Intermittent depth reading, transducer problem?

[Mightychan]

I just replaced my old Sea Ray Navigator with a Raymarine E120 Hybrid touch. The electrician left the old SR "black box" in place so that the Raymarine could read depth information from the old SR transducer. However, we are only getting intermittent signal. Sometime we get depth information, sometimes we don't. The electrician said that the connection at the transducer had been spliced in the past, he reworked the splice (soldered and heat shrinked) but the problem persists. He said that transducers will give intermittent signal when they are going out, but it would be quite a coincidence for a perfectly good transducer to start going out the same day we replaced a display. I have wiggled the connection in the bilge while my wife looked at the display, no changes, which makes me think it's not a short at the transducer. Any ideas? Also, see the attached photo, there are two transducers, one in place and the other just laying in the bilge. Is this normal? Is the second just a spare? Would it have come like this from the factory? Thanks, all.

 

[NotHerDecision]

The thing laying in the bilge is the plug for the transducer. Have you take it out and cleaned it?

 

[MikeBravo]

It's time for a new transducer to go with your new display.

 

[Mightychan]

MikeBravo, I intend to replace the transducer when we pull the boat this winter (my understanding is that the boat has to be on the hard to do this), but that does not solve my problem of not having a depth reading for the next several months.

NotHerDecision, I don't understand...are you saying that the cylinder laying on its side is a plug for the transducer hole? Can I unscrew the transducer with the boat in the water and use this plug to stop the water flow?

 

[MikeBravo]

I would not take the transducer out in the water.

 

[JimG]

NotHerDecision, I don't understand...are you saying that the cylinder laying on its side is a plug for the transducer hole? Can I unscrew the transducer with the boat in the water and use this plug to stop the water flow?

That is correct...Pull the transducer out and install the plug, quickly.

 

[NotHerDecision]

Yes that is the plug. It can be done in the water. I would recommend you have a friend who has done this, but it's not that big of a deal, you can put your hand over it or have a tapered wood plug in case it doesn't fit for some reason being you have not done it yourself before.

Josh

 

[Mightychan]

Thanks again for y'alls help. Another question, is this old Sea Ray transducer a "standard" size? IOW, can I just screw it out and screw in another, better (more data) transducer that will work with the E120? Thanks!