Act of God or Attention Seeking Behaviour

claymore

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Claymore knows where the bottom is as she is equipped with an ST50 depth sounder.
This developed a fault 2 weeks ago - perhaps because an 11 was forecast for the Hebrides - we shall never know.
Bruce - Foreman of the Yard and anchorman of the whole shebang was commissioned to investigate.
He borrowed a transducer, connected it and after around 20 seconds the whole thing burst into life and began working perfectly.
"Aha" thinks Bruce in his finest Argyll accent, "Aha - the transducer is source of the problem - I'll phone the owner (me) and let him know, but I'll just reconnect the old system, rather than leave it disconnected" (This is typical of the man, thoroughly neat, tidy and methodical"
"Jings, ye flighty wee bugger" he yells out loud - again in finest Argyll - for on reconnecting, that that was broke is unbroke, re-mended. I mentioned Bruce's tendency towards the thorough and so you will not be surprised when I tell you that he switched it off, kicked it, pulled it switched it on again, several times to find perfect function each time.
The good news then is U/S depth instrument is not U/S, the bad news is that there is no understanding of what is going on here and so I guide the reader to my orginal question
Act of God or Attention Seeking Behaviour?

<hr width=100% size=1>regards
Claymore
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tcm

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Exactly what it says on the tin

I'm afraid you obvioulsy aren't familiar with this particular brand and model of equipment, and perhaps neither is your maintenance expert, the unlikely-sounding Bruce "Spider" Danforth.

See, this range of equipment has been specifically designed to enghance the unexpected and uncertain joys of sailing by being Slightly Tempremental - hence the model range name "ST" ! So, from time to time it will fail, and jiggering it about will fix it.

If Bruce actually wants to break it then he should give it a good bash with a lump hammer.

hope this helps


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Evadne

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Nearly all electronic faults are due to a variation on Osram's Laws:

1) If it doesn't work, switch it on.

2) if it still doesn't work, plug it in.

Finding precisely where it has become disconnected is the difficult bit. I always recommend a tap with 4lb lump hammer to show up any weaknesses. (Sometimes it helps to check the operator for weaknesses as well...)

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Gunfleet

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Some years ago, when I lived in a Breton village and put up a big antenna so I could watch Jersey tv the locals accused me of ruining their reception because I was stealing all the waves. Perhaps that's what's happening in Argyll. Is one of those long black submarine things passing whenever it fails to work? Ask Bruce Paranotsohandy with the lump hammer to check it out next time it happens. By the way, Jersey tv is crap. It's official.

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babylocked

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It's not an "Act of God" but "Old Salt" sabotage to prove that you really do need a lead line as a backup.

Phew! That’s the first toe in the water; hope it's not too cold.


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sailbadthesinner

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new to what?
posting
sailing
or taking the p*ss?

or you could read his profile colin

really

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babylocked

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>new to what?
>posting
Yes - so please bear with me - s-specially my spelling
>sailing
Fairly- know one end from t'other but no Seadog
>or taking the p*ss?
That happens here! Thought it was just a place to sink barrells.

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petery

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Might have been 'an act of god' that produced the fault but is was the 'act of an angel' to test it again and not simply to order and fit a new unit.

The days of fault finding and fixing at component level are long gone.

I foolishly led an HF aerial wire near two Raymarine instruments and obviously burnt something out. The comment from the workshop was something like 'does not work when switched on'. The quoted cost of repair was more than the cost of two brand new replacement units from Yachtbits!

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duncan

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sounds a bit of a harsh result - never read anything beyond an extreme warning of interference in any installation notes used to date!
Now actually putting the instruments into a microwave I can understand but I thought HF ariel would be shielded anyway?

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petery

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I fitted the Aerial Tuning Unit in the cabin to test and I ran the aerial wire (unshielded by now) through the cockpit and up the running backstay - passing a few inches from the set of ST40 instruments and pumped out 150 watts of HF.

The two displays closest to the cable 'blew' while the furthest away kept on working.

Even though I had only bought the instruments 6 months ago, I foolishly 'owned up' to my mistake and didn't try to claim under warranty.

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