Ice Helix 5 gps g2 question

[skawtty]

Hey guys I cannot figure out why i cannot see the true bottom when i used both sonar and flasher. I have adjust everything zoom/clutter/gain/depth range /interference channels and i am in ice fishing mode. I have fished in weeds,sand or gravel bottom from 5-40 ft and they all do same thing. I always lose about a foot and i would like to see that, as i like to see my hook off bottom. Anyone have same thing going on, is this normal? Other than that this is great to see fish above that.

[StringTheory]

So you can't see the bottom foot? Thats where all the action is!

You probably have already but did you get the latest software updates from the Humminbird site? I see in the general updates that depth tracking was one of the fixes.

https://www.humminbird.com/support/software-updates/HELIX-5-GPS-G2-v-2-000

[DOGFISH]

Are you sure it is a full foot you cant see. Mine is approximately 2" I cannot detect anything. All fish show up. In 20 feet of water I set the bottom lock on 22 feet and the top lock on 10 feet, seems to work on mine and it is a 2015 model with 0 updates as of yet. PM me if you like. Dogfish

[skawtty]

Yes at least 12", the updates were installed last week and even before that it was giving me that issue. I wish i took a video to show. I was with a friend that has the garmin echomap 63cv and his works perfect I must have a software issue or something. Dont want to work hard at this lol that is why i bought these supposed to be easy haha.

[SamSteele]

That doesn’t seem normal. Mine can pick up small lures right at the bottom. Are you sure the transducer is set to the right one?

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Ya something doesn’t sound right at all. Shouldn’t be a general settings issue.

[Hunter1993]

If I’m on rocky bottom the sonar will not travel down and bounce off a rock that could be the issue


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[skawtty]

That doesn’t seem normal. Mine can pick up small lures right at the bottom. Are you sure the transducer is set to the right one?

Yes sir, i checked and it says the it is the right one. I can pick up small lures too but the bottom 8-12" is either full yellow or red/yellow. When i put a bigger jig down I can see my jig a little on bottom though the colors but cant see anything coming to it. I verified with camera how deep it really was and where bottom was.

[skawtty]

I moved around the lake to find different structure and all of them did the same thing some less than others but i wanted to try to figure it out. Spent a whole day trying to see what the problem was instead of fishing. Well I fixed the problem...Kinda...Sorta..Not.....but Cabelas put the Same one my buddy has the "Garmin Echomap Plus 63CV Ice fishing bundle" with Canada Lake Vu HD Reg Price 739.99 down to 549.00. BOOM exchanged it. I liked the Helix 5 but i cant be wasting my day putzing around with the thing. Maybe i wont like this and exchange it and get a new helix again. At least i can see the difference and tell you all about it. Thanks for all the replies. Going to try this again.

[MooseRiverTrapper]

What kind of bottom are you fishing? I was fishing extremely rocky drop offs in MB and could lose up to the last 20’ of bottom. But the was where one hole was 40’ and another hole 8’ over was 80’. Or get into some big boulder rubble and the top of the boulder was the bottom on the helix.

[skawtty]

What kind of bottom are you fishing? I was fishing extremely rocky drop offs in MB and could lose up to the last 20’ of bottom. But the was where one hole was 40’ and another hole 8’ over was 80’. Or get into some big boulder rubble and the top of the boulder was the bottom on the helix.
I was fishing sandpebble bottom, Weedy bottom, rocky bottoms all over the place. It is weird i know. Just did the same thing.

[Tcon]

I can see my lure when half of it is in the mud and half sticking up over the mud. I can even see the mud cloud my lure makes bouncing on the bottom.

What transducer do you have selected?

[skawtty]

I can see my lure when half of it is in the mud and half sticking up over the mud. I can even see the mud cloud my lure makes bouncing on the bottom.

What transducer do you have selected?

I had the XI9 1521 ice chirp transducer.

[Tcon]

I had the XI9 1521 ice chirp transducer.

I have the Helix 5 G2 SI GPS and before I updated the software the XI 19 1521 did not work well at all. In the settings, what transducer do you have selected?

[skawtty]

I traded it in and got the Garmin 63 CV fishing bundle with Canada lake vu. All I can say is I'm very happy.

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[Tcon]

Enjoy!

[KeisukeFD]

Since this thread was up about the helix 5, thought I’d rather add in here than start a new thread.

Just wondering if anyone has had this problem as well. When I charge the battery, even though it charger says it’s full, when I’ve used it both times this year, it starts at 80%. Today I went out and used it for 4ish hours and the battery said it was dead. Came home to check on it and it booted up no problem, now the battery says it’s at 55%.

I’m gonna drain the battery and try to charge from empty to see if that does anything but does anyone have any other ideas? Does it sound like it’s just a battery problem and I should get another one?

[OL_JR]

Since this thread was up about the helix 5, thought I’d rather add in here than start a new thread.

