ST 50 Depth Sounder

[Peter Milne]

Bill,Our ST 50 depth sounder often misbehaves. It seems to have trouble finding the bottom in depths over 75 feet. It may display depths of 75 to 100 feet initially then lose it and simply flashes a single number endless even though the depth may be less than 100 feet. Sometimes, but not often if displays "Deep" in deeper water.A year ago it had no difficulty finding, holding and displaying depths 200 to 300 feet.Fortunately, when you enter shallow water (eg less than 50 feet it finds the bottom and provides accurate readings. But it is nice to have deeper readings to help with navigation using the depth contours on the chart.Any suggestions in terms of what the problem may be and how to fix it?

 

[Bill Boudreau]

Growth?

Do you have any growth on the bottom of the boat. This might be hampering you Tx power. If the transducer is free and clear, you might want to have the instrument looked at. It is more likely something wrong with the Tx/Rx portion of the instrument rather than the transducer. The transducer will usually either work or not. The reason you are seeing it count down slowly is due to the internal damping of the instrument. The damping can be adjusted through the calibration menu.

 

[Larry W.]

ST50 depth

My ST50 depthmeter frequently loses its mind and blinks the same number for a long time, even though its supposed to re-aquire by itself. In So. Cal. it's not much of a problem since the water is deep almost everywhere.