Vexilar FL-8 question

[AllSpecieAngler]

I have an older Vexilar fl-8 and its been acting up lately. I've been getting alot of what I call "phantom markings" where it shows a bunch of small lines moving upward in the water. Also in deeper situations I have had to turn the gain up to 6 or 7 just to register the baits in 20ft of water. It has a brand new 19 degree transducer so I know thats not the problem. I have also noticed the colors aren't as bright as some newer ones I have seen. Other times it works just fine. Any suggestions on how to correct this?

[Chad Smith]

I have an older Vexilar fl-8 and its been acting up lately. I've been getting alot of what I call "phantom markings" where it shows a bunch of small lines moving upward in the water. Also in deeper situations I have had to turn the gain up to 6 or 7 just to register the baits in 20ft of water. It has a brand new 19 degree transducer so I know thats not the problem. I have also noticed the colors aren't as bright as some newer ones I have seen. Other times it works just fine. Any suggestions on how to correct this?

I have the same Vex, got it 5 years ago, still works like new and I use mine in the summer also.
First, which you have probably done already, make sure the battery is charged, when they get low they do funny things.
Second, are you using the suppression cable in this deeper water? With a low battery and suppression cable you will have to bump up the gain.
Third, make sure there is no frozen slush on the transducer.
As far as the dim lighting, prolly have worn out brushes, low battery doesn't seem to affect brightness to much.
I hope this and the comments to follow will help you get your machine in working order the way you like it!

[AllSpecieAngler]

What is a suppression cable? Not to ask a dumb question but I just got my vex last year and don't know alot about them. Yeah i noticed it gets goofy when the battery is low. What do you do about the brushes? replace them or clean them? Thanks for the help. Tim

[Chad Smith]

What is a suppression cable? Not to ask a dumb question but I just got my vex last year and don't know alot about them. Yeah i noticed it gets goofy when the battery is low. What do you do about the brushes? replace them or clean them? Thanks for the help. Tim

No its not dumb, 8's dont normally come with the cable. It reduces your power output by 50-70% which makes fishing weeds a lot easier! In deeper water (20ft+) it is recommended to not use the cable, Ive fished mine in 30 fow, had to bump up the gain to no end but it can be done. As far as changing the brushes, you should leave that up to the pros at Vexilar, they also have this thing they can do where instead of Green, Yellow and Red, you can see Blue Purple and I want to say Pink but not sure on the pink, its geared more for the visually impaired but might be a cool thing to do. When my brushes go bad I may do it.

If you got the unit last year, I would imagine it may still be under warranty. If you cant figure it out go to the vexilar site and send an email to them.

[ih772]

What! Vexilars wear out and break down? You need to send them back to the factory every once in a while to have parts replaced? There you go newbies, the Vexilar cheerleader admitted they have issues. :D

On a serious note, are you fishing near anyone else with sonar, and do you know how to use the interference reduction? Interference will sometimes show up as lines moving through the water column.

[Chad Smith]

What! Vexilars wear out and break down? You need to send them back to the factory every once in a while to have parts replaced? There you go newbies, the Vexilar cheerleader admitted they have issues. :D

On a serious note, are you fishing near anyone else with sonar, and do you know how to use the interference reduction? Interference will sometimes show up as lines moving through the water column.

Thats why there are warranties, so when hungover Joe comes to work Monday morning and forgets to put a part in a certain spot they are covered.

He does have a point though, mess with the IR if all else fails.

[ih772]

Here's a link that tells you how to clean the brushes.
http://vexilar.com/pages/support/instructions/instructions_brush-cleaning.html

Here's the page for service parts. The brush replacement kit is $21.
http://vexilar.com/pages/support/support_parts.html

It will cost you $60 pluh S&H to have them do it.

[ih772]

Thats why there are warranties, so when hungover Joe comes to work Monday morning and forgets to put a part in a certain spot they are covered.

So they are having quality problems at the Vexilar assembly plant..uh oh! Another reason to go Lowrance. :evil:

[Chad Smith]

:yeahthat: My buddy is looking to get a marker and doesn't want to buy a Lowarance, I'm sure he can send some cash your way if you want to get rid of it!

[ih772]

Marker? Like a Sharpie? Your posts doesn't make sense. :confused:

[Firemedic]

Seriously, you two need to stop ruining perfectly good threads with your arguing. It's becoming too much for someone to search through a thread to find a decent answer.

[ih772]

Seriously, you two need to stop ruining perfectly good threads with your arguing. It's becoming too much for someone to search through a thread to find a decent answer.
Chad and I provided the original poster with good information. You're free to stop reading our posts if you feel like it. ;)

[Firemedic]

I have an older Vexilar fl-8 and its been acting up lately. I've been getting alot of what I call "phantom markings" where it shows a bunch of small lines moving upward in the water.