Just wondering if anyone has had this problem as well. When I charge the battery, even though it charger says it’s full, when I’ve used it both times this year, it starts at 80%. Today I went out and used it for 4ish hours and the battery said it was dead. Came home to check on it and it booted up no problem, now the battery says it’s at 55%.

I’m gonna drain the battery and try to charge from empty to see if that does anything but does anyone have any other ideas? Does it sound like it’s just a battery problem and I should get another one?

Did it stop working on you or did it just say it was dead? I've noticed the last couple trips my Helix 7 will show 79% after a charge but I haven't dug much into it yet. All I know is the obvious which is the helix isn't seeing the voltage it thinks it should to give a 100% charge reading. First thing I'm going to do is charge with different chargers and take a volt reading after with a meter. After that plug it in and see if there is any change in what the Helix says.

Functionally hasn't been an issue whatsoever for me so far. Still runs all day and then some but that is running off of a 14ah battery which is much higher capacity than what the ice units come with.

[KeisukeFD]

Did it stop working on you or did it just say it was dead? I've noticed the last couple trips my Helix 7 will show 79% after a charge but I haven't dug much into it yet. All I know is the obvious which is the helix isn't seeing the voltage it thinks it should to give a 100% charge reading. First thing I'm going to do is charge with different chargers and take a volt reading after with a meter. After that plug it in and see if there is any change in what the Helix says.

Functionally hasn't been an issue whatsoever for me so far. Still runs all day and then some but that is running off of a 14ah battery which is much higher capacity than what the ice units come with.

It stopped working. After turning it on at home, it died in about 30ish minutes though it said the battery was at 55%.

I’m going to try to charge it with a different charger as well and see if that does anything

[SamSteele]

I would try a new battery on it. I just had mine out on Cold Lake for the whole day and it didn’t go below 76%.

[OL_JR]

It stopped working. After turning it on at home, it died in about 30ish minutes though it said the battery was at 55%.

I’m going to try to charge it with a different charger as well and see if that does anything

How old is the battery and do you tend to use the unit and charge it right before you go out or do you charge it when you get back? Lead acids are really sensitive to sitting dead for extended periods of time. Sounds like your battery has lost capacity but interested to see what you come up with.

[KeisukeFD]

How old is the battery and do you tend to use the unit and charge it right before you go out or do you charge it when you get back? Lead acids are really sensitive to sitting dead for extended periods of time. Sounds like your battery has lost capacity but interested to see what you come up with.

3-4 years. It’s the battery that came with the unit.

I usually charge it the night before I go out. I have another flasher, a marcum and I’ve had that one longer and it hasn’t given me problems yet so this is all new to me. Just trying to figure it out because I’m heading to Spray in a couple weeks then Cold lake the week after 😂

[SamSteele]

3-4 years. It’s the battery that came with the unit.



I usually charge it the night before I go out. I have another flasher, a marcum and I’ve had that one longer and it hasn’t given me problems yet so this is all new to me. Just trying to figure it out because I’m heading to Spray in a couple weeks then Cold lake the week after 😂



Try switching the batteries between the Marcum and the Bird. That should tell you if it’s the battery or not.

[KeisukeFD]

Try switching the batteries between the Marcum and the Bird. That should tell you if it’s the battery or not.

Good call. It dropped 3% in 5 minutes but the battery started at 82% on screen, now sitting at 79 for the last little while, so it looks like a battery problem.

[SamSteele]

Good call. It dropped 3% in 5 minutes but the battery started at 82% on screen, now sitting at 79 for the last little while, so it looks like a battery problem.



Nice! Glad that helped identify the issue.

[KeisukeFD]

Nice! Glad that helped identify the issue.

Thank you! The things you don’t think of when all that goes through your head is “I need this for spray and cold lake” 😂

[SamSteele]

Thank you! The things you don’t think of when all that goes through your head is “I need this for spray and cold lake” 😂


Just to help the Cold Lake fever a bit. From earlier today.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200202/71451e769f57b40e023b5a3f05cba66e.jpg

[OL_JR]

Glad you found the issue and to save some grief and cost in battery replacement it is well worth it to charge as soon as you can. There is generally a two year life expectancy on those smaller lead acid batteries but they will last a lot longer if you are diligent on keeping them charged.

[OL_JR]

Just out of curiosity I messed around a bit with different chargers and batteries today and found that the humminbird charger that came with my Ice 55 (I'm assuming same charger that comes with an ice helix) cuts out at 12.6 volts while my marcum, vexilar and a napa charger all charge to 13 volts even.

With the brightness at 10 the there is enough volt drop to pull a 14 ah battery down to 79% starting from 12.6 and around 85% from 13v. As I dim the screen down the indicator creeps up to 96 -98% on a fully charged battery. Not to concernced about it as mentioned before the unit will run all day, but curious what others see on their helix units with a battery in good condition.

[DOGFISH]

My Helix does the exact same thing. It is like a cellphone or tablet, screen brightness effects the battery big time.

[Hunter1993]

Charge the battery and check with a volt meter . Could be some bad cells inside


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