Are transducers interchangable?

[pogo]

I bought an older boat and it has a number of wires from a few transducers but somewhere the instruments have long since been gone.

The bow in front of the keel, and inside houses a cylnder witha shot through the hull transducer in oil, electric lines are connected, but go no where any more.
Another transducer with speed wheel on it is mounted through the hull, again wires on it, but again, not hooked into anything. yep and there is another near the engine, same thing wires but no depthfinder.

Does anyone know if a depth finder can be wired to any transducer or must I get one from the factory for each seperate tranducer manu? Is there a difference in the actual transducer with no commonality between them?

[AnchorageGuy]

Not all transducer will work with just any instrument head. Although some might, but usually the connector plug won't work and with some transducers it is not a good idea to cut and splice the cables. Only if you know what the model numbers are of the transducer can you try and find out what they are compatible with. Airmar makes almost all transducers for most every manufacturer so they can tell you if they will work, but you will need to give them the specifics. The older the transducer, the less likely it will work with newer equipment. That is if they even still work at all. You would be best served to just bite the bullet and by new units together.

[GordMay]

AIRMAR Technology Corporation is the leading manufacturer and OEM supplier of marine transducers, including those for instrument manufacturers such as:
Furuno
Interphase
Standard Horizon
Nobeltec
Navionics
Garmin
Simrad
Northstar
Navman
Silva
Raymarine
Koden/Si-Tex
Lowrance
JRC
Brookes & Gatehouse
Maptech
Cmap
Geonav
Tacktick

Using the AIRMAR cross reference, you can find many kinds of product information:
Goto:
AIRMAR Cross-Reference Interface

Or Goto Airmar Marine Transducers:
Airmar Marine Products Home Page

[salty_dog_68]

When I first bought my sailboat I did not plan on hauling it out until I sailed her home from Ft. Lauderdale. She had an old deptfinder/transducer that did not work and was no longer manufactured or sold in stores. I needed a depth sounder for the sail home but I did not want to haul the boat out just to install a new transducer. So, I bought just a cheap head from sailnet with the hope it would work. I had to splice the wires and "experiment" to get the right combination but it worked and continued to work for about a year. Of course I installed an all new unit at the next haul-out. Good Luck.

[pogo]

WOW quick responses thanks.
I guess I should just bite the bullet....but

I will try to find some info on the "Airmar" site, in fact now that I think about it, I believe one of the cables was imprinted with "AIRMAR". Thank you.

"SALTY DOG" it looks like there are three wires inside the cables, I presume one to hot (+) one to ground (-) and the other ...uhhh? I have no idea.

Maybe I should just bite the bullet, but I really was hoping not to do it just yet...

Pogo

[Alan Wheeler]

Depends on what the item is. A speed wheel can have three wires. P & N and the third is the actual data. A sounder transducer can be just as simple or a little more complex depending on what it was.
The transducers tend to be the cheaper item and to ensure you have compatable equipment, it would be far easier to buy new equipment and fit the through hulls that come with them.

[pogo]

Wheels,
I think I have two other transducers floating around the garage. If I can find how to profit from them, rather than dispose of in the dump.....well think "Green".

Thanks for the advice, it does make sense.

Pogo

[witzgall]

Any idea if a B&G hunter transducer (three wires) will work with A Simrad IS12 instument head, which is also three wires?

Chris

[AnchorageGuy]

Chris, You need to know the model number for the B&G unit transducer, then contact Airmar, the transducer manufacturer, and ask them. They are happy to provide you the answer. Good chance they are compatible. But the number of wires has nothing to do with compatibility.

[Alan Wheeler]

Witzgall, your best bet is to go to the Airmar site. On that site they have a list of what transducer they use for which and with circuit diagrammes (or at least they used to) of the wiring, so you can often take one model and use it for another unit. The big issue is in how the data is derived and sent. Many paddle wheels have a small transitor in the head that works as a switch and needs to be wired correctly. A sounder transducer is usually pretty standard, but the variances will be, frequency and power rating.