lowrance support to see what they can do about the problem. Not getting my hopes up here given some experiences I've read online, but it's worth a shot. If the unit is not defective, I do have a small boat that could use this fish finder.

I'll keep you guys posted once this is all sorted out...

I didn't see anything in your original post stating that your unit has ever seen bottom. 

If it has, continue with the swapping plan do weed out the culprit.

If it has never seen bottom, or recently quit seeing bottom and all other things check out with the connections, and the below is true:

-Buddy's head unit sees bottom with your sonar.

-Your head unit does NOT see bottom with your buddy's sonar.

Result = It may be a setting on your head unit.

Maybe walk through and copy each setting that your buddy has his set to and see if something was adjusted on yours by accident.

I didn't see anything in your original post stating that your unit has ever seen bottom. 

If it has, continue with the swapping plan do weed out the culprit.

If it has never seen bottom, or recently quit seeing bottom and all other things check out with the connections, and the below is true:

-Buddy's head unit sees bottom with your sonar.

-Your head unit does NOT see bottom with your buddy's sonar.

Result = It may be a setting on your head unit.

Maybe walk through and copy each setting that your buddy has his set to and see if something was adjusted on yours by accident.

Thanks INSAYN - yes, the issue is intermittent since the unit can read bottom sometimes, and all of a sudden it just stops displaying it, and the unit stops reading altogether (the screen stops scrolling). This makes me think it's really not a settings issue - I did a hard reset while on the water when I noticed it, and it didn't fix the problem. I'd love for it to be a settings issue, but it's highly unlikely....

It's a shame - I really like the unit when it works. However, I find that I've lost a lot of confidence in its ability to find bottom and ultimately fish - which is what I got it for. Narrowing this down to a head unit/sonar issue will at least help me determine what to do next with it.

Just a fleeting thought.....check the "Lowrance ready" plate to make sure nothing is caught between the bottom of the transducer and the cover plate.

This is very similar to a Hook2 7 problem I had, it slowly stopped reading bottom.  I tried everything I could, new transducer, software/firmware reload, wiring checks etc.  I gave this unit to someone on the forum, not sure if they ever got it working.  You can try Lowrance customer service, but I had a terrible experience.  Their return for evaluation/repair will cost you almost the price of a new unit.  I bought a Garmin Striker Vivd7 and haven't looked back, its a great unit and worth the money. 

I had a Lowrance Hook2. Was problematic, then died after a year. Luckily I had bought protection with it. Sent it back to company, they couldn't fix it, got my money back, got a Garmin, and like it SO much more.