999 crash question

**gone fission** · 11-09-2015, 11:19 AM

I have a 999 at the bow and 997 at helm, both were powered up, hit key start for F75 Yamaha and noticed 999 went dark but 997 was still on. 999 was inoperable after that, display remains dark but keypad buttons are illuminated. Got home and took voltage reading at bow collector pins and had 12.8v. Called CS, returned unit to Eufaula. Boat has two batteries, crank and troll. Both units are wired to same fuse panel powered by cranking battery. Is cranking engine a common cause of failure? Dont' want to add a third battery. Is there there a way to protect against voltage spikes?

**rnvinc** · 11-09-2015, 02:45 PM

Cranking the engine is only a problem for electronics when there isn't enough battery to do both ...or there is a problem in the power circuit for the electronics ...

This can be caused by too small a battery, an undercharged battery, a battery going bad, faulty wiring or connections... or too many connections in the wiring causing voltage drop to the electronics ...

It is recommended to always bypass boat wiring and boat fuse blocks by wiring the electronics direct to the battery with large enough wire to carry the electronics load without much voltage drop ... (12 gauge is recommended) ... And include a fuse in the positive wire close to the battery to protect the circuit ...

You should have the battery load tested ... And rewire the electronics straight to the battery ...

Rickie

**gone fission** · 11-09-2015, 05:45 PM

Thanks Ricky. Wonder if it would just be better to wire straight to the trollin battery? It's closer to both units because it's in center of front deck/ left of helm (deep v G3).

**Cray** · 11-09-2015, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by gone fishin

Thanks Ricky. Wonder if it would just be better to wire straight to the trollin battery? It's closer to both units because it's in center of front deck/ left of helm (deep v G3).

Not a good idea. Sometimes creates interference in units, also as the day goes along voltage is going to drop and every time you hit trolling motor you have a voltage drop.

**gone fission** · 11-09-2015, 06:55 PM

Affirmative, thanks.

**Redge** · 11-09-2015, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by cray

Not a good idea. Sometimes creates interference in units, also as the day goes along voltage is going to drop and every time you hit trolling motor you have a voltage drop.

X2!

**gone fission** · 11-10-2015, 10:14 AM

Update
Talked to H-bird cs. It was a power chip failure and not from any problem on my end. Hmm.

**minnowtime** · 11-10-2015, 01:09 PM

I have a new 999 that cut off sometime when cranking or running at slow speed. Sent unit back to Humminbird they could not find anything wrong with unit. For now have it wired direct to trolling motor battery with fuse instead of a fuse block. Has worked fine since wired to other battery. Don't fix it if not broken!!!

**gone fission** · 11-10-2015, 05:57 PM

Yeah I fiddled with this fuse panel while ago and noticed many fuses were awful loose feeling (ATO style ). They could be pulled out easily. Prolly played a role. Seems blades are too thin. Gonna look into it more.

**hays47** · 11-11-2015, 12:08 AM

I always have a dedicated battery to run just my electronics. My trolling motor is 12 volt but I have two batteries in parallel to operate the motor. The cranking battery has only the engine , the gauges and the lights. My fourth battery is reserved for the electronics. My electronics package consist of 1198 C with 360 transom mount.
A garmin network with a 720 S echomap , 1040 xs , a gcv 10 and panoptix ducer.

I suggest that the high amperage drawn by today's bigger units would serve the user better if hooked to its own battery. When the average draw was around 500-600 milliamps a dedicated battery was not needed. The Onix 10 has an amp draw of 2.5 amps. Using a larger cross sectional wiring does cut down on line loss. 12 gauge wire is going to be far more efficient than say 18 gauge. The longer the run the more this becomes critical.

To me when we are talking thousands in our electronics set up. What is an extra 100.00 to ensure our tools work correctly and in a safer electrical element ?

In that the expensive toys are wired to be free from electrical interference and voltage spikes or drops. Any electrical engineer can tell you the purer the power supply the more reliable the result. A dedicated 12 volt DC battery is about as pure as you can get.

I realize all the major manufacturers of these units suggest hooking up to your cranking battery. For the above reasons I do not agree.

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