I have had a FL-8 SE for roughly 4 years now and it has performed flawlessly until this ice season. When I first set up in a hole and drop the ducer down, it is acting like it has a loss of power and I can only see my jig when the gain is cranked to 9 or 10. I have been able to get it to work eventually thus far by wiping off the bottom of the transducer several times with no luck. Then all of a sudden try wiping it off again and whammy it works fine. I have tried a different power cord and a different ducer with the same results. So I am assuming that something is messed up with the unit itself. My question is has anyone else had this issue and are there any tricks to fix it?? Any input is greatly appreciated.

I dont believe there is anything wrong with your unit. I have had a FL-8 SLT and it performed flawlessly until last year, then it started as though it would lose power and couldnt actually pick up bottom let alone fish when the gain was at 9-10. I would twist the ducer around a bit and it worked. Then id go to throw it in another hole and then I would need to mess with it another 5 minutes.The only thing I can see would be that your ducer is going bad. What you need to do is go and buy another ducer for it ( i believe mine was around $80). Its a little money out of the pocket but it is worth it. It actually showed things better than when i first purchased the thing.

Thanks norther. It could very well be the transducer. I have had that ducer for about 10 years now. 4 years ago I took it from my SLT when that went bad and put it on my SE. Also the other ducer that I tried is off my girlfriends SLT which isn't working right now either.

I could almost bet you money that it is the ducer then. My unit is 8 years old now, bought it used 3-4 years ago. If you fish fairly hard i believe thats what it is. good luck

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Off topic but, your GF has a vex? TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME.

Yeah that is probably it. You could say I fish hard (almost everyday in the winter).

I had a similar problem and it just needed a new battery.

I don't run a Vex but have had similar issues with my marcum. Battery was about shot once and the ducer was going bad the other so it would work sometimes and not others. Bought a new ducer and it works great.

Sounds like an intermittant contact in the transducer cable since you can get it to work after you handle the tansducer. Most likey where the cable enters the transducer body due to flexing. Tough luck, but cheaper than replacing the entire unit.

I'm going with what most of these guys have said and saying it's the ducer. Definitely not the actual unit. That battery thing might be something though, how old is the battery? 7 or 9amp?

before I would invest any monet, try cleaning the ducer real good, soap, water and a little brillow pad. Mine did the same thing about 3 years ago, and my uncle said if it's dirty it will not read, clean then clean again, try it if that does not work then spend the money. you have to remember that it gets dropped into holes that have oil, salt, chemicals from the water itself all putting another coat of gunk on your ducer everytime you send it down a hole

I had an issue like that as well. After rotating the selection knob a few times, it began working. There must have been some rust on the contacts inside.

I'm pretty sure it's your battery. Mine was acting exactly the same way last year. I hooked it up to another battery and it was like having a brand new machine again.

Vexilar is located by the Mall of America. (Go to their site and find contact info)

They can take a look at your unit and let you know what is going on with it. I have had mine since 1994 and it is a work horse. Over the years I have had to replace a few batteries and transducers but besides that it has never let me down. I have had them check my unit out and convert it from shallow to deep and visa versa. They have always been fast and fair.