Eagle 245DS - Manuals

3 storage in temperatures higher or lower than specified will damage the liquid crystal display in your unit. This type of damage is not covered by the warranty. For more information, contact the fac- tory's Customer Service Department; phone numbers are inside the manual's back cover. How Sonar Wor...

4 A new innovation, the 83 kHz frequency offers superior sonar perform- ance at all depths from very shallow up to 1,000 ft and provides up to 120º of fishfinding coverage. Preparations The following shows the recommended sequence for installing the transducer: CAUTION: You should read over this ent...

5 3. Determine the location of your battery or other power connection, along with the power cable route. 4. Install the transducer and route the transducer cable to the sonar unit. 5. Route the power cable from the unit's location to an appropriate power source and connect it there. 6. Connect the t...

6 Recommended Tools and supplies If you prefer the option of routing the cable through the transom, you will need a 5/8" drill bit. Each transom mount requires use of a high quality , marine grade above- or below-waterline caulking compound. NOTE: The following installation types also call for t...

7 at speeds faster than 35 mph. Typically, a good transom location on aluminum boats is between the ribs closest to the engine. 3. The transducer should be installed with its face pointing straight down, if possible. For shoot-thru applications: Many popular fishing boat hulls have a flat keel pad t...

8 Good and poor transducer locations. How low should you go? For most situations, you should install your Skimmer transducer so that its centerline is level with the bottom of the boat hull. This will usually give you the best combination of smooth water flow and protec- tion from bangs and bumps. A...

10 Fourth, a Skimmer transducer with a built-in temp sensor will show only the temperature of the bilge, not the water surface temp. Follow the procedure listed in the shoot-thru-hull installation section at the end of this lesson to determine if you can satisfactorily shoot through the hull. Transo...

11 If the transducer's face isn't parallel with the ground, remove the transducer and ratchets from the bracket. Place the ratchets into the holes in the bracket with the letter "B" aligned with the dot stamped in the bracket. Reassemble the transducer and bracket and place them against the ...

12 Assemble transducer and bracket. 4. Drilling mounting holes. Hold the transducer and bracket assem- bly against the transom. The transducer should be roughly parallel to the ground. The transducer's centerline should be in line with the bot- tom of the hull. Don't let the bracket extend below the...

13 Position transducer mount on transom and mark mounting holes. Side view shown at left and seen from above at right. 5. Attaching transducer to transom. Remove the transducer from the bracket and re-assemble it with the cable passing through the bracket over the bolt as shown in the following figu...

14 Attach the transducer to the transom. Slide the transducer up or down until it's aligned properly with the bottom of the hull as shown in the preceding and following figures. Tighten the bracket's mounting screws, sealing them with the caulking compound. Adjust the transducer so that it's paralle...

15 If you need to drill a hole in the transom to pass the connector through, the required hole size is 5/8". (If you intend to route an additional speed or temp sensor cable through the same hole, you will need a 1" (25.4 mm) drill bit instead.) Caution: If you drill a hole in the transom fo...

16 Position the transducer to aim straight down when the motor is in the water. Tighten the strap securely. 3. Route the transducer cable alongside the trolling motor shaft. Use plastic ties (not included) to attach the transducer cable to the trolling motor shaft. Make sure there is enough slack in...

17 Transducer angles and their effects on fish arches. If the arch slopes up – but not back down – then the front of the trans- ducer is too high and needs to be lowered. If only the back half of the arch is printed, then the nose of the transducer is angled too far down and needs to be raised. NOTE...

18 Shoot-Thru-Hull Preparation Hulls with Flotation Materials The transducer installation inside a fiberglass hull must be in an area that does not have air bubbles in the resin or separated fiberglass lay- ers. The sonar signal must pass through solid fiberglass. A successful transducer installatio...

19 sonar signal must pass through solid fiberglass. Any air bubbles in the fiberglass or the epoxy will reduce or eliminate the sonar signals. Shoot-thru-hull transducer locations for high speed or trolling speed operation. Testing Determines Best Location Ideally, the shoot-thru transducer should b...

20 Example of a second bottom signal. Unit is in 30 feet of water, with range set at 80 feet and sensitivity set at 87 percent. 3. Now move the transducer around to find the best location with the strongest possible bottom signal. If you find a spot with an acceptable bottom signal, mark the locatio...

21 Shoot-Thru-Hull Installation 1. Make sure the area is clean, dry and free of oil or grease, then sand both the inside surface of the hull and the face of the transducer with 100 grit sandpaper. The sanded hull area should be about 1-1/2 times the diameter of the transducer. The surface of the hul...

