I had a XTM 9 DI 25 T that I bought new and installed right at a year ago for a 596c HD DI. I needed a new 'ducer and got the actual TM designed one instead of using a transom 'ducer because of electrical interference issues with the other one. I had also put a power cable with a filter on the unit to try and help with the trolling motor interference before buying the right transducer for the application.

The 'ducer has never been hit, drug on anything and the cable is 100% intact. I've never put any crazy tension on it and one day it just flat went out. I've checked the 596 with my rear transducer and it works fine. I think that this shouldn't be normal and I'm wondering what could have caused it to go out in a year? I'm not ready to drop another $150 if it's going to fry that quick again.

One thing that I probably should do is turn off the head unit when I pull the TM out of the water. I usually do if I have a LONG run but just a quick run across a cove or something I usually don't. Could that have been the cause?

I never turn any unit off until I get back to the launch area. I do stop the sonar when I pull the tmotor.

So I can't see how that could be the problem. Do you still have the receipt for it? You might get it replaced under warranty.

How did you attach the transducer cable to the trolling motor shaft?

I used zip ties to attach it. I'm in the audio/video business so I know better than to crank them down and crimp the cable. There is enough slack to slide them up and down if you wanted to but not loose enough for it to just slide around on its own. At the pivot point I left a small half-loopand made sure it had full range of motion without ever getting tight.

Any other ideas other than just went bad? What is the warranty on a 'ducer?

Usually a year, what other unit do you have? If it's a si unit you can plug the transducer in it to test. You will get 2d and di. Set the Di beam to medium or wide I can't remember which one, you should get down imaging and that same image will show up on the right side of SI as well. If you don't at least get 2d then most likely a ducer issue. Does the ducer ping when plugged in, should be able to hear it

So did you ever find out if it was because of a bad battery? Last weekend I was on the lake and my unit was working fine, made a run across the lake and my sonar/ Di/si stopped working, maps still worked. My crankin battery needs to be replaced so I'm not sure if that's the problem or not. Will update this weekend.

I tested the head unit with the SI transducer on the transom and it worked. So it's definitely a bad trolling motor transducer, just not sure what would have caused it to fail so quickly. That's what worries me when spending that kind of money to replace it. The 596 will probably get replaced anyway and I can upgrade to a new TM transducer and solve two problems with one stone......but I still have no definitive answer on if a bad power source could cause a 'diver to fail but still leave the head unit working.....