transducer power
Submitted by unhurry on Wed, 2013-08-14 14:23
OK, I realise this may be a stupid question but anyhow....
I bought my boat form a bloke who had two sonar units installed, a Furuno 585 and a Lowrance LXC 113c (HD).
He informed me that the Furuno had a 600W transducer and the Lowrance a 1kW transducer.
Question is - how does one confirm the power rating on a transducer?
Thanks to any elighteners!
Ryan C
Posts: 1575
Date Joined: 08/07/10
transducer
the 1kw one should be about the size of a house brick(my tm 260 is) and the 600w roughly the size of a matchbox! cheers
unhurry
Posts: 236
Date Joined: 23/10/12
Eish! In that case I would
Eish! In that case I would say my lowrance has a 600W and so for the furuno.
time for an upgrade me reckons!
Thanks Ryan.
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Can I ask an additional
Can I ask an additional question? I have the basic furuno 4100 monochrone unit. 1st time I went deeper (60 - 70 m) it struggled to display the bottom detail on the screen. I think I am tuning it right. Will a more powerful transducer help (dont know what size the current one is as it was on the boat when I bought it, physically it is about the size of the palm of my hand, touch bigger). Does a more powerful transducer improve quality on a basic unit or should i wait and upgrade both when I have the $$$.
Fish! HARD!
Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
If the transducer is the size
If the transducer is the size of your palm at a guess I'd say it is powerful enough that it should go deeper than 70m. Maybe other issues such as alignment or sensitivity, ping speed etc. Was that moving or stationary - if so did it work better when stopped/slow?? what speeds??
Not worth upgarding the trans at a guess anyway would be better waiting and getting a colour unit.
As they say once you go colour you won't go back!!
Youtube Channel - FishOnLine Productions
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randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Definitely read better at
Definitely read better at very slow / or drifting. At speed was shocking. Maybe I need to re think the tuning....
Fish! HARD!
Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
I'd tackle it in this order
I'd tackle it in this order -
1st get someone else to drive and have a look over the back at what colour the water is on the bottom of the transducer, should be a claen green/blue and generally free of bubbles, get them to increase speed until the reading goes crap. Does the water change i.e. full of bubbles, if so that's most of your problem. signal is having trouble getting through the turbulence this can be due to a number of things posibly tranny in line with a strake on the hull or just some small imperfection/repair etc. Is there anywhere across tha back where clean water is coming off the bottom of the hull.
2nd sit still and with the sounder reading okay rev the motor in neutral - does it affect the reading? I doubt this is the problem but its easy to check if electrical interference so best to do it and rule it out.
Also double check the bottom of your tranny is parallel to and just a tad lower than the bottom of the boat, and if anything with the back of it ever so slightly lower (so the bottom is a degree or two pointing forward).
Do the above then and if all clear/okay check your pings speed is running at just above half (ie around 12 if a scale of 1-20 etc). Then turn up the sensitivity whe still and getting a good reading until you start to get clutter appearing. then back it off just until the clutter goes and you have a tiny bit of clutter on the surface - see how you go then..
Hope that helps sort it
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randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Thank you. When I am out
Thank you. When I am out next, I'll try all that and let you know if it improves or not. Cheers
Fish! HARD!
Furuno Australia
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/03/13
The output power of the Furuno LS4100
is only a 300W even theough the transducer supplied with most units was the 525ST or 525T-PWD transom mount 600W versions. The advice given by Paul H is spot on, transducer placement is the most important part of any fish finder installation. Try the unit in AUTO MODE and and see how you go. If you're not happy then use MANUAL MODE and play with the GAIN setting to make the unit more sensitive. Good luck. Here's a useful tuning guide you can download: http://www.teamcruisecraft.com.au/images/TUNING%20SOUNDERS.pdf
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