It’s amazing what a 7 mile per hour SE wind will do to Rayburn. Only my second time to fish this lake and I just couldn’t believe this size of waves with not that high winds. Anyways, with that said during one of my runs and hitting the waves so hard it did something to my helix at my console. It now will just go off on its own. The first day it seemed to only happen when hitting big waves. While fishing it would stay on. So I just thought maybe a connection was knocked loose that fist day. So I made sure all the wiring bundles behind my steering wheel were secure as I know those bundles are heavy. My thought was the weight was pulling on the connection of the master power switch. Then on the next day it would go off even while fishing. This unit is wired to the master power switch. Give me your thoughts.

Loose fuse.
Wiring at the fuse box.
Negative bus.

First of all, your title is misleading, "Rayburn broke my boat".....instead, it sounds like you have an electrical connection issue on your Helix due to running rough water as stated above!

Thanks for the input River Man. Lol. Maybe my title was meant to get people’s attention.

This happens with me and my bow mounted Helix unit after running rough water. Mine is wired to an auxiliary power switch at my console. I have to flip it off and back on in order for my Helix to power up.

Obviously make sure your connections into the back of the helix are secure as mine can wiggle loose. The bow just takes a lot more of a beating.

Thank you David. I will look at those things.

Had that problem before unit going off. Ran dedicated wire for power straight to battery with inline fuse for both graphs bow & console no problems since. Run opposite side of boat from trolling motor power cable less interference.

+1. BEST solution here.

Agreed. This is the way it should be ran anyway so you won't have any voltage drop. Run at least 10 gauge wire with an inline fuse.

I had that happen with a Helix 10 getting the [censored] beat out of me on Rayburn. On this one the collector was not clicked in all the way, Be sure you hear two clicks.

On another Helix 10, I believe it was a bad batch of back covers. The ears where the collector clipped in broke, it was fairly common.

And trust me on Friday it was more than seven miles an hour, and Saturday morning making a run from Umphrey to Veach was a beating. Whatever they say the wind speed is up there, double it!

What I've noticed on Rayburn the past 25 years, if the forecast is anything 5-10 and higher, add 10 mph on the lake. If it's light and variable, it tends to be close to that