My knotmeter has been more eratic that last couple of years. At first I thought it was just physical problems preventing the impellor from turning and showing 0.0 on the electronic gage, but this year it generally does not work and then about 10-15 minutes starts reading accurately. After a short anchor and moving again same problem. Seems like if it was physical once it started working that day, I would expect it to be free and working 1 hr. later. Occassionally a sharp turn may get it working again?? I've read some earlier info that these sensors eventually go bad. My MKII is 2004, so maybe time for me to buy new transducer. My temp reading has never worked anyway.
What is best source for replacement transducer, and is there any easy way (probably electronically) to verify that I need a new transducer and not a new gage? I've looked on Catalina Direct and nothing popped out.
Ken Enstrom
S/V Valkyrie
2004 36 MKII #2199
Sail Lake Michigan / Green Bay
Ken Enstrom
2004 C-36 MKII #2199
Tall Rig, Wing Keel, M-35B
S/V Valkyrie - Sail Great Lakes
Ken
What would help with this question is a little more info. What kind instrument, MFD and transducer we are talking about here.
David
2003 Catalina 36
Sorry about that. I wasn't thinking. I have a Raymarine ST60 Speed Instrument. I bought that boat when it was 2 yrs. old in 2006, and a full set of Raymarine ST60 instruments were already installed.
I'm suspicious I'm in trouble for finding a direct replacement. I think available Raymarine transducers are all 2 inch diameter, and I am fairly sure mine is smaller - probably around 1.5 inches. Raymarine has a E26031 ST800 and a E26008 ST300, but both would require an outhaul and a new hole for the larger 2 inch transducer. I may also need a D108 Raymarine junction box to cut the wires in the bow for the new transdcucer to avoid running new wire all the way back to the helm.
If anyone knows an easier way to replace or a sure fire way to test the existing transducer to verify it is problem or not, I would appreciate the help. Seems like there ought to be a way to clip an electrical volt meter to the transducer wires to see if it is sending proper electrical signal to gage or not when the gage readout at helm is zero.
Thx, Ken
Ken Enstrom
2004 C-36 MKII #2199
Tall Rig, Wing Keel, M-35B
S/V Valkyrie - Sail Great Lakes
Ken
Disconnect the GREEN transducer lead from the instrument display
- Connect a multimeter to the GREEN and SHIELD transducer leads and configure the multimeter to measure continuity or resistance.
- Slowly rotate the transducer paddle wheel by hand. Note that as the paddlewheel is rotated, the multimeter should alternate between an open circuit and a closed circuit with each quarter turn. As such one complete revolution of the paddle wheel should open and close the circuit four times.
Should the multimeter respond as indicated above, then the speed sensor element of the transducer would be deemed operational and the instrument display probably is defective. Should the multimeter not respond as indicated above, then the speed sensor element of the transducer would be deemed to not be operational and the transducer should be replaced.
The temperature is nothing more than a thermister. The resistance chages with temperature. Remove the brown and white wires from the instrument. Connect the multimeter across the brown and white wires. Use the attached document to test accuracy.
Should the transducer's thermistorpass the test described above, then instrument display's or instrument pod's temperature sensing circuitry may performed as follows:
1) Power down the instrument
2) Disconnect the BROWN and WHITE transducer leads from the instrument display or pod.
3) Install a 10,000 Ohm resistor across the BROWN and WHITE terminals of the instrument display or instrument pod
4) Power on the instrument
5) Verify that the instrument display reports a temperature of approximately 77 degrees F.
2003 Catalina 36
Ken,
We rebuilt ours as kits are easy to come by. I think if you Google; 'raymarine speed transducer paddle wheel' you'll find several sources for the kits. About $25.00 appx.
There are also several good YouTube videos that will show you exactly how to do it.
