Humminbird cutting out when motor starts

I recall seeing some discussion on this but can’t find the thread.

Situation: My Helix 7 lately has been turning itself off when I start the main motor (Helix draws power from the crank battery). Battery is about 2 years old. A group 24. Motor is a 75 hp 4 stroke Mercury. On my old boat this would occur and I think when I’d had boat place look at it they installed a fuse or something to prevent finder from cutting out.

I think what occurs is if the main motor battery begins to draw down (perhaps from all the electronics hooked to it) Helix goes into a safe mode when motor starts and there’s a drop in voltage – thus forcing Helix to shut off.

In terms of advice, would you recommend looking into a ‘fuse’ again, a bigger battery (group 27?), or something else?

I dont think a fuse is going to make any difference. There should already be one if not you are at high risk for blowing out your electronics. The voltage drop is the issue and increasing the battery size should help. If you had room for a separate battery for electronics that would be best.

I had asked a similar question a few weeks back about low voltage warnings on my Helix 9 and 7. I got a wide variety of feedback about battery size, adding another battery and quality of wiring. I have a simple Alumacraft Escape with a 50 Honda tiller. I run the Honda very little mainly fishing small lakes…90% of my “underway” time is on the Terrova. I decided on going from a piddly group 24 with 95 RC to a group 31, 200 RC. I’m in the process of installing that all today and tomorrow as well as cleaning up some of the wiring. I have plenty of room for the bigger battery…just had to upsize the tray. Regarding the wiring quality, I had used plain copper wire, not tinned marine wire on the Helix 9 and I’m hoping that and redoing some of the butt splices was part to blame as well. I was going to go AGM but they are hard to find unless you go the near $400+ premium route like Odyssey etc. I am trying a old school flooded Duracell grp 31 from Batteries+ that ran me $130ish. I’ll see how that goes for the time being.

My post early March was Battery setup…need advice. Lots of good feedback from members

Really need a dedicate run at least of 10AWG to the fish finder directly or going into a separate fuse panel.

CaptainMusky wrote:

The voltage drop is the issue and increasing the battery size should help. If you had room for a separate battery for electronics that would be best.

This 100%

Karl Hungus wrote:

I was going to go AGM but they are hard to find unless you go the near $400+ premium route like Odyssey etc.

The Duracell Group 31 AGM that batteries Plus sells is $270.

fried my old humminbird by leaving it on when starting the motor. Cabelas replaced for free as it was only a few weeks old (old cabelas not BPS). I was told by the guy to never start the big motor while your unit is powered on. Since then i have followed that advice and i power down my unit each time i start the big motor. Havent had a problem since. Doesnt necessarily answer your questions but sounds like the same problem i had and thought i would let you know that in my case it resulted in my unit being broken

Great. And thanks for the tip on the other post Karl. I must have missed that.

Sounds like ‘easiest’ step is just upsizing my crank battery – which Helix, live well, and other stuff – run off of. I’d like to avoid getting another battery in addition to the crank battery, so maybe just upsizing will do the trick.

Yes I know…I spent an hour trying every BP store in the greater metro area on Monday. Finally got one that searched the network of stores and said I could get one in Logan UT or Jacksonville FLA! They said they “may” see them the middle of May…too long to wait so went the cheap route. If this lasts a year or even two, I figure I’m not out anything and maybe stock will be better…fingers crossed!

FYI…regarding “cheaper” AGMs, Interstate sells one for $235ish…it appears to be identical to a Duralast sold at AutoZone but has a better warranty. They also sell a better Interstate AGM $300+. The guy at Interstate said the cheaper one is a new model and assumes it will be of good quality but said he has no history to boast about it. I’d have gone the Batteries+ $280 AGM route if I could’ve found one. Again, most people on here swear by AGMs and especially the premium ones like Odyssey, Full River etc. I’m always looking for a compromise between cheap/function. Then again, I’m not in a $100K boat out in the middle of Mille Lacs, Sag or Rainy worrying about my batteries. Worst case, I limp in on the Terrova or swap one of the Terrova batts to start the outboard.

crappie55369 wrote:

fried my old humminbird by leaving it on when starting the motor. Cabelas replaced for free as it was only a few weeks old (old cabelas not BPS). I was told by the guy to never start the big motor while your unit is powered on. Since then i have followed that advice and i power down my unit each time i start the big motor. Havent had a problem since. Doesnt necessarily answer your questions but sounds like the same problem i had and thought i would let you know that in my case it resulted in my unit being broken

This sounds absolutely painful! Shouldn’t be any reason to have to shut off your graphs to start the motor. To the OP, either your battery is getting weak or you have a bad connection/wiring somewhere. A fully charged battery shouldn’t see enough drop while cranking your engine to kill your helix (even a size 24).

shockers wrote:

Sounds like ‘easiest’ step is just upsizing my crank battery – which Helix, live well, and other stuff – run off of. I’d like to avoid getting another battery in addition to the crank battery, so maybe just upsizing will do the trick.

