Replacing Depth Sound 'Ducer Cable

[Jeff B.]

Hi everyone,
I've been an avid study of the topics on this great forum, and I was hoping someone out there would have a specific suggestion for a problem I'm working on. When I bought my sailboat last fall, all the old nav instruments had been clipped from their panels with no indication as to whether or not they worked. After reconnecting the power inputs, I discovered that all of the cockpit panels work fine, so I want to try to reconnect the transducers and input devices and see what happens.

I'm starting with the depth sounder, but I'm not sure what kind of cable I need to buy or where to get it. I think the original company (Impulse) is out of business, so ordering a replacement is not possible. The cable is a simple 3-wire insulated line with a white, black, and ground wire, so it seems pretty general purpose. I tried a guitar shop to no avail. Do you suppose this is a Radio Shack-type item? A special marine cable? Is there a proper name for this kind of wire that I should ask for?

Thanks for taking the time -- any input would be appreciated.
Jeff

PS - Thanks to this site I've been able to repack my prop shaft (thanks Maine Sail!), fix my reefer, figure out proper jib rigging, understand why the marelon/bronze valve line I installed in the head is totally wrong, and a myriad of other useful bits. I no longer feel like quite such a noob (which is probably dangerous in its own right). What a treasure trove!

 

[TimCup]

jeff, I'm not familiar with the company ..

but alot of them are pretty standard. What I would do, if possible, is take the unit to West Marine( or other marine store,) and look at the backs of the units to see if the plug is the same. If so, you can order from that company.

Or, you could take a picture of your plug and post here to see if anyone has the same one.
Take a picture of the transducer, too, so if nothing else, we can tell you which wire goes where!

cup

 

[Ron20324]

If you buy the wire at a music store, you'd want cable for a low impedance (balanced) microphone. Two conductors and a shied for ground.

 

[Jeff B.]

Thanks Ron, I tried a microphone cable last night and got a signal to the instrument panel, but unfortunately I just got a progression of random numbers. I'm guessing it's one of a few things:

1) There was water intrusion in the old xducer wire, so I may need to cut farther back in hopes of finding fresh wire;
2) Not enough proper shielding on the splices; or
3) The transducer is confused by my bottom paint.

I'm hoping it's one of the first two, otherwise I'd need to haul her out and sand the xducer exterior (or just give in and replace the unit, which means a new hole -- ugh).

Also, the LCD numbers show up very dim. Has anyone else encountered this problem before?

Thanks for the advice,
Jeff

 

[Ron20324]

If memory serves me of when I put my depth transducer, the book said to NOT SHORTEN the cable. It was okay to shorten the speed one, though. The depth one probably is affected by the capacitance of the cable, thus the do-not-shorten rule.