Bill
Bill Dolan 1990 Catalina C-36 MKI - Hull #1041 'Williwaw'
Std. Rig, Walk Through, Wing Keel
M35, Oberdorfer Conversion,
Home Waters; Charlotte Harbor & The Gulf Islands of Florida
'You are never out of work if you own a boat'
My ST60 speed/temp appears to also be dying. Neither the speed or temp works and I'm getting three dashes across the screen. Prior to that, the temp sensor was showing erratic readings. I read somewhere, that the speed guage will be effected by the temp sensor performance. I will first replace the transducer and if that doesn't work, then replace the guage at the pedestal.
I ordered the transducer from the Ray Marine Factory Outlet store ; rm.factoryoutletstore.com. Raymarine told me that the transducer ST800/P120 (E26031), will work as an ST60 replacement . I'm trying that out ($99)
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
Paul
Good luck finding the original speed/temp transducer if your unit is a 2005 vintage. The new sensors will not fit in the old housing. You will need to replace the housing and sensor.
2003 Catalina 36
After reading this thread, I was wondering about the mechanical fit. When I was talking about electronic compatibility, I just assumed the dimensions were good. The Raymarine tech never went to that part of the conversation. Covenient that Raymarine forces upgrades through planned obsolescence- guess they are like all the other tech companies.
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
Paul
Raymarine doesn't make those transducers. They are made by Airmar. Airmar has been making transducers for all the marine electronic companies for decades. The same transducer that is or was used by Raymarine is also used or was used by other marine electronic companies. They just put their style connector on it. That transducer was made for years and years. I'm sure Airmar did not one day say "let’s make a new transducer so everyone will have to upgrade". As the marine electronics change so does the transducers. You boat is 14 years old. There is an end of life for every piece of marine equipment. Even you and me.
David
2003 Catalina 36
Thanks for all the input and advice. My gage readout is getting worse -- before it either worked accurately or not at all, now it soemtimes works, sometimes 0, sometimes very inaccurate. I removed the retractable sensor and manually rotated paddle wheel and at that time got zero reading. I know it is not a paddle wheel rotation problem.
I also got out my voltmeter and tried to find a alternating zero and 4 volt signal, but could find none. One wire was ground, one was around 12 volt, one was around 0.3 volt, another around 0.3 volt, and one seemed to eratically change from zero to up to 2.5 volts when the paddle wheel was rotated. I think I need a new transducer.
I've called Raymarine tech support several times with limited help. I tell them I have an ST60 speed owners manual and the bar code sticker in the back of the manual says A22009. They keep asking me for a part number of the transducer and tell me there should be a white label on the wire at the transducer. I have plastic shield on the wire from factory install at Catalina I believe in 2004, and removed it and found no part number. I will call them again.
From research I am wondering if I need an ST800 replacement or an ST850. See PDF attachment tech shhet at link below
www.airmar.com/uploads/brochure/st800.pdf
on 800 and 850. My transducer appears to be closer to the 850.
Thanks again for any additional help. Sounds like I am not the only one with this problem.
Ken
Ken Enstrom
2004 C-36 MKII #2199
Tall Rig, Wing Keel, M-35B
S/V Valkyrie - Sail Great Lakes
I just perfromed the test that David recommended earlier -- removed green wire from display and checked for continuity across green and shield wire. Transducer does show continuity once per paddle wheel -- 4 per revolution, indicating per this test that the transducer must be OK and gage display is culprit.
The earlier test I performed I found on internet search, and it indicated one of the wire leads (ARTICLE DID NOT SPECIFY WHICH ONE) should have went from 0 to 4 volts.
To be continued........................................
Ken Enstrom
2004 C-36 MKII #2199
Tall Rig, Wing Keel, M-35B
S/V Valkyrie - Sail Great Lakes
Ken
Before you go and call a strike, make sure your instrument is getting good voltage. Dirty, poorly crimped, loose and corroded connectors can cause all sorts of problems.
David
2003 Catalina 36
I finally (after waiting all day yesterday for a call back) got to talk to a knowledgeable tech support person who had this advice for me ---
1. Perfrom a factory reset to default values on the ST60 speed display. You have to go to the "dealer calibration" mode and then choose to reset to the factory defaults.
