Faulty ST 60 Depth instrument or faulty transducer?

[StanleyJ]

Ok folks, I admit to being a somewhat frugal sailor. I replaced a, ST 30 depth sounder and transducer with a new to me ST 60 depth sounder and a new transducer. The wiring is correct per the ST 60 diagram. The ST 60 shows "Feet -----" with no measurements, backlighting level, etc. but when I try to recalibrate the ST 60 and program it, I cannot get the depth settings to program. The wiring is all new. Which item is at fault?

Thanks for your input!

 

[dlochner]

Perhaps neither. What's the bottom like under your boat? If there is a lot of vegetation or a really soft mucky bottom the signal from the transducer won't bounce back, the depth sounder will assume that the bottom is out of its range.

In the bay I sail in there is an area with a very soft bottom. When I sail over it, the DS stops reading, a few hundred yards later all is good again until the next tack.

 

[nveater]

You can always check with RayMarine they have a fairly decent technical help program. I have used them several times. They can probably give you the electrical readings to test the operation of your unit.

 

[JoeWhite]

I found out the hard way that the transducer must be in water for it to work.
It will not work in the air. If yours is in the water and it does not work, take it out and rub dish washing soap on the surface of the transducer and insert back. This will wet the surface, wash away any oil and make water contact the surface. See if it works then.

 

[StanleyJ]

Perhaps neither. What's the bottom like under your boat? If there is a lot of vegetation or a really soft mucky bottom the signal from the transducer won't bounce back, the depth sounder will assume that the bottom is out of its range.

In the bay I sail in there is an area with a very soft bottom. When I sail over it, the DS stops reading, a few hundred yards later all is good again until the next tack.

Thanks for the reply. I have been trying to program the depth sounder at my dock in a marina with a mucky bottom. I will take the boat out in the open water and try again.

 

[StanleyJ]

I found out the hard way that the transducer must be in water for it to work.
It will not work in the air. If yours is in the water and it does not work, take it out and rub dish washing soap on the surface of the transducer and insert back. This will wet the surface, wash away any oil and make water contact the surface. See if it works then.

Thanks for the reply. I'll give your suggestion a try.

 

[StanleyJ]

You can always check with RayMarine they have a fairly decent technical help program. I have used them several times. They can probably give you the electrical readings to test the operation of your unit.

Thanks for the reply. I'll try their technical support.

 

[RoyS]

My ST60 works fine over mud. My transducer is also painted with the same water based antifouling as the rest of the hull. Maybe you have barnacles on your transducer.

 

[StanleyJ]

My ST60 works fine over mud. My transducer is also painted with the same water based antifouling as the rest of the hull. Maybe you have barnacles on your transducer.

My transducer is new. I am in a freshwater river so therefore I do not have a barnacle problem. I have not been in the water long enough this season to have a dirty bottom.

 

[dlochner]

My ST60 works fine over mud. My transducer is also painted with the same water based antifouling as the rest of the hull. Maybe you have barnacles on your transducer.

DS work over most muds if the mud is firm enough. At least in freshwater a really soft mud can form from dead vegetation, this stuff does not reflect the depth sounder's signal. The same can happen over a weed bed, like the one under my boat now. The signal gets lost in the weeds. At other times the weeds can be so thick the depth sounder gives a false bottom reading, reading the top of the weeds not the bottom.

 

[Ward H]

new to me ST 60 depth sounder and a new transducer.

Are you sure the transducer is a model that works with the ST60?
Is it the type that fits through a hole in the boat? Other types mount on the stern or shoot the signal through the hull.
How deep is the water under the hull where the transducer is mounted? Your boats draft is 2.9’ so your transducer is most likely less than 2’ from the bottom of the keel. Some transducers have a minimum depth they will work in.

 

[Ward H]

Raymarine locked down its tech forum but it is still there for viewing.
I found this about your issue on that forum:

06-27-16, 12:43 PM (This post was last modified: 11-06-17 03:24 PM by Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator.) Post: #1

Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator Administrator Posts: 14,319 Joined: Oct 2014 Reputation: 43

Depth instrument reporting -.- at all times Depth instrument reporting -.- at all times In order for a depth instrument to report depth, the boat must be located in water and the depth of the water column beneath the transducer must be at least 3'. Raymarine analog instrument depth transducers operate at 200kHz. Should other depth / fishfinder transducers onboard also operate at 200kHz, then the other depth / fishfinder transducers may interfere with the depth instrument. Marine growth on the face of the transducer may interfere with its operation. The transducer should be inspected to ensure that it's face is free of marine growth and that its connections to the instrument, iTC-5, or pod or electrically sound. Should the system feature an in-hull transducer (not recommended for use with i40 and ST40 instruments), then it is recommended that the transducer's reservoir be inspected to ensure that it is full. The vessel's batteries should also be permitted to be fully charged and then the instrument should be tested again while still connected to shore power. Should these conditions be met, then the root cause of failure of the instrument to report depth may be rooted in - the transducer, depth pod (if any), iTC-5 Analog Instrument Converter (if any), or within the instrument itself. This problem is commonly fault isolated in the field by testing the transducer with a digital transducer test set or more commonly by testing the depth instrument, depth pod (if any), or iTC-5 (if any) with a compatible instrument depth transducer which has been suspended over the side of the boat or resting atop a ZipLock bag which has filled within the water and has been positioned in the bilge (the hull must be constructed of solid fiberglass (i.e. no core material) which is less than 5/8" thick in the testing location. Similarly, the depth instrument, depth pod (if any), or iTC-5 (if any) may be tested with a depth sounder test set. Alternatively, the instrument display, pod, or iTC-5 may be sent to Raymarine’s Product Repair Center to be bench tested/serviced. Should the depth instrument display be able to report depth in conjunction with the test depth transducer, then the problem would be corrected by replacing the currently installed instrument depth transducer. Should a depth sensing instrument, iTC-5, or Smart Transducer not sense the bottom and therefore be unable to render a depth value (i.e. Depth = -.-), then the Data Sources feature of i70/i70s MFIDs, p70/p70R/p70s/p70RS Autopilot Control Heads, and MFDs running LightHouse II or LightHouse 3 software will not list the corresponding depth sensing instrument, iTC-5, or Smart Transducer. Accordingly, selection of the depth sensing instrument, iTC-5, or Smart Transducer cannot be performed should the vessel be on the hard or in water which is either too shallow or too deep for the depth sensing instrument, iTC-5, or Smart Transducer to render a depth value.