23 CAUTION: When using the unit in a saltwater environment, we strongly rec-ommend that you shut off the power supply to the power cable when the unit is not in use. When the unit is turned off but still connected to a power supply, electrolysis can occur in the power ca-ble plug. This may result in...

24 positive lead, black is negative or ground. Make sure to attach the in-line fuse holder to the red lead as close to the power source as possible. For example, if you have to extend the power cable to the battery or power buss, attach one end of the fuse holder directly to the battery or power bus...

25 Holes in the bracket’s base allow wood screw or through-bolt mounting. You may need to place a piece of plywood on the back side of thin pan- els to reinforce the panel and secure the mounting hardware. Front view (left) and side view (right) showing dimensions of the FishEasy 245DS and SeaFinder...

26 a good marine caulking compound. (Some marine dealers stock cable hole covers to conceal the opening.) Using the Quick Release Mounting Bracket These units use a quick release mounting bracket. When you run the cables through the bracket's cable slots, make sure you allow enough slack for tilting...

27 the front of the bracket as you lower it into position.) As you push down, the unit will lock into place with a distinct click. To adjust the viewing angle, pinch the ratchets with one hand, then tilt the unit with your other hand. Release the ratchets and the unit locks into the new position. To...

28 Adjust viewing angle: use one hand to press and release the spring- loaded ratchets while you move the unit with the other hand. Portable Sonar Installation Like many Eagle products, the FishEasy 245DS and SeaFinder 245DS sonar units are capable of portable operation. They use the optional PPP-12...

29 Installing the Batteries Open the case and lay it flat. (The latch is located below the handle.) Insert eight "AA" size batteries into the battery adapter and place it in the battery compartment. Slip the battery cover tabs into the slots in the case wall, then close the battery cover wit...

30 Mounting the Unit A quick-release mount is built into the top of the portable power pack. To attach the unit, first plug in the cable connector. Then, hold the sonar unit vertically and slide it onto the bracket from above. (The back of the unit should be touching the front of the bracket as you ...

31 fresh ones. Always remove batteries from the compartment when storing the unit because dead batteries can leak and corrode the contacts. In cold weather the efficiency of dry cell batteries drops with the tem- perature. We find it a good idea to have the batteries and the sonar unit good and warm...

32 Moisten the suction cup, then press it onto the hull as firmly as possi- ble. Tie the nylon cord to the boat and set the power pack and sonar unit in a location for easy viewing. Your portable sonar is now ready for use. Portable transducer installed on boat transom. Tie nylon cord here Washer Wa...

33 Portable Transducer Storage There is room inside the power pack for the portable transducer. When you're finished fishing, tilt the sonar down to the storage position. Open the case and lay it flat. Unplug the power connector from the battery compartment socket. Wrap the transducer cable around t...

35 Operation Keyboard Basics The unit sounds a tone when you press any key. This tells you the unit has accepted a command. Numbers in the figure correspond to key ex- planations below: Eagle FishEasy 245 DS. 1 2 3

37 The MENU keys access these features, allowing you to customize unit set- tings. To switch menus, press MENU repeatedly. Press PWR to clear menus from the screen. The Backlight menu with backlight turned on. Display The lights will flash for about 10 seconds when the unit is turned on. The backlig...

39 Full Chart page, showing digital depth (above) and temp (below). The Fish I.D. feature is turned off. This unit has the following depth ranges: 10, 20, 40, 80, 150, 300, 600, 1000 and 2000 feet. Depth Range menu with Manual setting selected (left). Range Size menu with 0-80 ft highlighted (right)...

40 is 0 to 60 feet, Zoom will show an enlarged view of the water column from 30 feet to 60 feet, always keeping the bottom in view. To zoom in the display, repeatedly press MENU until the Z OOM menu appears. Press ↓ to select O N , then press PWR to clear the menu. Zoom feature turned off (left). Zo...

41 ual Depth Range mode, you can select one of 17 pre-set Zoom Ranges. This lets you enlarge a segment of the water column. To do this, make sure Depth Range is set to manual mode. Next, re-peatedly press MENU until the Z OOM menu appears. Press ↓ to select O N , then press MENU UP to display the Z ...

42 Sensitivity set to manual mode (left). Sensitivity scroll bar (right). You can change the sensitivity level whether you are in Auto Sensitivity mode or Manual Sensitivity mode. The adjustment method works the same in both modes, but gives you slightly different results. To adjust sensitivity in A...

43 These figures show results of different sensitivity levels on the same location. Fig. 1: Sensitivity at 98 percent, determined by Auto Sensitiv- ity. Typical of full auto mode. Fig. 2: Sensitivity set at 71 percent. Fig. 3: Sensitivity set at 47 percent. Fig. 4: Sensitivity set at 100 percent. Gr...

