DEBTH SOUNDER ISSUE

[LEOCAT66]

Recently our sounder quit. It is an AIRMAR B-66-V, 6 pin plug. The Garmin unit is flashing a “SOUNDER TURNED OFF” message. There is no setting to turn sounder on and or off.

Took the main Garmin unit to SEA-TRAC for testing and it worked as designed with their in tank test area, with their sounder connected. So there is little doubt that that our sounder has crashed.

I have checked all wires and pins for issues, with no change. Thinking that there might a broken or defective pin in the sounder, 6 pin plug, I replaced the wire set to the sounder and main unit, which produced no change.

The transducer face was checked by a diver and cleaned, no change.

Right before the problem developed I had been running speaker wires very close to the transducer wires. ???

The rest of the Garmin 198c works perfectly as it always has.

Really am running out of items to check, so I am thinking of installing a through the hull unit until we can haul-out, and replace the sounder. Cannot afford to haul at this time.

Apparently there is a fly in that ointment as we have cored hull of wood with glass either side, for a total thickness of 1 7/8 inches. 1/2 “ of glass outside and 3/8” inside with a 1” core. Is there any way this can work with a water box installation for the sounder. All thoughts appreciated and welcome.

[LEOCAT66]

Sounder now working as of yesterday. That is the good news. Have no idea why. That is the bad news. Removed all of the wires concerned and replaced them all re-routing each one again, used electronic cleaner on pin connectors. Must assume that there was a bad connect even though this had been done at least 4 times since the problem appeared. Happy now, as we were looking at a potential for a 2k haul out and sounder purchase.


While we had no replies, we know that all out there were trying to come up with a reasonable resolution to this issue. Thank You All.