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Old 01-04-2017, 04:21 PM
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Default Humminbird Ice 35/45/55 Transducer Cable Question

I have an Ice 55 and was wondering whether that second "support" cable is really necessary. On their FAQ page the first item addressed is their two cable system.

Question: *Why do the Humminbird ICE Series flashers have two cables on their transducers?

Answer: *Humminbird's transducer assembly contains both a support cable and a signal cable. The support cable hangs the transducer at the proper position in the water, and the signal cable connects the transducer to the control head. Because Johnson Outdoors believes in respecting the intellectual property of others, we specifically designed our assembly such that it would not infringe a specific patent relating to suspending an ice fishing transducer by its signal cable. For that reason, the transducer should be utilized per the instructions in the owner's manual at all times.*

I interpret their material as saying, "We couldn't copy Vexilar to a tee, so we added this stupid second cable, but it's really not necessary".

Do any of you guys who run Humminbird, disregard this "support" cable?

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Old 01-04-2017, 04:36 PM
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I have used it without multiple times when it accidentally pops off and especially when their is ice build up making it tough to clip back in place. I wouldn't just remove it though, it effectively acts as a cable relief which is never a bad idea.

I thought you ended up getting the LX6 instead?
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Old 01-04-2017, 05:22 PM
huntsfurfish huntsfurfish is offline
 
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I stopped using the support cable on my humminbird unit. No issues.

But I dont rip it out of the hole either.
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Old 01-04-2017, 06:18 PM
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just bought an ICE-35 and there was only 1 cable.
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Old 01-04-2017, 06:47 PM
jegermiester jegermiester is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Forest Techer View Post
just bought an ICE-35 and there was only 1 cable.
Ditto here for the Ice 35 that I bought at Cabela's just before Xmas
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Old 01-04-2017, 10:15 PM
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[QUOTE=jegermiester;3434148]Ditto here for the Ice 35 that I bought at Cabela's just before Xmas [/QUOTE

X3, only one cable for my Ice 35 I just purchased....
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Old 01-05-2017, 08:13 AM
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I got rid of mine on my ice 45. I was having issues with it.... if in the tent and had 2 lines down 5 feet apart it would sometimes pick up only the lure next to me or only mine sometimes and this was in 50-80 ft of water. I figured out eventually the problem was the support cable making the transducer sit on a slight angle.
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Old 01-05-2017, 09:03 AM
jegermiester jegermiester is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pikehunter1989 View Post
I got rid of mine on my ice 45. I was having issues with it.... if in the tent and had 2 lines down 5 feet apart it would sometimes pick up only the lure next to me or only mine sometimes and this was in 50-80 ft of water. I figured out eventually the problem was the support cable making the transducer sit on a slight angle.
I saw this video on YouTube the other day which I thought was a pretty ingenious fix to the issue of clutter in the hole & the transducer possibly not sitting straight when under the ice....whayda you boys think??

Just gotta find a machine shop that could build me one of these babies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxO9PQgNowQ
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Old 01-05-2017, 09:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jegermiester View Post
I saw this video on YouTube the other day which I thought was a pretty ingenious fix to the issue of clutter in the hole & the transducer possibly not sitting straight when under the ice....whayda you boys think??

Just gotta find a machine shop that could build me one of these babies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxO9PQgNowQ
You need a machine shop to do this?
Maybe look at ordering a replacement arm or an after market arm off a Marcum.
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Old 01-05-2017, 09:36 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sns2 View Post
I have an Ice 55 and was wondering whether that second "support" cable is really necessary. On their FAQ page the first item addressed is their two cable system.

Question: *Why do the Humminbird ICE Series flashers have two cables on their transducers?

Answer: *Humminbird's transducer assembly contains both a support cable and a signal cable. The support cable hangs the transducer at the proper position in the water, and the signal cable connects the transducer to the control head. Because Johnson Outdoors believes in respecting the intellectual property of others, we specifically designed our assembly such that it would not infringe a specific patent relating to suspending an ice fishing transducer by its signal cable. For that reason, the transducer should be utilized per the instructions in the owner's manual at all times.*

I interpret their material as saying, "We couldn't copy Vexilar to a tee, so we added this stupid second cable, but it's really not necessary".

Do any of you guys who run Humminbird, disregard this "support" cable?

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That my take on it.
http://www.humminbird.com/Freshwater...le/ICE-Series/
Here is a picture of the 55 on the hummingbird website with only one cable.
Seeing at Vexilar has been in the flasher market for so long I wonder if their patent has expired allowing hummingbird to now use only one cable without infringement as some guys are seeing on the 35?
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Old 01-08-2017, 06:06 PM
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I ran the Ice55 without the stupid cord.