44 Grayline scroll bar. If you have two signals of equal size, one with gray and the other with- out, then the target with gray is the stronger signal. This helps distin- guish weeds from trees on the bottom or fish from structure. Grayline is adjustable. Since Grayline shows the difference between ...

45 A small amount of Grayline indicates a soft bottom (left), probably sand or mud. More Grayline indicates a harder, rocky bottom (right). Chart Speed The speed at which echoes scroll across the screen is called the chart speed. The default for this unit is "max" (100 percent). We recommend...

46 Sometimes, you may achieve better images as you decrease the chart speed to match the speed of your boat. If you are at anchor, ice fishing or fishing from a dock, experiment with a chart speed of 25 percent. If you are drifting slowly, try a chart speed of 50 percent. When you are stationary and...

49 To turn Fish I.D. off, repeatedly press MENU until the F ISH ID menu ap- pears. Press ↓ to select O FF , then press PWR . To turn it back on, repeat the above steps, but press ↑ to select O N . FishTrack ™ The FishTrack ™ feature shows the depth of a fish symbol when it ap- pears on the display. ...

51 Shallow Alarm menu (left). Shallow Alarm Value Dialog box (right). Press ↓ to S ET V ALUE . The Shallow Alarm Value dialog box will appear. Use ↑ ↓ to enter the first number in the dialog box, then press MENU DOWN to move to the next digit. Repeat those steps until the desired depth has been ente...

52 Deep Alarm menu (left). Deep Alarm dialog box (right). Press the ↓ to S ET V ALUE . The Deep Alarm Value dialog box will appear. Use ↓ to enter the first number in the dialog box, then press MENU DOWN to move to the next digit. Repeat those steps until the desired depth has been entered in the di...

53 Battery Alarm menu (left). Low Battery Alarm Value (right). To move the cursor back to any of the previously entered numbers, press MENU UP . Press PWR to return to the Battery Alarm menu. Use ↑ to select O N , which will turn on the alarm, then press PWR to clear the menu. If the voltage value f...

54 Noise Rejection menu. The ASP feature has three settings — Off, Low and High. When first turned on, noise rejection is set on low. If you have high noise levels, try using the high ASP setting. If, however, you are having trouble with noise, we suggest you take steps to find the interference sour...

55 Depth menu with Depth display turned off (left). Depth display set to Large (right). Temperature Display Temperature may be displayed on the screen in a small or medium size or can be turned off completely. Temperature menu (left). Temperature display set to small size (right).

56 To display Temperature: Repeatedly press MENU until the T EMPERATURE menu appears. Use ↑ ↓ to select the size of the temperature display. Press PWR to clear the menu. Voltage menu with the voltage display turned off (left) and with volt- age set to a small display size (right). Voltage The Voltag...

57 Backlight turned on (left). Contrast scroll bar (right). Contrast The unit’s display contrast is adjustable to suit different lighting condi- tions. It will help you see the screen from different angles or at various times of the day. To adjust the contrast, repeatedly press MENU until the C ONTR...

58 Simulator menu (left). Languages menu (right). Set Language This unit supports 11 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Russian, Czech, Dutch and Finnish. To select a language: 1. Repeatedly press MENU until the Languages menu appears. 2. Use ↑ ↓ to select the des...

61 Troubleshooting If your unit is not working, or if you need technical help, please use the following troubleshooting section before contacting the factory cus- tomer service department. It may save you the trouble of returning your unit for repair. For contact information, refer to the last page,...

62 Weak bottom echo, digital readings erratic, or no fish signals: 1. Make certain the transducer is pointing straight down. Clean the face of the transducer. Oil, dirt and fuel can cause a film to form on the transducer, reducing its effectiveness. If the transducer is mounted in- side the hull, be...

63 Try using resistor spark plugs or routing the sonar unit's power and transducer cables away from other electrical wiring on the boat. No fish arches when the Fish I.D. feature is off: 1. Make certain the transducer is pointing straight down. This is the most common problem if a partial arch is di...

66 How to Obtain Service… …in the USA: We back your investment in quality products with quick, expert service and genuine Eagle replacement parts. If you're in the United States and you have technical, return or repair questions, please contact the Factory Customer Service Department. Before any pro...

Accessory Ordering Information for all countries To order Eagle accessories such as power cables or transducers, please contact: 1) Your local marine dealer or consumer electronics store. Most quality dealers that handle marine electronic equipment or other consumer electronics should be able to ass...

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