Building the Ultrasonic Antifouling Kit from Jaycar

It does appear to have an effect, the problem lies in the need to have a constant power supply which, if on a swinging mooring could present a problem---Roger---
 
Hi Norman
I bought the unit after reading the comments on this page. unfortunately I did something wrong as everytime I switch the unit on the fuse blows. Being 3-4 times over and over and cant find the mistake.Can you assist? Thanks
 
Jean69, As a first check I suggest you examine your printed circuit board and compare it, and the components on it with the photo of one of mine on the first page of this thread. Check to see that all resistors are in the correct places. It does not matter which way round they are, but the values indicated by the coloured bands do matter. Most of the other components are orientation dependant, so compare each one with mine, and check against the instructions booklet.
EDIT: Note the position of the notches in the integrated circuit holders.
 
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Now that the "Snake Oil" is beginning to show it's efficacy, I think more people like me who have been skeptical, may show an interest.
So, just one observation : When we buy echo sounders we are told specifically NOT to vary the transducer cable length. I believe the reason for this is that it's capacitance forms part of the transmit tuned circuit*, so fiddling with it could reduce the output power.
Up to now I haven't seen any mention of resonating the transducer. Is there any tuning facility to optimise the final installation, or is there a finite cable length stipulated?
Does anyone (possibly with an aft cabin) get disturbed by the noise?

* Edit. Or maybe, as it's a transmission line, it is set up to eliminate reflections, as in SWR usually associated with antennae.
 
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The transducer cable length does not appear to be critical, quite probably its a case of the shorter the better, but the transducers are run on a high voltage and low current so cable resistance is probably not much of a factor.
 
Billjratt said:
When we buy echo sounders we are told specifically NOT to vary the transducer cable length. I believe the reason for this is that it's capacitance forms part of the transmit tuned circuit*, so fiddling with it could reduce the output power.
Click to expand...
With a sounder as I understand it, the reason for maintaining the cable length is that the depth measurement requires accurate measurement of the time between the transmitted pulse and its reflection... For antifouling that obviously isn't relevant. Of course, I may be completely wrong....
 
Billjratt said:
Does anyone (possibly with an aft cabin) get disturbed by the noise?
.
Click to expand...

I had one on my last boat. You could definately hear a buzzy sound if you got within a couple of feet of it.
I always turned it off at night when we were sleeping in the aft cabin.
 
Hi Jean69, hey having the same problem with my kit. Did you come up with a solution to your problem. I have checked and double checked everything on mine and even replaced some components to no avail so I'm hoping your solution mite also be the solution to my issue.

Cheers Rob
 
Hi all,

We bought and put together FOUR of these kits just now and the fuse blows on all four of them!

We are not newbies to electronics, and have checked and rechecked EVERYTHING (polarities, solder joints, values etc.) but to no avail.
We bought ours from Jaycar in Australia to put on our boat. They are batch no. 4Q1181
There has to be some design error, on the PCB or something here going on.

We would like to get in touch with you Jean69 and deepsixrob to compare notes, plan some course of action etc.
PLease contact me! Thanks.
 
Garibri said:
Hi all,

We bought and put together FOUR of these kits just now and the fuse blows on all four of them!
.
Click to expand...

Why don't you try a slightly larger fuse?
Electronic components does have some tolerances,
so maybe you are getting slightly more current flowing.
It won't hurt the electronics (my guess) even if it burns as well.
I remeber, on one of my kits, one fuse burned with apparently no reason.

Plamen
 
Plamen said:
Why don't you try a slightly larger fuse?
Electronic components does have some tolerances,
so maybe you are getting slightly more current flowing.
It won't hurt the electronics (my guess) even if it burns as well.
I remeber, on one of my kits, one fuse burned with apparently no reason.

Plamen
Click to expand...

Tried that, it just caused one of the mosfets to overheat and start smoking before it also blew. In my opinion there is a dead short somewhere or possible an incorrectly wired coil which come prewound in my kit or possibily the preprogramed chip is not right. I have traced all the tracks on my board and they are identical to the tracks on the drawing of the board in the original silicone chip article. I brought a copy from silicone chip! I have replaced nearly every component except the 2 chips and the prewound coil and the transducer. Even went to the trouble of etching a new board from the silicone chip drawing and still blows the fuse immediately power is added after installing the ic2 and fuse after setting the voltage to 5 volt per the instructions. All solder joints are good, there are no components installed incorrectly unless the supplied drawings and board are printed incorrectly but I have also compared my finished board to finished boards pictured both in this forum and in silicone chip magazine and they are identical so I can only conclude that one or more of the components I have not replaced is faulty causing a dead short. My next move will involve removing the prewound coil and unwinding it for a look see. I guess there could be some exposed wire inside the coils causing a short circuit. If anyone else has any ideas I would like to hear them please. I have emailed jaycar but the guy who replied did not have any idea and said he passed my question onto a manager of some sort but still waiting for a further response.

Cheers Rob
 
Hi, i'm in Brisbane and brought my kit from the local jaycar store. Where did you find the batch number? I was going to buy 2 kits but thought I would just buy one at first and see how it went together first. Glad I didn't fork out for 2 straight up. There must be something not right with the supplied kits as I have read this forum from start to finish and it would seem most had not issues at all but having said that most of the built kits are 2 plus years old. Mine is 3 weeks old. I'm actually leaning towards the prewound coil as the problem. I have compared the board against the original board drawing in silicone chip magazine and they are all but identical. I have replaced all the diodes and resisters with new ones but that made no difference. Still blows the fuse immediately power is applied. I have emailed jaycar but still waiting for a reply from there tech guy.
 
deepsixrob said:
Tried that, it just caused one of the mosfets to overheat and start smoking before it also blew. ...

Cheers Rob
Click to expand...

Hi Rob, where are you located? I purchased 4 kits 3-4 years back, but build only 3. I have still one set leftover, which I do not need (my intention was #4 ist for spare parts). I could borrow or sell you my set.
You either pay for, or return me a good working one. Make sense only the freight costs are reasonable for you.
Let me know, direct email is plamen@iwanow.com
plamen(at)iwanow(dot)com
Best,
Plamen
 
I wrote Jaycar but have received no reply as of yet.
I DID receive an email from Silicon Chip Magazine. They designed the kit and published the original article.
Here it is:
--------
Hi Gary,
You can use a 5A slow Blow fuse as this can prevent the fuse blowing at switch on while heavy peak current is flowing to charge the supply capacitor. Normally, the standard fast blow fuse is satisfactory, but when a low impedance power supply is used, there can be heavier than normal current that can blow the fuse.
John Clarke
---------
BUT...
In light of what plamen said, I am not hoping for much now to happen but will try it and keep you posted.

Also, I want to mention, being that I have FOUR kits, I DID swap out the transformers, transducers, ICs, but they still won't work.
There has to be some design flaw on the PCB I would say.
 
Sorry I read your post too fast and didn't notice that you HAD indeed even made a new board and still no results.
SO then,
Being that between us all we have replaced everything except the ICs, that would have to be it!
I will order them immediately and see what happens!
 
Wow, This old thread of mine never really dies. I have two units both still working after six years. One unit has blown three fuses in that time, the other has not blown any, which suggests that component tolerances are the issue in the one that does. For units that blow any fuse immediately there is clearly something fundamentally wrong, either a wrong component, like an incorrect resistor, or a faulty coil.
 
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