Eagle 250 DS - Manual

2 Back-up memory: ........... Built-in memory stores sonar settings when unit is turned off. Languages: ...................... 11 International languages. Sonar Frequency: ...................... 83/200 kHz for FishEasy 250 DS; 50/200 kHz for SeaFinder 250 DF. Transducers: ................... FishEas...

3 NOTICE! The storage and operation temperature range for your unit is from -4 degrees to +167 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees to +75 degrees Celsius). Extended storage or operation in temperatures higher or lower than specified will damage the liquid crystal display in your unit. This type of damag...

4 Dual Search & Dual Frequency The FishEasy 250 DS is packed with a Dual Search Skimmer Trans- ducer that can transmit at 83 kHz and 200 kHz. The SeaFinder 250 DF has a dual frequency transducer that transmits at 50kHz and 200kHz. A new innovation, the 83 kHz frequency offers superior sonar perf...

5 This will help you make sure you have enough cable length for the de- sired configuration.2. Determine the approximate location for the transducer and its cable route.3. Determine the location of your battery or other power connection, along with the power cable route.4. Install the transducer and...

7 Section 2: Installation & Accessories These instructions will help you install your Skimmer  transducer on a transom, on a trolling motor or inside a hull. Please read all instruc- tions before proceeding with any installation.Your Skimmer transducer typically comes packaged with a one-piece ...

8 Shoot-through hull installations Tools: these will vary depending on your hull's composition. Consult your boat dealer or manufacturer. Supplies: 100 grit sandpaper, good quality epoxy adhesive. Selecting a Transducer Location 1. The transducer must be placed in a location that has a smooth flow o...

9 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...

11 Third, a transducer CAN NOT shoot through wood and metal hulls. Those hulls require either a transom mount or a thru-hull installation.Fourth, if your Skimmer transducer has a built in temp sensor, it will only show the temperature of the bilge, not the water surface temp. Follow the testing proc...

12 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 t...

13 Assemble transducer and bracket. 4. Drilling mounting holes. Hold the transducer and bracket assembly against the transom. The transducer should be roughly parallel to the ground. The transducer's centerline should be in line with the bottom of the hull. Don't let the bracket extend below the hul...

14 Route cable over bolt and through bracket. Side view (left) and shown from above (right). 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 mount- ing...

15 Electrical noise from the engine's wiring, bilge pumps, VHF radio wires and cables, and aerators can be picked up by the sonar. Use caution when routing the transducer cable around these wires. WARNING: Clamp the transducer cable to the transom close to thetransducer. This can prevent the transdu...

16 2. Slide the adjustable strap supplied with the TMB-S through the slot in the transducer bracket and wrap it around the trolling motor. Po- sition 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 m...

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...

20 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 location and move on to step 4.If you can not get an acceptable bottom signal, try turning up the sensi- tivity by three or five key...

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 hull...

22 Thoroughly stir the two compounds together until the mixture has a uniform color and consistency. Do not mix too fast or bubbles will form in the epoxy. After mixing, you have 20 minutes to complete the in- stallation before the epoxy becomes unworkable.Spread a thin layer of epoxy (about 1/16...

23 In saltwater environments we recommend you connect the powercable to the auxiliary power switch included in most boat designs.If that results in electrical interference, or if such a switch is notavailable, we recommend connecting direct to the battery and in-stalling an inline switch. This will ...

24 If possible, keep the power cable away from other boat wiring, espe- cially the engine's wires. This will provide the best isolation from elec- trical noise. If the cable is not long enough, splice #18 gauge wire onto it.The power cable has two wires, red and black. Red is the positive lead, blac...

25 In-dash mounting template for FishEasy 250DS, showing dimensions. The preceding figure is not printed to scale. A scaled template is avail- able for free download from our web site, www.eaglesonar.com. Bracket Installation Mount the unit in any convenient location, provided there is clearance whe...

26 Front view (left) and side view (right) showing dimensions of sonar unit mounted on gimbal bracket. Drill a 5/8" (15.9 mm) hole in the dash for the power/transducer cable. The best location for this hole is immediately under the gimbal bracket location. This way, the bracket can be installed ...

27 If you choose to fill in the cable hole, be sure to position the cable against the rear edge of the hole as you apply the fill material.Before positioning the gimbal bracket, be sure to hold the cable against the rear edge of the hole. Then, slide the bracket over the hole and butt the rear of th...

28 alkaline batteries or an optional sealed, rechargeable battery. For set- up directions, refer to the pack's instruction sheet. Install batteries in power case battery adapter. Portable Transducer Assembly Recommended tools for installation include a slotted screw driver and two adjustable wrenche...

30 Moisten the cup, then press it onto the hull as firmly as possible. Tie the nylon cord to the boat and route the transducer cable to the sonar unit. Your portable sonar is now ready for use. NOTE: For optimum operation, the portable transducer should be adjusted so that it is parallel to the grou...

31 Section 2: Operation Keyboard Basics The unit sounds a tone when you press any key. Numbers in the figure correspond to key explanations below: Eagle FishEasy 250 DS. 1. PWR/CLEAR In this manual, the Power/Clear key is referred to as PWR . Press this key to turn the unit on and off. It also clear...

