Depth sounder issue?

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steve yates

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Mytransducer wasnt working, I epoxied in the tube to the hull, added some olive oil and pit the transducer in. Initially it was giving me fluctiating readings, playing around I realised it did that if I pushed it all the way down till it was hard against the hull, whereas if I held it up a bit, it gave me correct readings.. So I set it so it floated in the oil a bit above the hull surface, and everything was working fine. I left it running all afternoon and by evening noticed the numbers had vanished, then they reappeared, then vanished, then reappeared and vanished again. They reappear with a consistent depth but having them vanish would be very disconcerting in use.
Any ideas what I should be looking for?
 
this appearing and disappearing, is it the while display going blank or are the numbers being replaced with dashes? If the former I could be the power cable having intermittent breaks of contact, or the internal linear regulator having a fit, in which case NASA can fix it.
Interesting point about the oil clouding up, but I can't see it being the problem
 
steve yates said:
Mytransducer wasnt working, I epoxied in the tube to the hull, added some olive oil and pit the transducer in. Initially it was giving me fluctiating readings, playing around I realised it did that if I pushed it all the way down till it was hard against the hull, whereas if I held it up a bit, it gave me correct readings.. So I set it so it floated in the oil a bit above the hull surface, and everything was working fine. I left it running all afternoon and by evening noticed the numbers had vanished, then they reappeared, then vanished, then reappeared and vanished again. They reappear with a consistent depth but having them vanish would be very disconcerting in use.
Any ideas what I should be looking for?
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The liquid must be free of all bubbles to avoid intermittent performance. Turbulence over the hull opposite the transducer could be another issue?. Hull clean and well faired? Then there's the cabling - should be easy to check with vessel stationary....
 
Rum Run said:
this appearing and disappearing, is it the while display going blank or are the numbers being replaced with dashes? If the former I could be the power cable having intermittent breaks of contact, or the internal linear regulator having a fit, in which case NASA can fix it.
Interesting point about the oil clouding up, but I can't see it being the problem
Click to expand...
The oil clouds up in the cold because wax is separating out of it, in the same manner that diesel and central heating oil does in winter, if it doesn't have the correct additives. The wax particles float in suspension in the oil and interfere with the functionality of the transducer, similar to the way bubbles from turbulence, or sand/mud stirred up by a propellor would.
 
Garmin suggest filling the in hull tank with marine antifreeze or mineral oil, I used antifreeze without any problems


Screenshot 2022-02-07 at 15.13.10.png
 
steve yates said:
Display just goes blank, apart from the E on the lhs, which has always been there.
I’ll get rid of the olive oil and buy some castor oil, not something I have ever shopped for :)
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This sounds like an electronics issue to me, but it would be interesting to see what effect an oil change has. If its urgent and you can't get Castor in time, replacing with ordinary veg oil, which doesn't seem to go cloudy in normal temps, might prove something?
 
When my transducer failed, I made a temporary fitting of the replacement directly to the hull using sikaflex, being careful ensure I hadn't trapped any air. Five years later, it's still there. ?
 
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