The thing is with the cranking battery is it really isnt designed to have constant draw on them like lights, livewell, bilge, depth finders etc. Its intended to just power the starter for the motor and just go on its merry way. A deep cycle is designed for constant draw which is why they are used for trolling motors.
You could get a dual purpose battery which is kind of a blend of a cranking battery and deep cycle, but they arent as good as either at that specific purpose.
I have a deep cycle now and really dont have much problems unless I am running both 7 inch graphs all the time.

Smellson wrote:

This sounds absolutely painful! Shouldn’t be any reason to have to shut off your graphs to start the motor. To the OP, either your battery is getting weak or you have a bad connection/wiring somewhere. A fully charged battery shouldn’t see enough drop while cranking your engine to kill your helix (even a size 24).

That doesnt make sense to me either that leaving it on would fry the graph. Something seems off. There should be a fuse or a circuit breaker to protect surges.

Fuses and ordinary circuit breakers do not protect electronics from surges. They prevent your wiring from melting or catching fire if you get a short circuit.

shockers wrote:

I recall seeing some discussion on this but can’t find the thread.

Situation: My Helix 7 lately has been turning itself off when I start the main motor (Helix draws power from the crank battery). Battery is about 2 years old. A group 24. Motor is a 75 hp 4 stroke Mercury. On my old boat this would occur and I think when I’d had boat place look at it they installed a fuse or something to prevent finder from cutting out.

I think what occurs is if the main motor battery begins to draw down (perhaps from all the electronics hooked to it) Helix goes into a safe mode when motor starts and there’s a drop in voltage – thus forcing Helix to shut off.

In terms of advice, would you recommend looking into a ‘fuse’ again, a bigger battery (group 27?), or something else?

shockers wrote:

I recall seeing some discussion on this but can’t find the thread.

Situation: My Helix 7 lately has been turning itself off when I start the main motor (Helix draws power from the crank battery). Battery is about 2 years old. A group 24. Motor is a 75 hp 4 stroke Mercury. On my old boat this would occur and I think when I’d had boat place look at it they installed a fuse or something to prevent finder from cutting out.

I think what occurs is if the main motor battery begins to draw down (perhaps from all the electronics hooked to it) Helix goes into a safe mode when motor starts and there’s a drop in voltage – thus forcing Helix to shut off.

In terms of advice, would you recommend looking into a ‘fuse’ again, a bigger battery (group 27?), or something else?

shockers wrote:

I recall seeing some discussion on this but can’t find the thread.

Situation: My Helix 7 lately has been turning itself off when I start the main motor (Helix draws power from the crank battery). Battery is about 2 years old. A group 24. Motor is a 75 hp 4 stroke Mercury. On my old boat this would occur and I think when I’d had boat place look at it they installed a fuse or something to prevent finder from cutting out.

I think what occurs is if the main motor battery begins to draw down (perhaps from all the electronics hooked to it) Helix goes into a safe mode when motor starts and there’s a drop in voltage – thus forcing Helix to shut off.

In terms of advice, would you recommend looking into a ‘fuse’ again, a bigger battery (group 27?), or something else?

A bigger battery will definitely help this situation. Also, turning on the voltage readout on your locator will allow you to keep an eye on the voltage in the battery during the day.

Sorry about the double click!🤪

crappie55369 wrote:

fried my old humminbird by leaving it on when starting the motor. Cabelas replaced for free as it was only a few weeks old (old cabelas not BPS). I was told by the guy to never start the big motor while your unit is powered on. Since then i have followed that advice and i power down my unit each time i start the big motor. Havent had a problem since. Doesnt necessarily answer your questions but sounds like the same problem i had and thought i would let you know that in my case it resulted in my unit being broken

This is one of the more ridiculous things I have heard regarding electronics.

What is the charge status when this happens? Could be as simple as topping off the charge after each use. My boat came with a group 27 starting battery that also ran 2 Helix 7’s (now a 7 & 9), lights, livewell, and radio. I’ve since replaced that with a 31 for a little more peace of mind. Most, if not all, outboards are not ran enough to recharge the battery themselves. Over time, you’re losing charge on every outing. Plugging in after every outing helps with battery longevity and may eliminate the problem. Also, I never shut down my Helix’s prior to starting the main engine.

Karl Hungus wrote:

I spent an hour trying every BP store in the greater metro area on Monday.

I recently attempted to purchase one of the Duracell lead/acid batteries from Batteries Plus for my sump pump backup, and they said they can’t get the Duracells in stock. I ended up having to buy another brand.