33 The Backlight menu with backlight turned on. Display The lights will flash for about 10 seconds when the unit is turned on. The backlight menu will appear on the screen. Use ↑ ↓ to turn the backlight on or off. Press PWR to clear the menu from the screen. The unit will show the Full Chart Page or...

34 Full Chart page. Full Chart The unit's default page, Full Chart shows all echoes scrolling across the full screen. The bottom signal scrolls across the screen from right to left. The line at the top of the screen represents the surface. The bottom depth — determined by the digital sonar — can be ...

35 Full Chart page showing digital depth (above) and temp (below). The Fish I.D. feature is turned off. FasTrack  This feature automatically converts echoes to short horizontal lines on the display's far right side. The rest of the screen continues to operate normally. Full sonar chart showing surf...

36 FasTrack gives you a rapid update of conditions directly under the boat, making it useful for ice fishing or when fishing at anchor. When the boat is not moving, fish signals are long, drawn out lines on a nor- mal display. FasTrack converts the graph to a vertical bar graph that makes a useful a...

37 Zoom The zoom feature enlarges all images on the screen by doubling (2X) or quadrupling (4X) the size of the echoes. When you activate the zoom command, the screen will be split in half with the zoomed area dis- played on the left. The normal view will be shown on the right side of the screen.To ...

38 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 2X or 4X , then press MENU UP to display the Z OOM R ANGE menu. Use ↑ ↓ to select a desired zoom range. When you are finished, press PWR to clear the menu from the...

39 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 provides slightly different results. To adjust sensitivity in Au...

40 These figures show results of different sensitivity levels on the same location. Fig. 1: Sensitivity at 85 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 90 percent. Gra...

41 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 and fish from structure. A small amount of Grayline indicates a soft bottom (left), probably sand or mud. ...

42 The default level of Grayline is usually adequate for most conditions. Experiment with the unit to find the Grayline setting best for you.To change the Grayline level, repeatedly press MENU until the G RAYLINE scroll bar appears. Press ↑ to increase Grayline, ↓ to decrease it. The ef- fects of th...

43 sonar signal cone, the image appears on the screen as a long line in- stead of a fish arch. Reducing the chart speed may result in a shorter line that more closely resembles a regular fish return.To adjust Chart Speed, repeatedly press MENU until the C HART S PEED scroll bar appears. Press ↑ to i...

46 Then, you can turn on Fish I.D. and the audible fish alarm . When that lunker swims under your boat, you will hear it!Fish I.D. can also be useful when you want to screen out some of the so- nar detail gathered by your unit. For example, it can help cut through the clutter of suspended bubbles ca...

48 vessel enters water that is more shallow than the alarm's setting. The deep alarm sounds a tone your vessel enters water that is deeper than the alarm's setting. Shallow Alarm To set the shallow alarm depth, repeatedly press MENU until S HALLOW A LARM appears. Shallow Alarm menu (left). Shallow A...

50 Battery Alarm menu (left). Low Battery Alarm Value (right). Press the ↓ to S ET V ALUE . The Low Battery Alarm Value dialog box will appear. Input a voltage value between 7 and 18 volts. Use the ↑ ↓ keys to enter the first number in the dialog box, then press MENU DOWN to move to the next digit. ...

52 Depth Display Depth may be displayed on the screen in a small, medium or large size or can be turned off completely. To display Depth: Repeatedly press MENU until the D EPTH menu appears. Use ↑ ↓ to select the size of the depth display. Press PWR to clear the menu. Depth menu with Depth display t...

53 Temperature menu (left). Temperature display set to small size (right). 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) an...

54 Voltage The Voltage menu allows you to display battery voltage on the screen in a small or medium size or can be turned off completely. To display voltage: Repeatedly press MENU until the V OLTAGE menu appears. Use ↑ ↓ to se- lect the size of the voltage display. Press PWR to clear the menu. Unit...

55 appears. Press ↑ to turn on the backlight or ↓ to turn it off. Press PWR to clear the backlight menu from the display. Backlight turned on (left). Contrast scroll bar (right). Contrast The contrast of the unit's display may be adjusted to suit different lighting conditions. It will help you see t...

56 Press PWR to clear the menu. The simulator will be automatically turned off when you power off the unit. Simulator menu (left). Languages menu (right). Set Language This unit's menus are available in 11 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Russian, Czech, Dutch a...

57 Reset Options This command is used to reset all features, options and settings to their original factory defaults. This is useful when you have changed several settings and want to reset the unit to basic automatic operation.First, turn off the unit. Next, press and hold ↓ and the MENU DOWN key a...

59 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,...

60 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...

61 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...

65 EAGLE ELECTRONICS FULL ONE-YEAR WARRANTY "We," "our," or "us" refers to EAGLE ELECTRONICS, a division of LEI, the manufacturer of this product. "You" or "your" refers to the first person who purchases this product as a consumer item for personal, family, or...

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 Informationfor 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 assi...

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