Transducer Cable
 

Hi all.. So, while installing my transducer ( DST50 Standard Horizon) I put
a staple from a staple gun into the cable. Brilliant, I know. Of course
the depth finder stopped reading depths so.. I'm guessing the cable is very
sensitive and I wont be able to repair the cable by cutting and splicing it
can I? I gave this a shot with no luck but I just did a quick cut & splice
job to see if I would get any sort of reading... Shielding and other
factors to be considered I assume?

Thanks,
David

Transducer Cable
 

"David" wrote in message
...
Hi all.. So, while installing my transducer ( DST50 Standard Horizon) I
put
a staple from a staple gun into the cable. Brilliant, I know. Of course
the depth finder stopped reading depths so.. I'm guessing the cable is
very
sensitive and I wont be able to repair the cable by cutting and splicing
it
can I? I gave this a shot with no luck but I just did a quick cut &
splice
job to see if I would get any sort of reading... Shielding and other
factors to be considered I assume?

Thanks,
David

Splicing is certainly possible. And, yes, the cable is, as you say,
"sensitive", and the splice won't do it a whole lot of good. One must splice
not only the center conductor, but the shield as well. Providing a little
more shielding over the splice won't hurt a thing, and may well prevent the
sounder's noise from leaking out into other things. (radios, loran, gps
etc). Just remember the added aluminum foil (or whatever) added over the
splice must be connected to the cable's shield. Should work, though.
Old Chief Lynn

Transducer Cable
 

I concur with Chief Lynn

Transducer Cable
 

Gotta be very careful though -- with analog transducers, the length of
the cable is figured into the delay time which is what the souonder
uses to work out the depth. Might have to recalibrate.

Michael Porter


"Lynn Coffelt" wrote:


Splicing is certainly possible. And, yes, the cable is, as you say,
"sensitive", and the splice won't do it a whole lot of good. One must splice
not only the center conductor, but the shield as well. Providing a little
more shielding over the splice won't hurt a thing, and may well prevent the
sounder's noise from leaking out into other things. (radios, loran, gps
etc). Just remember the added aluminum foil (or whatever) added over the
splice must be connected to the cable's shield. Should work, though.
Old Chief Lynn


Michael Porter Naval Architect / Boatbuilder
mporter at mp-marine dot com
www.mp-marine.com
*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

Transducer Cable
 

"Michael Porter" wrote in message
...
Gotta be very careful though -- with analog transducers, the length of
the cable is figured into the delay time which is what the souonder
uses to work out the depth. Might have to recalibrate.

No it's not. The delay in a coax cable is next to nothing compared to the
delay in water. It's the capacity of the cable which is part of the resonant
circuit that drives the transducer.

Meindert

Transducer Cable
 

Hey David,

I did the same thing once - tried to splice, with shielding in mind, to
no avail. Still seems to me like it ought to be possible if you make a
good soldered connection, but it's pretty difficult to get the
shielding back right. Anyway, I never could make it work. Know this
doesn't help - but thought it might make you feel better that someone
else did it too :)

Daniel

Transducer Cable
 

In article ,
Michael Porter wrote:

Gotta be very careful though -- with analog transducers, the length of
the cable is figured into the delay time which is what the souonder
uses to work out the depth. Might have to recalibrate.

Michael Porter

There is NO difference between how a digital and analog Depthsounder
determines depth. It is all done by timing the ultrasonic transmit pulse
leaving the transmitter, with the reflected received pulse in the
receiver. The difference is how the information is displayed to the
human operator. The length of the transducer cable is irrelevent
to that timing, as the delay is insignificant when compared to the speed
of ultrasonic sound in water, Fresh or Salt.

Transducer cables certainly can be spliced. It is a relativly easy
process and with the frequencies involved usually less than 400Khz,
any introduction of extra capacitance to the transducer cable will
usually not cause much change in the Tx/Rx tuning of the sounder
circuits themselves.

I am sure that Oldtimers, like Lynn, and Larry, have done this MANY
times, just to save some boater from having to haul the vessel just
because he crushed the tranducer cable by setting an engine block,
or battery on it, while futzing around in the bilge.

Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @

Transducer Cable
 

"Bruce in Alaska" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Michael Porter wrote:

Gotta be very careful though -- with analog transducers, the length of
the cable is figured into the delay time which is what the souonder
uses to work out the depth. Might have to recalibrate.

Michael Porter

There is NO difference between how a digital and analog Depthsounder
determines depth. It is all done by timing the ultrasonic transmit pulse
leaving the transmitter, with the reflected received pulse in the
receiver. The difference is how the information is displayed to the
human operator. The length of the transducer cable is irrelevent
to that timing, as the delay is insignificant when compared to the speed
of ultrasonic sound in water, Fresh or Salt.

Transducer cables certainly can be spliced. It is a relativly easy
process and with the frequencies involved usually less than 400Khz,
any introduction of extra capacitance to the transducer cable will
usually not cause much change in the Tx/Rx tuning of the sounder
circuits themselves.

I am sure that Oldtimers, like Lynn, and Larry, have done this MANY
times, just to save some boater from having to haul the vessel just
because he crushed the tranducer cable by setting an engine block,
or battery on it, while futzing around in the bilge.

Bruce in alaska
--
AMEN
Old Chief Lynn

Transducer Cable
 

David,

Your splice may, in fact, be fine but your depthsounder transmitter may be
stuffed.

When the staple went into the cable it probably shorted the transducer
connection. Instead of pumping a few hundred watts into a transducer with
an impedance of a few hundred ohms the depth sounder tried to pump this
power into a short and may have damaged the transmitter.

Bert




"David" wrote in message
...
Hi all.. So, while installing my transducer ( DST50 Standard Horizon) I
put
a staple from a staple gun into the cable. Brilliant, I know. Of course
the depth finder stopped reading depths so.. I'm guessing the cable is
very
sensitive and I wont be able to repair the cable by cutting and splicing
it
can I? I gave this a shot with no luck but I just did a quick cut &
splice
job to see if I would get any sort of reading... Shielding and other
factors to be considered I assume?

Thanks,
David