Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

[ricohman]

I had my boat in the water for the first time this year today and the Humminbird would not work on anything but demo. This was a new unit last summer and I've only used it a few times.
Anyway, I pulled the head unit off and it looks like one of the little pins is missing?

Wanting my depth finder working, I scavenged a tiny piece of aluminum from the bilge and shoved it into the head unit and snapped it back in place.
It works but obviously this is not right.
Can I buy just the end piece and solder it on? I really don't want to have to replace the entire cable as it's part of the boat now. Are these cheap pins known to break?

 

[ricohman]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI cable pin broke???

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI cable pin broke???

After some research, it appears that I am just one of many with this problem. I am going to use some tinfoil to "fix it". No sense in buying another transducer for $200 as it will definitely happen again. Some poor guys have had this happen numerous times.
Serious design flaw here. The only advice I can give, other than not buying one of these, is to leave it in place and not remove it.
I know that many have bought these units for the removable feature but its better than not having it work at all. If you have one, leave it in place.
Some have bought extension cables and cut the end off to solder to their existing cable. And it does work for those with the skills to do this. I may look into that option as I rebuild tube amps and have such skills.

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

I don't have a solution for your pin problem but on mine I don't have the cables mounted in that holder.
I just plug and unplug each cable individually. I've done it many, many times without any trouble.
I think the holder can cause an alignment problem.

Are you on CGN by any chance?

 

[ricohman]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

I'm not familiar with CGN. I will have to see what it is.
Yes, the problem rests with the quick release mount. But the way its designed leaves no way to adjust or alter the way it snaps together.

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

I didn't make myself very clear. I removed my cables from the quick release mount and just plug them in to the unit.

There's someone with the same username as you on the CGNutz forum.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

I didn't make myself very clear. I removed my cables from the quick release mount and just plug them in to the unit.

There's someone with the same username as you on the CGNutz forum.

View attachment 206436

That's a great idea, wish I would have know about it before. But I did need the mount anyway.
I am on CGN. I just never thought of it as CGN! That's me.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

How old is the unit? If I had this happen and knew it was a design flaw,,, I'd be calling Humminbird... (What do you have to loose...)

I have 2 of those ducers on my 18'er and hope I don't run into the same issue. I remove the sonar heads after each trip so thieves don't walk off with them...

 

[ricohman]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

How old is the unit? If I had this happen and knew it was a design flaw,,, I'd be calling Humminbird... (What do you have to loose...)

I have 2 of those ducers on my 18'er and hope I don't run into the same issue. I remove the sonar heads after each trip so thieves don't walk off with them...

fishrdan, if I was you I would leave them in place. This pin breaking thing is known to all the Humminbird line-up. I am looking at $200 plus an hour or two of my time to fix this, and it will most likely happen again. Buying a $200 part every 5th trip to the lake will get old pretty fast. My unit is 14 months old now and is out of warranty, but really has only 9 or so hours of actual use.
I was also removing the head unit to prevent theft but if you go through $200 'ducers like this I would just risk the theft.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

It's a poor design at best.

It doesn't matter cheap or expense, connectors with pins don't take to rough handling very well. Any good electro-mechincal designer will tell you it's not if John Q. Public breaks a pin, it's when. Even experienced people break pins from time to time. So much, that every good technician carries an assortment of pins and a set of crimpers in their box.

Using a card edge connector would resolve the breakage issue but then you have corrosion issues in a SW environment.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

A card connector with gold plated connections should solve this issue. But that would be more expensive to make and I know they count the half pennies when making these things.
I will carry a little piece of tinfoil to roll up and stick inside the empty hole where the pin should have gone. Then the foil can crush on top of the broken pin to make contact.
I'd avoid this style of connection, unless its permanent.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

A card connector with gold plated connections should solve this issue.

The plating is so thin the increased life expectancy is marginal

 

[ricohman]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

Thought I should update this thread.
I contacted the repair facility in western Canada and Humminbird is going to cover the cost of a new transducer assembly.
Now, I need to prevent this from happening again. Has anyone somehow eliminated the piece that secures the cables? If I leave some slack in the cables, it may be possible to lift the unit off, then unplug them by hand.
To me, it seems that unplugging them by hand is even riskier then using the factory bracket.

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

Sorry, I can't help you but I'm glad you're getting a new transducer.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

Good to hear Humminbird did the right thing by replacing the xducer.

If I leave some slack in the cables, it may be possible to lift the unit off, then unplug them by hand.
To me, it seems that unplugging them by hand is even riskier then using the factory bracket.

I agree, probably riskier trying to plug/unplug the cables by hand, seeing how they set inside the mount. That and, the cables won't be supported very well if you remove the metal retainer holding the cables into the mount. Remove the 2 black screws holding the small cover on the front of the mount and you'll see how the cables are retained, little chrome bracket.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Humminbird 597 CI HD DI transducer cable design flaw!

Good to hear Humminbird did the right thing by replacing the xducer.



I agree, probably riskier trying to plug/unplug the cables by hand, seeing how they set inside the mount. That and, the cables won't be supported very well if you remove the metal retainer holding the cables into the mount. Remove the 2 black screws holding the small cover on the front of the mount and you'll see how the cables are retained, little chrome bracket.

I had a good look at this tonight. Without securing the cables into the bracket there is a lot more fiddling and stress unplugging and plugging the cables in when removing the unit.
I think that using the bracket is the only option. Maybe I received a slightly bent cable? The mount only allows the head unit to be installed in one orientation and does not allow for any side to side or fore/aft movement.
I will have to use the mount.