That is floating debris in the water, i.e. minnow parts, wiggler parts, etc. I have seen it several times after I rebait when my bait falls off or a fish is brought to the surface.

[ih772]

The key is upward through the water, not falling. A lot of time interference looks like lines move UPWARD through the water column.

[Quack Wacker]

http://www.lowrance.com/images/Lowrance/brandLogo.png (http://www.lowrance.com/en/) =no stupid brushes

[AllSpecieAngler]

I did get the unit last year, but I bought it used i.e. no warranty. If I had to guess I would say the unit is close to 10 years old. I'll check into the suppression cable. How do I mess with the interference reduction? Thanks for the info guys it is all helpful. Don't listen to firemedic I get a kick outta you two.

[ih772]

If its that old, then I'm sure the brushes need cleaning and maybe even replacement.

Here's the page with the owners manuals. You can download a copy if you don't have one. It will tell you how to use the interference reduction.
http://www.vexilar.com/pages/support/support_manuals.html

If the interference reduction on the FL-8 is like the FL-18, then you push in on the gain knob several times until the interference is reduced as much as possible.

I see you're in Davison, I'm in between Davison and Lapeer. I'm good with electronics and cleaning the brushes would be really easy for me to do if you feel like it might not be something you're willing to take on.

I just looked at your profile. OMG, you're an ironhead! lol Put down the spud wrenches, step away from the Vex, and let a sparky fix it for you. :)

[AllSpecieAngler]

If its that old, then I'm sure the brushes need cleaning and maybe even replacement.

Here's the page with the owners manuals. You can download a copy if you don't have one. It will tell you how to use the interference reduction.
http://www.vexilar.com/pages/support/support_manuals.html

If the interference reduction on the FL-8 is like the FL-18, then you push in on the gain knob several times until the interference is reduced as much as possible.

I see you're in Davison, I'm in between Davison and Lapeer. I'm good with electronics and cleaning the brushes would be really easy for me to do if you feel like it might not be something you're willing to take on.

I just looked at your profile. OMG, you're an ironhead! lol Put down the spud wrenches, step away from the Vex, and let a sparky fix it for you. :)

Hahaha nice. I think I can get it if not my cousin is a good with electronics and i'm sure he could do it. You do much fishing near your house like Potter Lake or any of those?

[ih772]

Hahaha nice. I think I can get it if not my cousin is a good with electronics and i'm sure he could do it. You do much fishing near your house like Potter Lake or any of those?I was on Potter at last ice a couple years ago and got a few gills and crappies. ScottyHoover and I needed to use a plank to get out on the good ice, the stuff right by the shore melted and the water was too deep for our boots.

I have access to Pero Lake, I think I'll try it out some evening this week.

[ih772]

Hahaha nice. I think I can get it if not my cousin is a good with electronics and i'm sure he could do it. You do much fishing near your house like Potter Lake or any of those?Cleaning the brushes is really pretty easy to do. Just use a very fine grit sandpaper, and only take off the light corrosion.

[AllSpecieAngler]

I was on Potter at last ice a couple years ago and got a few gills and crappies. ScottyHoover and I needed to use a plank to get out on the good ice, the stuff right by the shore melted and the water was too deep for our boots.

I have access to Pero Lake, I think I'll try it out some evening this week.

I have access to Pero as well but i've never fished it. I heard there alot of nice gills in there. If I remember correctly the guy I have access through has property on Pero and Pleasant. Let me know how you do if you make it out there. Tim

[ih772]

I have access to Pero as well but i've never fished it. I heard there alot of nice gills in there. If I remember correctly the guy I have access through has property on Pero and Pleasant. Let me know how you do if you make it out there. TimI've never been out on Pleasant. What's it like?

[AllSpecieAngler]

Never been on either of them myself. I've heard they are both decent for panfish, but never heard anything else. You ever fish Bronson? I have a buddy that lives on it but i've never fished there either.

[ih772]

Never been on either of them myself. I've heard they are both decent for panfish, but never heard anything else. You ever fish Bronson? I have a buddy that lives on it but i've never fished there either.
Driven by it many times, never fished it.

[AllSpecieAngler]

Maybe i'll give him a call and see how its going over there. I need to get ahold of him anyway.

[hunter62]

I have an older Vexilar fl-8 and its been acting up lately. I've been getting alot of what I call "phantom markings" where it shows a bunch of small lines moving upward in the water. Also in deeper situations I have had to turn the gain up to 6 or 7 just to register the baits in 20ft of water. It has a brand new 19 degree transducer so I know thats not the problem. I have also noticed the colors aren't as bright as some newer ones I have seen. Other times it works just fine. Any suggestions on how to correct this?


