Hummingbird 587 HD DI power failure

[sparky1423]

Been having an ongoing problem with my Hummingbird fishfinder and wanted to share to see if anyone else experienced this.

I am losing connection at the quick connect battery harness where it plugs into the bottom of the device. It has progressed through the months to the point of just lightly tapping the wire at the harness location causes a loss of power. It has become very annoying during choppy conditions. Neither the male pins or female adaptors show any signs of corrosion, the connector is just extremely loose. Too small of an area to determine which end of the connection is failing. If I would have to guess....it would be the male cable end. I have contacted Hummingbird today and waiting for a response.

Anyone experience this issue? I will continue this post once I hear from a representative incase a member experiences the same problem in the future. The unit was purchased in April of 2013.

[Yak Fish]

Yes Sparky, I have the same kind of issue. It's a pain that it's not more secure although I can't say it's actually caused me any problems. However, I've found that you can reverse the plug although you shouldn't be able to do so. It'll fit more snuggly. You'll have to reverse the wires on your battery too. I've also thought about warming the connector and giving it a little squeeze so the plastic flows slightly, making the fit a little tighter to the unit.

Let me know what customer service has to say.

[sparky1423]

My connector fits loosely either way. I could solve the problem persuading the plastic a bit, but that would probably void the warranty, lol. I will use that as a last resort if hummingbird refuses to cooperate.

[sparky1423]

Finally heard back from Humminbird. They told me to install the cable holders (that came with the unit) inside the mount for the FF and it will keep the cables from moving. One...the cable holder is a large metal bracket that does not keep my cables from moving. Two...if I install the cable holder, I cannot remove the mounting hardware from the ram ball mount for storage. I gave up on the customer service because this was not solving anything. I ended up slightly bending my pins outward and sleeving the two female inserts with a very tiny piece of aluminum foil adding some anti-oxident. Does the trick, I plugged in the unit and gave it a few hard pimp-hand smacks and the unit stayed energize. Is this a hack job?...yes, but it works much better.

[Mullet Miller]

I have a Matrix 67 that I was experiencing the same issue with. I ended up taking a small amount of electrical putty, same stuff to use for mounting the transducer, and putting it in the gap between the female receptacle on the unit. It stays put in the slot and holds the plug into the head unit.

[john from md]

I used clear RTV on my plugs when I assembled it into the base. If you have to disassemble it, the RTV comes off easy.

[Memory Maker]

I mounted mine on a Ram Mount using a Yakattack screw ball and the trac ......... the Transducer is mounted in the rear drain plug home using a bung hole (real name folks) mount ......... this way I take leave the Head unit and transducer connected and everything comes off the Yak in seconds without having to unplug the unit so the pins don't wear out.