Depth sounder kaput!

[surekandoo]

Brand new this season Nasa Clipper depth sounder has been working faultlessly until Sunday morning when for some unexplicable reason would not shift from 0.7m when switched on despite obvious depth variations during trip back to moorings.

Could not find instructions on boat anywhere despite major search. Fiddled with buttons. Switched off & on again with enter button held down. Now get an indecipherable message in the display, followed by the word "out" after about 20secs.

Do I have a duff unit or have I pressed and inappropriate button combination?

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[oilyrag]

If you look on www.allgadgets.com website you can download a pdf copy of the handbook.

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[oilyrag]

or www.allgadgets.co.uk might be better cos that would actually take you to the right website!!

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[surekandoo]

Thanks.

Have downloaded manual & also spoken to NASA who were most helpful. They think I have too low a keel offset. I can now play about incl. dipping transducer directly into briny to test it.

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[WayneS]

I had the same problem on a Duet that I fitted mid last season.

Turns out that when I bonded the oil well inside the boat I did not do a good enough job and over the winter most of the oil leaked out and so the x-ducer had air between it and the hull.

Grabbed SWIMBO's cooking oil as a short term solution.

I found that sourcing new Caster Oil was a bit of a problem but in the end got sorted at a Boots on Gosport.

Rgds

Wayne


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[rex_seadog]

Why bother with castor oil? According to Echopilot most oils will do the job. I have been using ordinary engine oil for several years with no problem.

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[Trevor_swfyc]

If you are getting the message "out" this indicates you are not getting an input from the transducer. Try disconnecting the transducer does this change the message?. Do you have it in sufficient oil ie with no air between the transducer and water. I know mine does not work well below 1 metre depth but as the boat runs aground at 1 metre this is no problem. It will be interesting to hear how you get on with putting the transducer over the side, if it does not work then maybe the transducer is NBG.
Good luck.
Trevor

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[Richard_Blake]

Er - if it's a new installation, I assume you've checked the obvious, like has some silly berk dropped something on the unfamiliar new cable bending it sharply more than 90"? (Before you ask - Yes it was me) Or are modern cables less vulnerable?

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