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Boat Forum / Electronics / July 2008Raymarine instruments wires too long.
I have three basic Raymarine instruments: Wind, Speed & Depth. All of them ST60. Wires between instruments and trnsducers are very long for my boat. My question is if I can make them shorter insted of having three big coils. Thanks in advance Mada Yes, all three cables can be shortened. I have practical experience from several (10+) yachts, with the ST60 range. Regs, TomS >I have three basic Raymarine instruments: Wind, Speed & Depth. > All of them ST60. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Thanks in advance > Mada a.mada@live.ca wrote in news:34dbfff2-33fb-4ab2-86de-4e1782d08c09 @x35g2000hsb.googlegroups.com: > I have three basic Raymarine instruments: Wind, Speed & Depth. > All of them ST60. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Thanks in advance > Mada Sure. Cut them some distance from the plugs OUT OF THE BILGEWATER SHOWER PLEASE, in some DRY convenient place and put them through a little terminal strip so you'll be able to test them when, not if, they fail. Don't put the sonar DEPTH terminal strip close to the others as it will radiate a bit. If you mount the terminal strip in a little aluminum box grounded to the ground terminal (shield) of the cable, it reduces radiation that may screw up your radios from the sonar pulses. Put the sonar in one box and the other two in a separate box to isolate the sonar noise from the others that run on low signal levels. Don't let the boxes touch each other running on separate grounds (shield of the cable). Got troubles with WIND? Pull the cover off its box and you can easily measure its voltages and output later on. After you install the strips/box, measure what the levels are when these units are working, EXCEPT THE SONAR TRANSMITTER OUTPUT to the transducer. Then you'll have an idea what's "normal"....put it on a piece of notepad and stuff it in the box for the poor sap to has to trace the wires... Thanks a lot. Mada > a.mada@live.ca wrote in news:34dbfff2-33fb-4ab2-86de-4e1782d08c09 > @x35g2000hsb.googlegroups.com: [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Sure. Cut them some distance from the plugs OUT OF THE BILGEWATER SHOWER > PLEASE,... That may be bad advice Larry. Airmar is the major supplier of transducers for most of the brands on the market. And many of the Airmar transducers come with installation instructions that tell you not to cut the cable. And they also warn you that doing it will void the warranty. You can read it about it here in a typical installation guide: http://www.airmartechnology.com/uploads/InstallGuide/17-006-01.pdf I'm thinking that shortening the cable could upset a resonant circuit and that is not a good thing, right? Jack Jack Erbes <jackerbes@roadrunner.com> wrote in news:4850ff8f$0$7692 $4c368faf@roadrunner.com: > I'm thinking that shortening the cable could upset a resonant circuit > and that is not a good thing, right? I sure hope they're not trying to tune an audio line with 50' of coax.... I've never seen any ill effects of shortening the cable IF you shield the interconnection point so it doesn't tear up the HF receiver...(c; > That may be bad advice Larry. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Jack Not really relevant in Depth Sounder Transducer design. Most Sounders at using LOWER Frequencies than 500 Khz, and the difference in cable length would only be a very small fraction of a Wavelength, at that frequency. The REAL Reason for that Statement, is to keep uneducated folks from messing up the splice, and then asking the OEM, to replace it for Free, because it doesn't work anymore. I have spiced thousands of Transducer Cables, over the years, rather than running a new one down from the Bridge, when replacing a blown Transducer. It is a LOT cheaper than Hiring a Carpenter, Electrician, and Shipfitter, just to pull all the Paneling, Raceway covers, etc, to run a new Transducer Cable. You splice your RF Cables all the time, Transducer Cables are exactly the same idea, except usually they are Differential Loads, (Two wires and Ground/Shield) and significantly lower in frequency. Attenuation in the splice is linearly related to Frequency, and at sub 500 Khz is NOT a significant loss. SWR is also not significant unless you cable is a couple of hundred Meters Long. It is always nice to give the Output Resonant Circuit a Tweak, after messing with the Transducer, Cable, etc, and peak it up using an O-Scope across the Transducer Output of the Sounder. That ensures that your matched to the Transducer Load, and you can also tweak the first Receiver Resonator for Maximum Return signal at the same time. Usually it makes less than 1 or 2 DB difference.  SignatureBruce in alaska add <path> after <fast> to reply >> That may be bad advice Larry. >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Not really relevant in Depth Sounder Transducer design....<snip> Okay, I guess I just believe too much of what I read in the install manuals. But if these bastards that are breaking into homes to rip all the copper out and sell it for scrap ever get wind of how much wire is coiled up in the bilges of boats, there is going to be some real trouble... Jack > Okay, I guess I just believe too much of what I read in the install > manuals. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Jack Only those guys are so stupid, they would try and get the Transducer, while they are there, open a hole in the hull, and die trying to get out of the bilge, before the vessel SANK..... SignatureBruce in alaska add <path> after <fast> to reply Bruce in alaska <fast@btpost.net> wrote in news:fast-CAEC19.11221012062008 @netnews.worldnet.att.net: > Not really relevant in Depth Sounder Transducer design. Most Sounders > at using LOWER Frequencies than 500 Khz, and the difference in cable > length would only be a very small fraction of a Wavelength, at that > frequency. > T I think the manufacturers are not recommending it because of the molded plugs and tech support headaches created by some non-technical boaters cutting the wires then screwing up putting the shortened wires back together without shorting the cable and blowing the transmitters. I can see their point.....(c; It's more a human problem than anything technical.... |
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