Singing downrigger

[fishgiver]

My cannon downrigger began “singing” today, how do I make it less noisy. It was quiet when I last used a couple of weeks ago.

[wiperhunter2]

As far as I know all down riggers sing, giving the right conditions. It's annoying but won't hurt anything. Not sure if there is something that can be done to get it to go away, hopefully someone else has an answer to that one.

[FishfulThinkin]

I've heard that you can use 150# braid instead of stainless steel cable. Supposed to quiet things down. I've never tried it but my riggers always put out a nice tone while trolling with steel cable. I don't mind it so I've never changed to braid.

[dubob]

My cannon downrigger began “singing” today, how do I make it less noisy. It was quiet when I last used a couple of weeks ago.

The metal cable will vibrate at different frequencies depending on the trolling speed of the boat.  And yes, switching to braided line will eliminate the singing - been there; done that.  However, if your DR's are electric Cannons, the automatic stop when the weight reaches the water surface will no longer function with braided line.  You will also not have the regulated ion voltage 0.6 VDC on your DR cable.

[Bduck]

I just go with the singing wire. With the underwater terrain we have in our lakes, I'm very skeptic about using braid with possibility of it rubbing against something which would fray the line. My style of auto stop requires a crimp on both ends (4" spread) of the barrel magnets creating 2 weak spots on each DR. Bob is right about the ion control. But, if you never had an issue with a HOT boat, there is no worry about using braid is this respect. 

[wiperhunter2]

Since we are talking about cannon down riggers on this thread, I hope the OP won't mind me posting this here
Have any of you with cannons ever had a problem with the auto stop or auto up not work? This is on two new riggers with the original steel cable. Does the base need to be grounded or something? Do they make them without auto stop or auto up? Ira just got these riggers and they were first used today, one is a mag5 the other is mag10, hard to believe they both did not work.

[dubob]

Since we are talking about cannon down riggers on this thread, I hope the OP won't mind me posting this here
Have any of you with cannons ever had a problem with the auto stop or auto up not work? This is on two new riggers with the original steel cable. Does the base need to be grounded or something? Do they make them without auto stop or auto up? Ira just got these riggers and they were first used today, one is a mag5 the other is mag10, hard to believe they both did not work.

The auto retrieve function occurs anytime you hit the switch "to raise". A circuit board in the rigger performs this function by sensing ground thru the rigger cable. When the weight clears the water, it shuts off the motor. If the circuit board is KAPUT, the rigger will not come up automatically. You should use #10 wire for hookup to the battery.  Measure the voltage between the boat (assuming the boat is metal) and the DR cable with the boat in the water and the cable in the water.  It should be 0.6 volts give or take a tenth.  If there isn't any voltage being measured, then the battery system is not grounded to the boat.  I'm guessing this is the case and that is why the Auto Up doesn't work.  The Auto Stop will not work if the Auto Up is not working.

If you held the up/down switch in the retrieve position (up), did the motor turn on and bring the ball back up?

[wiperhunter2]

Since we are talking about cannon down riggers on this thread, I hope the OP won't mind me posting this here
Have any of you with cannons ever had a problem with the auto stop or auto up not work? This is on two new riggers with the original steel cable. Does the base need to be grounded or something? Do they make them without auto stop or auto up? Ira just got these riggers and they were first used today, one is a mag5 the other is mag10, hard to believe they both did not work.

The auto retrieve function occurs anytime you hit the switch "to raise". A circuit board in the rigger performs this function by sensing ground thru the rigger cable. When the weight clears the water, it shuts off the motor. If the circuit board is KAPUT, the rigger will not come up automatically. You should use #10 wire for hookup to the battery.  Measure the voltage between the boat (assuming the boat is metal) and the DR cable with the boat in the water and the cable in the water.  It should be 0.6 volts give or take a tenth.  If there isn't any voltage being measured, then the battery system is not grounded to the boat.  I'm guessing this is the case and that is why the Auto Up doesn't work.  The Auto Stop will not work if the Auto Up is not working.

If you held the up/down switch in the retrieve position (up), did the motor turn on and bring the ball back up?

Yes it works, it just does not have the auto up or stop. I bet you are right about the wire gauge not being 10 ga. In case Ira doesn't see this post I'll let him know. One rigger not working is one thing but two not working says something is hooked up wrong. Thanks Bob.

[dubob]

Since we are talking about cannon down riggers on this thread, I hope the OP won't mind me posting this here
Have any of you with cannons ever had a problem with the auto stop or auto up not work? This is on two new riggers with the original steel cable. Does the base need to be grounded or something? Do they make them without auto stop or auto up? Ira just got these riggers and they were first used today, one is a mag5 the other is mag10, hard to believe they both did not work.

