Transducer help please

Philiz

Philiz

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Staffordshire Moorlands U.K.
www.shabiera.co.uk
Our boat was fitted with a Furuno GP-1650F plotter when we bought it. This appears to have been fitted when the boat was new in 2000 Although it's a damn good unit, it's a bit old fashioned so I replaced it with a Garmin GPSMap 4008.

I was talking to a Garmin rep on Saturday and asked him the best way of getting a depth display from the new plotter. He told me I could go down the new transducer and black box route, an intelliducer, or I could use my existing transducer if it is outputting nmea 0183.

The problem I have is I don't know what the existing transducer is outputting. The old plotter does have an nmea input, but the transducer connected with the speed log and temp. into a connection called 'XDR'.

The question is, does anyone on the panel know what the output from my exisiting transducer is likely to be, I'm confident it is the same vintage as the plotter, and does XDR mean anything in transducer lingo?

I know it's a long shot but I will be grateful for any info and/or ideas. Cheers.
 
I think XDR = Transducer Phil.

I'll be surprised if you could use the Furuno one with your GPSMap. Although the plotter is a nice bit of kit and the black box isn't amiss, i'd question that the plotter is really big enough to split for a fishfinder, although if you just want digital depth readouts it'd be OK. I also think it's a bit pricey at around £400 for the box and transducer. Might be worth looking at a Garmin 400c, which would then give you a decent fishfinder, more screen space and the ability to hook the 400c to the 4008 via NMEA if you wanted the addition of digital depth display on the main plotter. Just a thought. (or two lol)
 
Philiz said:
Ah, I see what you mean, doh. Mind you, the log and the temp also go to the XDR connection.
Click to expand...
Yep, but that doesn't mean that the transducer outputs any NMEA sentence.
That connector actually serves multiple purposes, because first of all it feeds the power to the transducer, and then receives the signal back. That signal is then "translated" by the sounder, to show the bottom profile and all other data.
The sounder itself could still do its translation job though, if you have somewhere to leave it connected (also out of sight). Just plug an NMEA cable between the Furuno out and the Garmin in, and you should get on the Garmin the depth, SOW, and water temperature. But not the bottom profile, I think.

PS: this way, you also have a backup unit always handy.
 
MapisM said:
The sounder itself could still do its translation job though, if you have somewhere to leave it connected (also out of sight). Just plug an NMEA cable between the Furuno out and the Garmin in, and you should get on the Garmin the depth, SOW, and water temperature. But not the bottom profile, I think.

PS: this way, you also have a backup unit always handy.
Click to expand...

Now that's another good idea, it's a big lump to hide, but I can try. Only thing is I thought the nmea connection on the furuno plotter would be in, not out? Am I wrong? I do hope so! Only other prob would be getting a lead to suit I suppose.
 
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Philiz said:
Only thing is I thought the nmea connection on the furuno plotter would be in, not out?
Click to expand...
I don't know the 1650 specifically, but Furuno normally allows any NMEA port to be configured either as IN or OUT, via setup menu.

Re. your previous question, I'm not aware of any xdr sending directly NMEA sentences. Actually, I don't think it would make sense, because afaik there is no NMEA standard for the data flow required to calculate the water and bottom image. The depth itself can be sent via NMEA (and also the SOW and temperature of course), but that's just a very small part of the data flow produced by any xdr.
 
There are transducers sending just NMEA sentences, such as the Garmin Intelliducer. Problem is, they'll only give you speed/depth/temp. But as Mapis said, no bottom image. Following on from the suggestion of hiding the Furuno away, is there room to leave it on display, just setup as a fishfinder (if that's possible) ? With the NMEA connection to the 4008 for digital readings ?
 
PaulGooch said:
There are transducers sending just NMEA sentences, such as the Garmin Intelliducer. Problem is, they'll only give you speed/depth/temp. But as Mapis said, no bottom image. Following on from the suggestion of hiding the Furuno away, is there room to leave it on display, just setup as a fishfinder (if that's possible) ? With the NMEA connection to the 4008 for digital readings ?
Click to expand...

Don't think there's room, unless I can set it in the overhead panel, but then I'd have the problem of routing the cabling down to the Garmin in the dash. Only other thing would be to stick it on top of the dash, but I don't have a mounting bracket and it'd block my view somewhat, problems, problems!
I'll take it with me at the weekend and have a mess about.
 
Philiz said:
Don't think there's room, unless I can set it in the overhead panel, but then I'd have the problem of routing the cabling down to the Garmin in the dash. Only other thing would be to stick it on top of the dash, but I don't have a mounting bracket and it'd block my view somewhat, problems, problems!
I'll take it with me at the weekend and have a mess about.
Click to expand...

lol, been there with the trying to find space problems. Best of luck :)
 
Philiz said:
I'll take it with me at the weekend and have a mess about.
Click to expand...
Just a further thought.
Again, not sure about the 1650 specifically, but most Furuno equipment I've seen work in such way that if you cut its power line (either 12V or 24V), the next time you reconnect it, it returns to its previous status (on if it was on, off if it was off).
This means that you could leave it always turned on, and just fit a switch wherever convenient, cutting its power line.
That should be sufficient to turn it on and off with no need to physically access the thingie.
I'd rather put it in a place where some air can flow around it, though.
 
Managed to find a spot to tuck the old plotter in , out of sight but with sufficient air space around it. Connected it to the old wiring which was already there, even managed to find an nmea out cable which was among the bits and pieces which came with the boat. I haven't connected it to the Garmin o183 in yet, because in my excitement at maybe being able to get the info in to the Garmin, I forgot to take the instructions with me so didn't know which wires to connect!
Anyway, after coming to this dead end and sitting contemplating as you do, it occured to me that nmea out of a plotter is generally for things like autopilot etc. isn't it? So, after all this I'm reckoning I'll only get GPS info being sent from the old plotter to the new one, not depth and water temp. Am I right? I do hope not.
 
Philiz said:
Managed to find a spot to tuck the old plotter in , out of sight but with sufficient air space around it. Connected it to the old wiring which was already there, even managed to find an nmea out cable which was among the bits and pieces which came with the boat. I haven't connected it to the Garmin o183 in yet, because in my excitement at maybe being able to get the info in to the Garmin, I forgot to take the instructions with me so didn't know which wires to connect!
Anyway, after coming to this dead end and sitting contemplating as you do, it occured to me that nmea out of a plotter is generally for things like autopilot etc. isn't it? So, after all this I'm reckoning I'll only get GPS info being sent from the old plotter to the new one, not depth and water temp. Am I right? I do hope not.
Click to expand...

Without checking which sentences the old unit outputs i can't be 100%, but i think it would give you depth and speed too Phil.
 
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