Tcr101

[bcsukas]

Humminbird TCR101 from 1992 I just recently installed it on my jon boat! It's not showing a readout, I have it alligator clipped to the battery terminals that the trolling motor is running from and when I turn the trolling motor on to setting three the finder starts going through what appears to be the self test. I have a fuse on the hot lead, but I'm wondering if the transducer is bad? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Brian

 

[John_S]

Re: Tcr101

I think you have two problems.

One is the blank screen which I assume you get while sitting stationary on the water with the trolling motor off. The second is a power dip when trolling motor speed is notched up.

Problem one, could be head unit, transducer, or connection. Check for bent pins in the connector blocks and that they are seat firmly at the full height. With the unit it on, and out of water, you should hear a series of "clicks" near the transducer. I am guessing you will not hear them. If someone has a TCR near you and can do transducer and head swap to isolate issue, great. When my old tcr finally died, it had a blank screen and wasn't the transducer. I suspect the output device (transister/op amp) blew in the head unit. Too costly to fix. This might have been caused by a shorted transducer cable. With a multi-meter the transducer should have a high impedance, not just a few ohms.

The tcr is an old unit, and any current $100 unit will have more capability. Don't spend much trying to fix it.

Problem two can probably be fixed with good battery connections.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Tcr101

Going through the self test when you kick the trolling motor up to 3 can be several things.
Basicly it says the voltage is droping to low so the unit thinks you just turned it on.
This can be caused by battery voltage too low when you apply a load to the battery. So charge the battery. If you have a volt meter then check voltage on the battery when running a 3 and above.
It can also the wireing to the trolling motor is too small or battery too small.
I would not run anything hooked up with alligator clips.
Wireing shorts or wires falling off can cause fires and explosions.