I’m running a humminbird 597ci HD and a 586c HD side by side, these were new in 2012. These units are wired into my outboard starter battery. When I reach back to start up my outboard the birds die, completely power off. Hit the power buttons and they come back on…..is there something I can put in the wiring to prevent this, or should I wire across the boat to the front where trolling motor batteries are?
Hi BigJon,
I had the same problem once (except with Lowrance units). Turned out to just be a loose ground connection. I’d check there first. Hope that helps! 
Shawn Flemming
I would be concerned with interference hooking them up to the TM battery. I wonder if your battery is starting to go. Perhaps the motor is dropping the voltage of the battery to low, thus, shutting off your sonars. Just a thought.
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I would be concerned with interference hooking them up to the TM battery. I wonder if your battery is starting to go. Perhaps the motor is dropping the voltage of the battery to low, thus, shutting off your sonars. Just a thought.
X2 Most common cause of units shutting off and check all connections
Ok so I’ll likely get laughed at, but starter battery is 6 years old, 2 up front feeding the 24 volt system are 9 years old……can still run all day…I like my Cabelas on board chargers….was wondering if that might have been my issues, but was hoping someone had a $10 widget to cure all…..9 years x 30 weeks/ years x 5 to 10 hours a week…I don’t think they owe me much
I have the same issue with my lowrance unit New battery still ther same , All connections are good. Only my 113c goes off ,my dsi unit stays on. I learned to deal with it . Hope someone has a cure 
Only cure is a separate, dedicated battery for your electronics and accessories. I prefer not to run anything off my starting battery other than the motor and navigation lights.
This was happening with my Lowrance unit. Was told to clean battery posts and wire contacts with some sandpaper (make them shiny). This worked well for me. 
Yes, clean connections first but you will probably need to add an execery battery. I had the same problem.
Most likely your starting battery is getting weak. If it drops in voltage when turning over your motor your electronics will shut off. 6 years you are runing on borrowed time with a battery.
hard wire each unit directly to the starting battery. put a fuse in on the positive side. do not wire into the fusebox, this is where you are grtting the voltage drop. a seprate battery for electronics is not needed if you get a big enough starting battery. my electronics did the same thing, i hard wired the electronics direct to the battery and replaced the old battery with a group 31 deep cycle battery. i learned this from a old PWT champion after assisting rig a few of his boats. the only thing you have to look out for is, make sure that the group 31 battery has enough cranking amps to start your motor. my optimax needs 1000 cranking amps to start.
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hard wire each unit directly to the starting battery. put a fuse in on the positive side. do not wire into the fusebox, this is where you are grtting the voltage drop. a seprate battery for electronics is not needed if you get a big enough starting battery. my electronics did the same thing, i hard wired the electronics direct to the battery and replaced the old battery with a group 31 deep cycle battery. i learned this from a old PWT champion after assisting rig a few of his boats. the only thing you have to look out for is, make sure that the group 31 battery has enough cranking amps to start your motor. my optimax needs 1000 cranking amps to start.
X2 
As stated above a few times, check/clean connections. That is the first place you will encounter vlt drop. H/birds require a min. of 10.X volts. When starting your motor, if the voltage drops below that level, the H/birds shut off. I run into that a lot when I’m doing marathon days of 16-19 hours on the water without running my big motor much.
I was told that it probably comes from low voltage.
Try turning your display light down from max 10 to 7 or 8 It seems to have worked for the hds
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hard wire each unit directly to the starting battery. put a fuse in on the positive side. do not wire into the fusebox, this is where you are grtting the voltage drop. a seprate battery for electronics is not needed if you get a big enough starting battery. my electronics did the same thing, i hard wired the electronics direct to the battery and replaced the old battery with a group 31 deep cycle battery. i learned this from a old PWT champion after assisting rig a few of his boats. the only thing you have to look out for is, make sure that the group 31 battery has enough cranking amps to start your motor. my optimax needs 1000 cranking amps to start.
Me too. The optimax sucks a lot of juice on startup and a new battery fixed my issue of locators going out on startup. Of two identical units, only the one on the bow had an issue. That extra bit of wire length must have been just enough resistance to choke it off. So while you make sure your sonars are wired directly to the battery, also make sure you have a thick enough wire gauge. I don’t know off-hand what gauge mine is though.
The 31 size was too tight in my compartment so I went with the Optima 27M and it has plenty of power for the motor and all electronics. You don’t need a separate accessory battery.
John S.
I had the same thing happen with my 2 Lowrence units. The starting battery was getting weak so replaced it and fixed the problem. It also would do it if I fished in cold weather and the batteries were a little weak from lack of use.
another cause is too light of gauge wire to supply your unit.
I’ve dealt with issue too. Check the order in which your electronics and outboard wires are stacked on the battery post. Try switching the order. So if your outboard is put on the post first, switch it to the top. Worked for me.
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