The auto retrieve function occurs anytime you hit the switch "to raise". A circuit board in the rigger performs this function by sensing ground thru the rigger cable. When the weight clears the water, it shuts off the motor. If the circuit board is KAPUT, the rigger will not come up automatically. You should use #10 wire for hookup to the battery.  Measure the voltage between the boat (assuming the boat is metal) and the DR cable with the boat in the water and the cable in the water.  It should be 0.6 volts give or take a tenth.  If there isn't any voltage being measured, then the battery system is not grounded to the boat.  I'm guessing this is the case and that is why the Auto Up doesn't work.  The Auto Stop will not work if the Auto Up is not working.

If you held the up/down switch in the retrieve position (up), did the motor turn on and bring the ball back up?

Yes it works, it just does not have the auto up or stop. I bet you are right about the wire gauge not being 10 ga. In case Ira doesn't see this post I'll let him know. One rigger not working is one thing but two not working says something is hooked up wrong. Thanks Bob.

If you hold the switch up and the motor works but stops when you release it, then the rigger is NOT sensing ground through the cable and water.  There will be a ton of videos on YouTube that show you how to correct that.  Good luck.

[liketrolling]

My cannon downrigger began “singing” today, how do I make it less noisy. It was quiet when I last used a couple of weeks ago.

you should love the singing it calls in fish.

[wiperhunter2]

Since we are talking about cannon down riggers on this thread, I hope the OP won't mind me posting this here
Have any of you with cannons ever had a problem with the auto stop or auto up not work? This is on two new riggers with the original steel cable. Does the base need to be grounded or something? Do they make them without auto stop or auto up? Ira just got these riggers and they were first used today, one is a mag5 the other is mag10, hard to believe they both did not work.

The auto retrieve function occurs anytime you hit the switch "to raise". A circuit board in the rigger performs this function by sensing ground thru the rigger cable. When the weight clears the water, it shuts off the motor. If the circuit board is KAPUT, the rigger will not come up automatically. You should use #10 wire for hookup to the battery.  Measure the voltage between the boat (assuming the boat is metal) and the DR cable with the boat in the water and the cable in the water.  It should be 0.6 volts give or take a tenth.  If there isn't any voltage being measured, then the battery system is not grounded to the boat.  I'm guessing this is the case and that is why the Auto Up doesn't work.  The Auto Stop will not work if the Auto Up is not working.

If you held the up/down switch in the retrieve position (up), did the motor turn on and bring the ball back up?

Yes it works, it just does not have the auto up or stop. I bet you are right about the wire gauge not being 10 ga. In case Ira doesn't see this post I'll let him know. One rigger not working is one thing but two not working says something is hooked up wrong. Thanks Bob.

If you hold the switch up and the motor works but stops when you release it, then the rigger is NOT sensing ground through the cable and water.  There will be a ton of videos on YouTube that show you how to correct that.  Good luck.

OK, thanks for the info Bob.

[Mildog]

I had my auto stop not working once on my boat, when It had always worked perfect? I noticed that the pull out switch for my nav lights was in ON position. I pushed it in ( turned it off) auto stop worked perfect? The switch is mounted to the same aluminum plate the downrigger is mounted on. I’m guessing the switch might have grounded to the mounting plate so when power turned on it messed with ground of the boat? I have since installed some rubber washers to isolate that switch.
Haven’t tried turning it on again when I’m the lake to see if it doesn’t affect auto stop now. Since I don’t ever downrigger troll at night the nav light switch isn’t normally on when I’m using downriggers.
If I can remember I’ll have to test my “fix” next time on the water.
Electrical things work in mysterious ways ?

[wiperhunter2]

I had my auto stop not working once on my boat, when It had always worked perfect? I noticed that the pull out switch for my nav lights was in ON position. I pushed it in ( turned it off) auto stop worked perfect? The switch is mounted to the same aluminum plate the downrigger is mounted on. I’m guessing the switch might have grounded to the mounting plate so when power turned on it messed with ground of the boat? I have since installed some rubber washers to isolate that switch.
Haven’t tried turning it on again when I’m the lake to see if it doesn’t affect auto stop now. Since I don’t ever downrigger troll at night the nav light switch isn’t normally on when I’m using downriggers.
If I can remember I’ll have to test my “fix” next time on the water.
Electrical things work in mysterious ways ?

He has his riggers wired directly into his battery, so that likely isn't the issue but good to know other things can cause it not to work. Bob suggested above to use a larger gauge wire, 10 ga I believe. I know the main wire came with the riggers so I'm sure they a 10 ga but he has it hooked to another wire before going to the battery, my guess is that wire isn't 10 gauge.

[Mildog]

Another thing to check is the connection to the spool of the down-rigger you should be able to see a crimp connection in the center of the spool, sometimes it can get some corrosion so there is not a good contact to the control board. That could cause auto stop not to work. If they are new, wouldn’t expect to see that yet, but worth looking at.

[MACMAN]

I’m far from a downrigger expert, but the cable noise is nice for me. I hear a fish hit 90% of the time before I see it. The noise goes higher pitched on a strike and is variable or goes away when the fish is hooked up. I actually prefer the noise.