Garmin sounder and auto pilot issues

[Evguy1]

We were out for a few days and on the return trip I noticed my sounder readings were way off. Where we were anchored we were in about 35 feet of water but plotter was showing 7 feet. On the way home the depth on the plotter ranged from 5-40 feet even though were were on hundreds of feet of water. I have checked cables on the plotter (5212) and sounder module (GSD 22) with no change. Where is the transducer mounted on the 2012 R25?
The only thing that happened that may have caused this was the house battery went dead overnight and the plotter was on for shallow water alarm. Also for the last couple of weeks the auto pilot display screen has been going black after initial startup. I get a message saying "waiting for autopilot controller to turn on" and then after a few seconds the screen goes black. I can still use the system for holding and pausing a heading but the screen is dark.
Appreciate any input as I really dont want to replace the whole system after having the boat just a couple of months.

 

[Texas Tuggernaut]

I see that message on the autopilot screen when the NMEA 2K breaker on the panel is off and the key switch is off. Look on the chartplotter under System->Communications->NMEA 2000->Device list to see if you’re getting power to the network.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Evguy1]

Thanks for the reply. I have the breaker on and the engine running but will look for connected devises. The fact that it does do heading hold through the autopilot screen makes me think its functional to a degree.

 

[Osprey]

Hello Randy
I noted your recent post to TugNuts regarding the depth sounder. On my 27 the transducer is located about I ft in from the starboard side and about 1 ft forward from the transom. To reach it I would have to take a very deep dive into the rear seat locker. Fortunately, I have made modifications to the locker which make reaching the transducer a little easier than nearly impossible. Some smaller body individuals can actually climb into the locker.
The location for a 25 is likely the same.
Regards
David

 

[Evguy1]

Thanks for the feedback David and the tour of your beautiful boat.
I forget if you upgraded your Garmin to a newer model?

 

[William Sanborn]

Had Sounder issues, and finally located the transducer under the head sink on my 2011 RT27 (with Rear Head). Did the Antifreeze and fixed the problem, but still had accuracy issues. Found that the Sonar was set to shallow, and not letting the Chartplotter report the true depth. Also notice that in some areas with bottom weed growth get a false reading of the tops of weeds, and not the true bottom.

 

[Evguy1]

We were out on th boat yesterday and I played around with the Sonar settings. The depth was set at 40 feet so I changed it to AUTO and the problem was fixed. I suppose the dead battery may have reset some of the settings? Sounds strange to me. Maybe the problem will return but the boat comes out of the water for the winter in 10 days so hopefully its OK for that amount of time. Thanks for all the suggestions.