Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

[rcl700]

I'm thinking of wiring up two fishfinder units on my pontoon.
One at the drivers seat w/ GPS the other at the front with the fishing seats.
If I mount both transducers on the back one on each log (pontoon) with they both work properly? I have no place to mount in the front. My trolling motors are in the back.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

If they both operate at the same frequency, ie 200khz, then yes you will have an interference problem.

 

[rcl700]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

Is there a distance they should be placed apart from each other to avoid this?

What will the interferance be or look like?

can two units be hooked to one transducer?

 

[Boatist]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

Yes they will interfeer with each other and neither will be useable at all if they are on the same frequency.
On my friends bass boat he has two units on the same frequency.
One on the front trolling motor pointed a little foward and a second on the transom.
We can use both in water up to about 30 feet deep before they interfere with each other.
When turn the sensitivity up high enough to see strong fish returns then will work in water up to about 15 feet.

When they interfeer with each other the bottom signal will change depth constantly
and will have all kind of strange lines on both units.

Each unit will work by it's self but not at the same time.

 

[John_S]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

If you already have both of them, I say try it. I have an older HB 400TX on front trolling motor and newer HB 798 SI on transom, seperated by 14'. They both operate at 200kHz and 455kHz, and do not get interferance problems. On your toon, I expect you only have 8' of seperation.

It all depends on the units, the distance apart, the noise filtering, etc. You could test at different depths without even mounting the 2nd transducer. When stationary, just place the 2nd transducer in the water close to where you plan to mount it. Probably can be done just by hanging on to the cable, just make sure it is relatively level with bottom and correct orientation.

HB has a switch that you can run two head units from one transducer, and Lowrance/Eagle probably has same. This would have an advantage over just powering one off, in that you can still use gps at the helm. Also, check to see if you have a menu item that can turn the sonar off. Most newer units have that but it might be buried down a couple levels of menus.

 

[rcl700]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

well I may have to make a mount that can swing down into the water off the front of the pontoon.that would be 20' between the transducers (front to back)

Do you think that option would work?

I hate to have to move the transducer every time but may be the only way.


Its only 6' from center to center of the pontoon log

 

[rndn]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

Why not just shut one off when you're using the other one? A bit easier than trying to build some type of a swing arm mount for one of the transducers.

 

[rcl700]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

ya I think your correct. that will be the best bet.

I was just thinking to hard. simple fix

 

[John_S]

Re: Will two fish finders on one boat cause problems?

well I may have to make a mount that can swing down into the water off the front of the pontoon.that would be 20' between the transducers (front to back)

Do you think that option would work?

I hate to have to move the transducer every time but may be the only way.

Its only 6' from center to center of the pontoon log

Test it before mounting the transducer. If it does have too much interferance you can then test the front position. If it still has too much, mount it to the back, and shut off one of the sonars.