I see that you say your unit is 10 years old so I would start by testing the transducer before you clean or change the brushes. Your situation sounds similiar to mine last year and after cleaning the brushes it turned out the transducer was bad.

Vex support told me that eventually the transducer cable goes bad near the unit OR if the transducer has been dropped too many times the crystal in the transducer will go bad.

Try the test, below, from the vex website 1st. Another thing they told me to do was to turn on the unit and put the transducer to my ear and listen to see if it's clicking. I was able to determine a difference between my 9 degree angle and 19 degree angle with this method.

I too had to turn up the gain to 6 or 7 to get the iceducer to work on the 9 degree setting but the 19 degree setting seemed to be working fine. But the key was that I was fishing in St Clair and the water was under 10' in most spots so I THOUGHT the 19 degree side was fine. 1st I did the transducer test from the Vex website and determined that the 9 degree angle was bad. Then I took the unit out this year, after cleaning the brushes and tried it in deeper water...20 feet.

The 9 degree side couldn't pick up anything unless it was cranked to 6 or more. The 19 degree side worked fine until the lure hit the 10 foot mark then it also had to be cranked up to 6 or more to see the lure. Of course, with the gain set that high you start to pick up a LOT of extra things in the water column. I can't say if it was reflections off of the bottom or false readings but it was obvious that my iceducer was shot. I made up a rig to hold my summer transducer level for ice use and I experienced no more problems. I was able to set the gain to 1 and see the tiniest of lures, even below 10 feet, on either cone angle setting.

So I suggest that you try the transducer test 1st. I have a feeling that your transducer is bad and that is why you need the gain so high and are getting false readings. After that do the method to clean the brushes, it's really not that hard to do. That is what is causing the dial to not be as bright as it used to be. Clean the excess brush dust off of the inside of the screen and polish the brushes back up so they look like polished copper.

Good luck!


http://www.vexilar.com/pages/support/support_faq.html

Q: How can I test to see if my transducer is bad?

A: Try this test: Hold the transducer about 24" above a hard floor. There must be a flat solid floor below, no carpet. Place a hard cover book on the carpet if you need to. If it's an Ice-Ducer style, hold it by the cable. If it's a Puck or High-Speed, butt the top side up against the underside of a table. This is to insure that the transducer will point straight at the floor. Now, turn the flasher on to the first range. With the Gain set to zero, you should see a mark at the 12:00 position indicating the top, or your transducer, and another mark at the 9 foot line indicating the bottom, or floor

Notice how the depth is completely inaccurate. The reason is that the speed of the burst of sound coming out of your transducer is traveling much slower in the air than it would be in the water. So the unit thinks it's deeper. Also the strength of your system is much weaker in air than water. The top line should be mostly red in color. The bottom line may be green, orange, or red (depending on the strength of your system, how straight your transducer is, and the type of floor). If you cannot see the floor mark without having to turn your gain up, try a harder or smoother type of floor. If there is no change, the system has a sensitivity problem. You must see at least a green mark, on a hard floor, with the gain at minimum to pass the test

You can judge the overall sensitivity of the system by doing this "air demo" test, but you can't tell if a weakness is due to the unit or transducer (which is much more common) without replacing one or the other with a known good component. Borrow a friend's transducer or bring your setup into your local Vexilar dealer and ask if you can use one they have in stock for your test.

If your system passes the test, but you are still experiencing trouble seeing your bait out on the ice, clean the transducer face with hot water and a common dish washing detergent. Also, be sure you wet the transducer by rubbing water into the face of it before you start to fish. This insures good acoustical contact with the water.

If your transducer doesn't pass the test, it will have to be replaced. Weak transducers cannot be repaired. The dealer should be happy to help you out. If the flasher itself proves to be the culprit, our service department should be able to solve your problem.


Brush replacement/cleaning

http://www.vexilar.com/pages/support/pdf/vexilar_brush_replacement_kit.pdf

[AllSpecieAngler]

I just bought a brand new 19 degree transducer fished with it maybe 5 times. It acted the same way with my old puck style one last year. I think the battery may be part of the issue. It is an old battery(about the same age as the unit). I have a brand new one the guy "threw" in with it when my wife bought it off e-bay that is vexilar brand that won't even take a charge. I read my manual on interference suppression and the only info it gave was for on boats. I don't think this unit was even intended to be used for ice fishing. It has no info for it on use for ice fishing anyway. Oh well i'll figure it out. Thanks for all the help guys.