2. He then said to try the continuity test again with the transducer by turning the paddle whee and see what happens.
3. However as long as the display is showing a value (0 or whatever for speed and some number for temperature) they would suspect the transducer before the display.
Airmar makes the transducer and many of the parts and Gemeco makes parts for Airmar. I see True Wind posted a great link to Gemeco to help ID transducer style you may have.
I will be back to boat in a couple of weeks and will let you know what happens.
Ken Enstrom
2004 C-36 MKII #2199
Tall Rig, Wing Keel, M-35B
S/V Valkyrie - Sail Great Lakes
Successfully replaced mt ST60 hull transducer today. Again, my failure symptons were erratic temp readings and intermittent knot readings. When it finally got to the point where no readings were being displayed, the screen showed three dashes.
The replacement transducer I used was an Airmar 20-399-01- which I ordered from the rm.factoryoutletstore.com. This is the same Airmar unit that the boat came with, interfacing with my Raymarine ST60 speed/temp pedestal guage. The dimensions are identical to the failed unit and it fits in the original thru hull housing. The box labels the product as ST800-P120. Above the barcode is E26031. The Raymarine stock number on the box is 31-487-1-01. My unit came with a new thru hull housing and plug. I found another source that sells this unit , and also sells just the transducer by itself: iMarine. This product is the "ST800-INS". I think another source of Airmar tranducers is "iBoat".
The transducer came with about 30' of cable with connectors on each of the 5 wires. I found it virtually impossible to use the old cable to draw the new cable through the maze of wire in the hull, so I used the existing cable: I cut the new and old cables, soldered the splices and sealed with heatshrink tubing.
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
Paul -- I am a couple of steps behind you. I just ordered the ST800-INS retractable transducer (w/o housing) from iMarine.com after sending pictures of my transducer plug and getting confirmation from the Airmar tech guys on what to order. For around $90 I figured I'd buy a new transducer since my temperature reading has never worked, and maybe a new transducer will solve the temp problem, even if I can fix the speed problem after checking connections and doing a factory default reset on the ST60 display.
In about 10 days I will return to boat and
- Check all connectors at back of ST60 display and then rotate paddle wheel and check if problem fixed.
- If problem persists, perform factory default reset on ST60 display and see if that works.
- Disconnect existing transducer from back of display and connect leads from new ST800-INS retractable transducer and see if speed and temperature work.
- If still problem, investigate buying a replacement display for ST60 display.
Regardless of results, I will provide an update in about two weeks.
Ken
Ken Enstrom
2004 C-36 MKII #2199
Tall Rig, Wing Keel, M-35B
S/V Valkyrie - Sail Great Lakes
Ken-
Couple closing comments. Looking back, I think my transducer died a slow death, because for the past 1-2 years, it was providing inconsistant or no readings, then working fine for a couple weeks- sometimes, coincidently, after I cleaned the wheel, tugged on the cabble or jiggled the connectors Also, it can be hard to diagonse when the problem is intermittent. I think if you skip steps 1 & 2 and proceed to your step 3, you may save some time. It's easy enough to plug in the new unit, turn on the circuit on and note the results.
Paul
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
SUCCESS!!!
I installed new transducer that I had ordered and my speed problems are gone and I now have the temperature display readout working!
The new transducer came with a newer style electrical connector, so I first had to cut off the connector and put older style individucl electrical pin connectors on individual wires so I could connect to my ST60 display to test. It worked great. Then I cut wires next to the old transducer in bow as I did not want to run the new wires through the boat. I soldered the wire connections and used heat shrink tubes before wrapping with electrical tape. Popping in the new transducer was easy peasy.
My advice is if your speed transducer is starting to work erattically and you can rule out physical rotattion problems with the paddle, buy a new transducer and get it over with. Make sure you order the right one by getiing technical help mentioned earlier in this blog chain.
Ken
Ken Enstrom
2004 C-36 MKII #2199
Tall Rig, Wing Keel, M-35B
S/V Valkyrie - Sail Great Lakes