Fish finder fuse keeps blowing when I start the engine. Any thoughts on what might be causing this and how to troubleshoot? I have a humminbird wide paramount fish finder.

I would start by unplugging the wiring right at the fish finder if possible then see if it blows the fuse. If it does, you have a wire shorting out, if it doesn't, you have a problem with the unit itself.

When you say unplug the wiring do you mean just disconnect the fish finder entirely?

bad ground?

Originally posted by Fish On
When you say unplug the wiring do you mean just disconnect the fish finder entirely?

Yes, leave the wiring harness powered up and disconnect it at the unit itself. I think there is a plug on the bottom of the unit.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to check out both these issues this weekend. By the way, in the meantime I called Humminbord and spoke to their tech service manager who repaired the unit twice. His name is Jobe, tough to get hold of but very nice once you do. Anyway, instead of fixing the unit he offered to send me a newer version. I told him I didn't want to rewire/replace any of the hardware on the boat so he is sending me the Matrix 37. He says that the only thing I will have to do is remove the small (2 screws) bracket on the mount and change it to a new one and the new unit will fit and work fine. I was a little hesitant about making the switch because when I looked up the 2 unit on line the Wide Paramount model that I have is twice the price. But when you look at the features it appears that the 37 is better across the board except that the wide paramount has a xcreen that is a fraction of an inch larger. Anyway, long story short, it appears that the competition in fish finders is what has forced the price of the newer models down so far, so the 37 is a much better deal if you are looking at Humminbird's and it sounds like it is an easy upgrade from the Wide Paramount if that's what you are using now (about $350 total). Some of the key differences are more depth 1500 ft vs 100 ft, more power 500 watts vs 300, and a lower frequency 83 khtz option that I think will allow better viewing in deeper water. WP only goes down to 200 khtz. Also, works in a voltage range of 10 to 20 volts, WP is 12 volts only so I'm hoping it will be more forgiving if their is a voltage fluctuation.

Anyway, thanks for the advice, I want to make sure the electrical is ok before I mount up the new unit so I don't blow that one as well.

typo wide paramount depth should read 1000 ft

Cool. That's an awesome deal. Good luck.