Echo Sounder that does'nt

[Guest]

Echo Sounder that does\'nt

The Autohelm tridata sounder on my boat loses it's signal at planing speed. I know this is a common problem but are there any adjustments that can be made to improve the situation?

As a last resort I read the instrucion manual the other day and it referred to 'damping adjustment'. Anyone know what this means?

 

[Guest]

Re: Echo Sounder that does\'nt

Mike, I'm no expert but "damping" would adjust the frequency with which the unit attempts to measure/display the depth, so too damped and it would only show the change, say, every few minutes (useless at speed) , undamped it'll flicker madly with every slight change - or perhaps give up as it has done. If you can increase the damping to lots, then that would show if that is the problem. Presumably it works at standstill, so this isn't a slapped-on antifoul problem?

 

[Guest]

Re: Echo Sounder that does\'nt

I was wondering about that. I was'nt able to inspect the boat before she went into the water but can a coating of antifoul affect the transducer performance and, if it isnt antifouled, would'nt it get coated with fouling anyway?
I think you're right about the damping adjustment. At the moment it's set at a low level so maybe it's being swamped with info at speed. I'll try adjusting it. Hope springs eternal!

 

[Guest]

I have the same problem

I have seen this recently on a motor boat cruising at 18 kts in Force 3-4 and suspected that there was a problem with the transducer.

However I have just bought a brand new boat with the Raytheon echo sounder and it demonstrated exactly the same problem on its sea trials - so that rules anti-fouling issue out.

 

[Guest]

Re: do they work at all tho?

Indeedy, if they work at all, it can't be antifoul.