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Please pardon my somewhat out of context question. I volunteer as mechanic and occassionally as a electronic tech on a 88ft Sea Scout sailboat called the ODYSSEY. We have 2 identical sonar transducers that operate marginally (flaky and inconsistent readings )with 2 different "control boxes". I have acess to most any test equip needed and people to help with that but am very unsure how to decide if the problem is in cable impedance matching or if the "ducers" are flakey. They are thro' hull units mounted 9' below water line, so it's not too simple to change them. Is there any reasonably simple way of deciding what's bad?
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Re: how do U troubleshoot transducers
Jack,
I would not know an immediate answer to this.
Just a thought.
As you mention a 88ft boat, I presume it is in the water for most of the year.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the transducers are coated with marine life, seaweed etc.... or somebody painted over them..
The transducers must be clean and smooth to give an accurate reading.
Any soft growth on them will absorb echo signals.
This will give you bad readings.
Perhaps you can take a divingmask and just have a quick look, 9' is not very deep.
Apart from that I could only suggest to measure the resistance of the transducer with an Ohm meter.
It should read several Mega Ohm.
Then I would suggest to measure the output of the "control" box with a Scope.
You should see short pulses on it... mind you it can be very high voltage.
I think you can use a 10 Mega Ohm resistor as fake transducer to test this pulse.
Have fun...
Jan
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