Please Edumacte Me on these newer depth sounders...

[Roccus7]

Learned Colleagues

First you have to remember, for almost 40 years, my depth sounder experience was limited to the old Paper Chart recorders of the late 70/early 80s. I was told to NEVER turn on the machine if the boat wasn't in the water, lest you fry the transducer. A few years ago I hauled out my boat and forgot to turn off my sounder and the unit was no worse for the wear. Someone told me that the "old turnoff" rule was no longer valid.

Somethings are hard to change and this is still one, BUT I do want to load some new software into my Garmin 4212 which is a combo Sounder/GPS/Radar unit. I can power off the radar separate from the unit, but cannot turn off the transducer when the unit is running. This is just a a basic sounder, not side scanning nor kW poach the fish before you catch 'em unit. Is it OK for me to run it for a while on land?

Thanks,
Dom

 

[Capt13]

You could just disconnect the transducer cable.

 

[Fluke Whisperer]

Hey Dom, I found this for you.
A normal 500w or less transducer should not have any issues when running out of the water. A higher powered transducer, 1kw or larger, may have the potential of having issues as they normally use water to help cool them down when operating for long periods of time. Without the water, the transducer could burn out and have issues if left running for an extended period of time out of the water.

I have run mine out of water for short periods of time, I have a Lowrance Hook 9 with a triple shot transducer.

It seems to be an overheating problem, I would rig my garden hose to spray the transducer to keep it cool.

 

[Roccus7]

You could just disconnect the transducer cable.

I wish it was that easy, but you have to understand not many folks lay things out like you do. All my cables, unlabeled, come into a central box, which is then connected to the unit in the cockpit. I'd have to trace them out to figure which witch is which. I actually called up Garmin when I got the boat (very gently used) and asked if there was a way to splice in a on/off switch for the transducer and they locked up. I HATE running the sounder when I'm fishing in 10' of water for bass. On some days I've seen it spook the fish...

Probably easier, and less dangerous, to just wait until she's tied up at the dock to screw around with loading the new maps, backing things up, etc.

 

[Capt13]

Is the unit flush-mounted in the dash or on a bracket ?

 

[Roccus7]

Is the unit flush-mounted in the dash or on a bracket ?

Bracket. Cables are not labeled, but I'll pull out the documentation to see if there's a dedicated sounder line. My gut reaction is that the GPS and Sounder come in on one cable, and the radar on the other multiple pinned cable.

 

[Capt13]

Should be the NMEA 0183 .

 

[Capt13]

From what I found it should be the circled one.

 

[Roccus7]

Not so sure, from what I've been reading I'm thinking the sounder and radar come in on one of the network cables.

The more I get into it, I may just play it safe and just forget any wild azz ideas...

 

[MakoMike]

There should be one cable for the sounder, it needs both a power feed and a line back to the display.

 

[Roccus7]

There should be one cable for the sounder, it needs both a power feed and a line back to the display.

I think both the sounder and radar units send their data and get their power via a "Garmin Network" box down in the cabin, and the data from each of these comes to the GPS4212 on my dash via a network cable. The GPS antenna is connected directly to the GPS4212. An interesting system, but confusing.