Wires for depth finder cut

[Journeyofblue]

New boat owner. Novice and trying to learn.

Depth finder was not working so i wanted to find the reason.

Found the wires and they were cut.

Sent a message to the original owner and have not gotten a response.

anyone know a reason for this to have been done?

[Robert Tilbury]

i think most people that dont understand shieled wires think
"just cut and then its a smaller hole to drill "
I have found this a few times and have repaired by solder and foil shielding the joins ,, then shrink cover the lot with some Jelly insulation ,
Its not perfect but will work ,,, what modle sounder , someone may have a spare cheap , i have purchased many boats with the head unit missing and have a large box of transducers ,

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Journey.
PO wanted to replace sender?

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Journeyofblue

New boat owner. Novice and trying to learn.

Depth finder was not working so i wanted to find the reason.

Found the wires and they were cut.

Sent a message to the original owner and have not gotten a response.

anyone know a reason for this to have been done?

Only the person who cut the wires would know why he/she cut them.

If I was in your situation, my first inclination would be to connect them back together and see if this fixes the problem. You don't have anything to lose by doing this.

I would have thought your surveyor would have caught this and you could have talked about it with the seller before you bought the boat.

[boeing1]

I have spliced several boats with wires from sounders that have been cut, or damaged with good success.

[P3sailor]

Personally, it's not recommended to splice shielded coax cable (if that's what is cut). Though, the unit may work, after splicing, the accuracy of the depth finder may be compromised because these cables generally have a specific length and impedance that the manufacturer has built into the unit. Check with the manufacturer for a replacement and/or recommendations.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by P3sailor

Check with the manufacturer for a replacement and/or recommendations.

Or as Rwidman suggests, solder them back together and see what happens, nothing to loose.

Pete

[barnakiel]

Maybe it is an older transducer. Look around maybe the instrument is connected to another, newer sensor elsewhere.

Cheers,
b.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Or as Rwidman suggests, solder them back together and see what happens, nothing to loose.

Pete

You don't even have to solder them to test the system. Twist them together (not all together, red to red, green to green, shield to shield, etc.) and see if this makes it work.

If it works, you can solder and insulate, use crimp connectors or a terminal strip, your choice.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Maybe it is an older transducer. Look around maybe the instrument is connected to another, newer sensor elsewhere.

Cheers,
b.

I don't usually do this, but it's not uncommon for people to abandon wires and leave them in place. Unless you buy the boat from the factory, there's no telling what someone might have done to it before you got it.

[Peregrine1983]

Does the depth display power up? It would help to clarify if it's the wire to the transducer or the power wires from the panel.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by boeing1

I have spliced several boats with wires from sounders that have been cut, or damaged with good success.

Same here. My last connection was splicing an old Lowrance/Eagle depthfinder to more recent Airmar transducer. The only issue is the intermittent water temp. readings but the depth readings are fine. I was told by a marine pro that most manufacturers use only 2 or 3 standards and even those are often interchangeable. But of course they try to make the consumers believe that each transducer has brand specific specs and will not work with other brands. Not true for the most part.

[Cheechako]

It's a common thing to do by an electronics guy when a unit has gone bad. Maybe that applies here.?
or... Possibly it went bad and the owner was going to remove it and wanted to use the old wire to pull a new one thru with.
Either way it hints the unit is defunct.

[raybobsky]

Solder splice is very good option, braiding shield and heat shrink. I have done this with success. Other option is buy a pair of coax connectors male and female and install them.

[Cheechako]

I just dont see a problem with splicing, unless the instrument relies on a given resistance or capacitance in the cable. A couple of my boats had gang connectors to join cables to no apparent problem. A coax can even be done with the shield re wrapped if necessary.