PinPoint network,, sonar and motor.

[FlyBoy]

(please keep the pinpoint company problems to yourself, I am aware of them and and am living through them with the rest of the PinPoint owners)

I have a 3700 motor up front, a 7800 on the motor, and a 7520 on the console.

I had trouble last summer with either depth finder reading through the trolling motor. Both could read fine through the network looking out the transducer on the transom, but neither read through the trolling motor up front.

Pinpoint (Mercury) had me send the motor to 'The Motor Clinic' in the twin cities. They got right on fixing the motor (better than I expected). But have been unable to reproduce the problem I was having.

His only guess was a ground problem somewhere in my network.

Anyone had a simular problem? Any suggestions? The shop suggested I ground both my trolling motor batteries and my accessory/starting battery to the boat. Which I can do easily. But I'm not sure that will solve my problem.

Should I add a 2nd battery in the back strictly for accessories? Would that help at all?

Should I run my 7520 off of the same battery my trolling motor runs off of? Right now the 7800 runs off my dual 12 volts up front and my 7520 runs of a single battery in the back? I'm grasping at straws here I know.

REW, I'm sure you have done some kind of analysis on this!

Thanks,

-John
FlyBoy

[Stormsearch]

With Pinpoint, the whole point of the system is that you do not have to do any "special" grounding techniques. A bad ground from the motor to the fish finder should only cause interference, not make it work all together. In the latest BW&B magazine, there was a very good article on how to perform grounging techniques. They were very clear that it should not be required on the Pinpoint system.

Furthermore, the bow graph obtains its power from the motor, that is again filtered to handle any issues pulling power from the trolling batteries. I would definitely not recommend tying your 7520 into the trolling motor batteries.

There is a possibility however with your 7520 to be ungrounded with the motor. But, the network system should handle that. You can always tie your trolling 24v negative to your cranking battery negative through a fuse.

Also, adding a second battery in the back is nice but I don't think it will help your network issues just like grounding which you have mentioned.

I have this setup, but not having any problems with it. Is there a proper power up procedure, bad connection, etc. that could exist??? I am like you, grasping at straws if the Motor Clinic doesn't find any problems.

[Matt Thompson]

More than likely the problem is that your 7800 is the old style "system seven" and your 7520 is the new style "in-sync", they can be networked but you need a different CBAY-20, if you want to check this just power up each of them and they will say on the screen what they are. If you need the cable I can swap yours for you, give me a call at 763-572-3782 or e-mail me at info@thornebros.com. Matt

[FlyBoy]

Thanks Matt. My boat is in storage (coming out SOON) so I'll check which both of them are soon. But my question would be, they both worked fine for about 1 1/2 years? Something changed. Before I sent it in, I did remove the network cable all together, but the problem persisted. The guy at the motor clinic said he would try again to duplicate my problem, I hope he gets lucky.

After it stopped working I did buy a Legend 3000. The only drawback was the cable I had to run down the shaft of the trolling motor. If all else fails I'll re-install the Legend. But I was hoping to get it fixed and put the Legend in the back.

Thanks again guys.

-John
FlyBoy

[Matt Thompson]

More than likely then it is a bad connector in the cbay-20 if you want to try a new one let me know. Matt

[FlyBoy]

Thanks again Matt. I'll give you a call tomorrow during the day. What service. Not to sound corny, but you just earned a customer.

-John

[Matt Thompson]

John, I am going out of town today for a sportshow, but I gave Josh at the store a heads up on your dilema, give him a call and he will get your cbay-20 to you right away. Good luck and let me know if it works. Matt

[BigBass]

Sounds like great service from Thorne Bros..... again!

Brian