Transducer click very faint

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rogerowen

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Mt Autohelm (Raymarine) depth gauge is error coding a transducer fault. Boat now out of water and transducer (through hull) is removed from the hull. Placing it to my ear I can hear clicking - but it is very faint, just audible. Should I be expecting loader clicks? Thanks.
 
Not really, depending on how good your hearing is I suppose, and background noise, but my experience is that the clicks are faint and you need to get your ear close, within a very few inches. It's also possible to feel the click by very light touching with the finger-tips on the face of the transducer.
 
Thanks. Hearing is not bad (wife would probably disagree - but that's a selective thing). No real ambient noises, quite rural. Pressing the base of the transponder on my ear, I can only just hear very faint clicks, and cannot 'feel' anything. Have also tried suspending the unit in a wheelie bin full of water and the gauge set to 'Feet' but it continues to flash 0.0 feet, which the manual points to this meaning a transponder or transponder cable connection fault. I had expected to hear nothing rather than just very faint clicks.
 
I had a faulty Lowrance transducer that faintly ticked on one of the selectable frequencies on the fish finder. The fault free replacement did not tick at all. Maybe basic through hulls are different to HD fish finder transducers, but i wouldn't expect to hear anything from a transducer that works at the uhf my fish finder used 50kHz to 800khz
 
Hi guys, thanks. Yes, my first check was at the display end while boat was in the water, all looked correct, although it seems to have an old version of networking system with the other Nav instruments which I don’t fully understand, and they all seem to be working ok. Just wondering if cable has deteriorated over time.
 
rogerowen said:
Hi guys, thanks. Yes, my first check was at the display end while boat was in the water, all looked correct, although it seems to have an old version of networking system with the other Nav instruments which I don’t fully understand, and they all seem to be working ok. Just wondering if cable has deteriorated over time.
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That is possible, may even have a break where it has been bent, such as at the head of the transducer. I doubt that you will be able to get at the transducer end to be able to check continuity. If you disconnect at the transmitter and put a meter across the cable you should get a reading, "waggling" the transducer end around may show something. However could be something else, possibly on the transmitter giving a weak signal. Sorry can't be more helpful. You really need an oscilloscope to check that.
 
Alex_Blackwood said:
That is possible, may even have a break where it has been bent, such as at the head of the transducer. I doubt that you will be able to get at the transducer end to be able to check continuity. If you disconnect at the transmitter and put a meter across the cable you should get a reading, "waggling" the transducer end around may show something. However could be something else, possibly on the transmitter giving a weak signal. Sorry can't be more helpful. You really need an oscilloscope to check that.
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Thanks Alex, The transducer is pretty much a sealed unit - so not really possible to continuity check. I might dig out an old Seafarer 'Whizzy Round' unit I have somewhere up in the loft from about 40 years ago - just to check volume of the clicks, although probably a different frequency. I could try putting in a cheap NASA unit - but the hole in the hull will need to be made a lot smaller.
 
Would be worth connecting your old whizzy round souder transduce to the head unit for a try. I have seen these work ok on a modern NASA sounder. Problem is most likely in the cable especially the ends but due to encapsulation might still need a new transducer and cable. ol'will
 
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