replacement autohelm transducers

[Kokamo39]

Our original autohelm S100 speed/temp transducer has died /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. We've been advised that the newer airmar st650 or st850 transducer units will fit the existing thru-hull as a like for like plug&play replacement. Anyone tried this or is it better to just fully replace the whole lot, transducer unit and thru-hull.

 

[Mrnotming]

Hi Kokamo,
Airmar have a very good website lots of specs there.Shuld be v possibe to match original.They only sell through dealers however, last time I looked anyway. Do a google search for Airmar.They also do a transducer with NMEA signal output embedded.This type connects to either a PC or a plotter unit such as the Lorenz 7" sun from Italy.I do not know which other plotters connect, look up their manuals.www.worldwidewiley.com has a program you can try as a complete laptop monitoring system, displaying any data which you have input to the PC. the word opto-isolation crops up a lot,small boxes to protect the PC from voltage.My Raymarine ST50 depth reads erratically despite replacing the transducer.So a backup is neccessary, the NMEA transducer provides this and a graphical display too on the LOrenz.Last resort is a portable fishfinder I bought in Aldi supermarket.This has been used in anger as in Porto Turistico di Roma, the fuel berth had silted up over the winter and I needed to do a survey from the dock to find out where the shallow bits were.Happy pinging!