Fishfinder doesn't find fish or depth

[Dave and Genny]

When we purchased our 2006 RC-21 in April it came equipped with a Garmin Fishfinder 250. It worked when the dealer took us out for commissioning. The first time out at home it seemed to not work. After pushing buttons and trying this and that the depth and fish finder worked for a brief moment. We turned it off and it hasn't worked since. The only thing we can see is on the Range screen it shows 13.1~ volts. I reset it to factory defaults with no improvement in performance. A friend loaned us a Garmin GRPSMAP 169 Sounder. With it the GPS works (we see where the Ranger is on the map) but get nothing on the screen for depth or fish. It's as if the transducer isn't responding. Any troubleshooting tips you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Genny and Dave Sterenberg, genny@iserv.net, Dave's cell phone 616-291-5347.

 

[RProffer]

I do not have experience specifically with the 250, but I have had experience with a number of fish finders over the years. Is your transducer mounted externally or thru-the-hull? If it is external, make sure it is clean of slim, barnacles, etc. and is set at the proper angle. Make sure your electrical connections are free of corrosion. These are the areas I always has problems. My current boat has a thru-the-hull transducer and I have not had any transducer problems with it.

The following link is for the manual for the 250. It has sections for testing the transducer, etc.
http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/437_OwnersManual.pdf

 

[Dave and Genny]

It is through the hull and the connections look great! Next?

 

[RProffer]

I would suggest reading the manual and see what it says. Testing starts on page 12.

 

[Dave and Genny]

Thanks, guys! Have the manual and read it before. Read it again and still just as confused. Page 12 addresses new installation. We don't get any error messages. It doesn't say it can't find the transducer. It worked at one time but doesn't work now. Still just as confused as before.

 

[knotflying]

Call Garmin tech support, they are pretty good at helping you with problems. Call them from your cell phone while at the boat so you can run through it with them. Hopefully they can help you with your issue.

 

[wefings]

May I suggest first locating the transducer and checking its physical mounting. If it is loose in the hull , it wont read . Both transducers and Garmin head units can and do go bad . You will want to know as much as you can before you take the time to call Garmin. I highly recommend getting a new unit over a rebuilt . They [rebuilts] don't have a consistently good track record in our experience.
Marc