MikeP
Legendary Member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2005
- Messages
- 8,674
- Status
- OTHER
- Hatteras Model
- Not Currently A Hatteras Owner
Took the boat out yesterday and filled it with fuel - heck, they are practically giving the stuff away ($2.73/gal with our marina discount), over a dollar cheaper than last year. After fueling we went for a WOT/general checkout run. During this short outing the depth was not being displayed on our Garmin Chartplotter and an alarm sounded periodically with the text "Transducer Disconnected, Sonar turned off" displayed.
Of course, I had not disconnected the transducer. Fortunately, the in-hull (shoot-thru) depth finders that I had installed as backups a few years back were both working perfectly so we still had depth info on separate indicators.
When we came back to the slip I began troubleshooting but couldn't find anything wrong. Doing some internet searching I discovered a recurring issue with the same symptoms. Turns out that Garmin uses the Temp sensor to determine if a transducer is connected. Makes NO sense to me but it means that if the temp sensor goes bad, you get the depth transducer alarm/no depth. As someone on the Hull Truth site put it, tying the depth sensor operation to that of another sensor, especially one that has info that most people don't care much about, is like having the main engines shut down if a vanity light fails.
Someone discovered a fix (Totally NOT recommended by Garmin, who say you must buy a new sensor) whereby you cut open the transducer wire and cut/connect two wires and the depth function is restored. Here's a quote from the site:
"Anyway, I followed the directions outlined here and connected the brown and white wires on the GSD 22 side and the problem was solved. I will miss the temp feature but glad to have the sonar working. If you are going to try this...be advised that there are 4 thin wires inside each sheath from the transducer, so cut and splice very carefully!"
It works exactly as stated. The only thing I did different is instead of opening the Ducer cable and makng the cuts/connections,, I opened the depth sensor box and added jumpers between the appropriate wires on the back side of the input jack.
FWIW: with full tanks (700 Ga)l and full water (287 gal) our '80 53MY hit 17 knots going across the current. I was pleasantly surprised. Usually in the spring there are so many barnacles on the running gear that 11 knots is pretty much it even at WOT.
Of course, I had not disconnected the transducer. Fortunately, the in-hull (shoot-thru) depth finders that I had installed as backups a few years back were both working perfectly so we still had depth info on separate indicators.
When we came back to the slip I began troubleshooting but couldn't find anything wrong. Doing some internet searching I discovered a recurring issue with the same symptoms. Turns out that Garmin uses the Temp sensor to determine if a transducer is connected. Makes NO sense to me but it means that if the temp sensor goes bad, you get the depth transducer alarm/no depth. As someone on the Hull Truth site put it, tying the depth sensor operation to that of another sensor, especially one that has info that most people don't care much about, is like having the main engines shut down if a vanity light fails.
Someone discovered a fix (Totally NOT recommended by Garmin, who say you must buy a new sensor) whereby you cut open the transducer wire and cut/connect two wires and the depth function is restored. Here's a quote from the site:
"Anyway, I followed the directions outlined here and connected the brown and white wires on the GSD 22 side and the problem was solved. I will miss the temp feature but glad to have the sonar working. If you are going to try this...be advised that there are 4 thin wires inside each sheath from the transducer, so cut and splice very carefully!"
It works exactly as stated. The only thing I did different is instead of opening the Ducer cable and makng the cuts/connections,, I opened the depth sensor box and added jumpers between the appropriate wires on the back side of the input jack.
FWIW: with full tanks (700 Ga)l and full water (287 gal) our '80 53MY hit 17 knots going across the current. I was pleasantly surprised. Usually in the spring there are so many barnacles on the running gear that 11 knots is pretty much it even at WOT.
