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 Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums
 General Sailing Forum
 Troubleshooting a depth sounder		  New Topic  Topic Locked
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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts
Initially Posted - 07/07/2013 :  22:09:09  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Today we tried very hard to get our sounder working, but I think either the transducer (my primary suspect), or the display is bad. I thought it might have been the SeaTalk cable, but I took it out of the equation by making a substitute cable, and it continued to act up.

I've read that the transducer should be making a clicking sound, but I hear no such clicking sound. We put a piece of fuel line directly on top of the transducer and listened to the other end, nothing. Tried placing the end in other places around the transducer, nothing. I talked to our resident marina diver, and he asked me if I'd scrubbed the transducer to clean off any accumulated growth. So for the first time ever, I went swimming in my slip, which was an interesting experience.

The transducer & speed log are both easily reached, even with your head above water. I took a scrub brush with me and scrubbed the transducer head, however I felt no growth at all. Rita was watching the depth display and it started working normally when I cleaned it, so we thought we'd solved the problem. All the jury rigged power wires were still attached however, so once I got back out of the water, I removed all the jury rigged stuff, plugged in the original wires, and it was still working. So we buttoned it up all the way, and it went back to the same thing. The depth display goes static, and the "FEET" blinks indicating the sounder has lost it's signal.

I know it's either the transducer or the display, but I'm thinking it's the transducer.

Can anyone confirm that you should be able to hear a clicking noise from the transducer when it's on?
David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor


Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --
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pfduffy
Captain

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USA
317 Posts
Response Posted - 07/08/2013 :  07:10:20  Show Profile
Well...last year, when my depth finder worked, I could hear a clicking noise from the transducer which I had mounted using the wax ring technique. Unfortunately, my depth finder stopped working this weekend, so I too will be troubleshooting a depth sounder.
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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts
Response Posted - 07/08/2013 :  16:05:34  Show Profile  Visit britinusa's Homepage
Raymarine?

paul
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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts
Response Posted - 07/08/2013 :  18:20:41  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Autohelm (bought out by Raymarine), with Airmar transducer & speed log.

Airmar recommends scrubbing the transducer with a green scrubby, and failing that, sanding it with fine wet-n-dry sand paper.

A friend thinks he has a spare transducer I can test with, but I'm willing to go scrub the original one again. This time I won't wear my leather gloves so I can feel whether it's got marine growth on it or not.
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.