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Old 01-08-2017, 06:07 PM
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I am going to get a Marcum support arm and bubba it to the humminbird.

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Old 01-09-2017, 09:57 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sns2 View Post
I am going to get a Marcum support arm and bubba it to the humminbird.

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I have been thinking about going to the float like the vex and Humminbird for two reasons find that if you drill a bunch of holes and don't clear the ice around the hole when you get to the holes to hole hop the machine has to sit at a silly angle and two I find you have to keep the unit so close to the hole at the end of a good day the unit is splashed with water and covered in ice. Maybe we should just trade units lol.
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Old 01-09-2017, 11:21 AM
huntsfurfish huntsfurfish is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_W View Post
I have been thinking about going to the float like the vex and Humminbird for two reasons find that if you drill a bunch of holes and don't clear the ice around the hole when you get to the holes to hole hop the machine has to sit at a silly angle and two I find you have to keep the unit so close to the hole at the end of a good day the unit is splashed with water and covered in ice. Maybe we should just trade units lol.
You can buy a vexilar FT-100 Ice ducer float and stopper at Cabelas for $10.99 or Lowrance version for $16.99. Or you can easily make your own. Best value is vex.
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Old 01-09-2017, 11:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_W View Post
I have been thinking about going to the float like the vex and Humminbird for two reasons find that if you drill a bunch of holes and don't clear the ice around the hole when you get to the holes to hole hop the machine has to sit at a silly angle and two I find you have to keep the unit so close to the hole at the end of a good day the unit is splashed with water and covered in ice. Maybe we should just trade units lol.
That is probably why my fishing buddy always kicks the snow flat whereas I prefer to leave the volcano shape around my holes. He has a marcum and I have a humminbird lol.
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Old 01-09-2017, 12:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RavYak View Post
That is probably why my fishing buddy always kicks the snow flat whereas I prefer to leave the volcano shape around my holes. He has a marcum and I have a humminbird lol.
I kick mine flat, as I have always found it easier to grab a fish that spits the hook.
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  #17  
Old 01-09-2017, 10:19 PM
Andy44 Andy44 is offline
 
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It's very easy to put a replacement Marcum arm on the Hummingbird. I did it on my ice 35. I bought the arm for like 20 bucks at The Fishing Hole. Take off one of the posts used for wrapping the transducer cable and replace it with the Marcum arm held by two washers, a nut and a bolt.

To properly secure the cable to the end of the Marcum arm I use the same grey rubber clip thing that comes with the Hummingbird ice flashers. Put the cable through the end of the Marcum arm and then set the length of the cable as you normally would and run the cable through the furthest of the 2 holes on the little grey rubber clip. To make sure it doesn't slide down wrap the cable once just behind the round end of the arm and then put it through the closest hole on the grey clip.

Works like a charm for me. No more stupid float moving around my hole and it's much easier to pull the transducer straight out of the hole without catching it on the edge.
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Old 01-10-2017, 02:17 PM
jegermiester jegermiester is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy44 View Post
It's very easy to put a replacement Marcum arm on the Hummingbird. I did it on my ice 35. I bought the arm for like 20 bucks at The Fishing Hole. Take off one of the posts used for wrapping the transducer cable and replace it with the Marcum arm held by two washers, a nut and a bolt.

To properly secure the cable to the end of the Marcum arm I use the same grey rubber clip thing that comes with the Hummingbird ice flashers. Put the cable through the end of the Marcum arm and then set the length of the cable as you normally would and run the cable through the furthest of the 2 holes on the little grey rubber clip. To make sure it doesn't slide down wrap the cable once just behind the round end of the arm and then put it through the closest hole on the grey clip.

Works like a charm for me. No more stupid float moving around my hole and it's much easier to pull the transducer straight out of the hole without catching it on the edge.
Thanks for the awesome suggestion Andy44.....I'm gonna replicate exactly what you did
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Old 01-11-2017, 10:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RavYak View Post
That is probably why my fishing buddy always kicks the snow flat whereas I prefer to leave the volcano shape around my holes. He has a marcum and I have a humminbird lol.
My preference would be flat as well however quite often I will drill 20 holes or so and fish them in succession or as needed often this means the "volcano" is frozen solid when I get there with a scoop.
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Old 01-11-2017, 10:44 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by huntsfurfish View Post
You can buy a vexilar FT-100 Ice ducer float and stopper at Cabelas for $10.99 or Lowrance version for $16.99. Or you can easily make your own. Best value is vex.
That sounds like the ticket!
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