nixdorf Posted September 24, 2015 Posted September 24, 2015 Hello, I've been told I should never leave my sonar on when pulling my trolling motor out of the water to relocate. I was told doing so will burn out your transducer even after a few minutes. Is there any truth to this? It doesn't seem right to me, but I thought I would ask the experts. Thanks! Quote
Super User flyfisher Posted September 24, 2015 Super User Posted September 24, 2015 I don't know why it would matter. I use a kayak and used to have a transducer arm that went over the side of the boat and i would pull it up when it was shallow and there were plenty of times i forgot to turn off the unit. Never had any issues. Quote
desmobob Posted September 24, 2015 Posted September 24, 2015 Hello, I've been told I should never leave my sonar on when pulling my trolling motor out of the water to relocate. I was told doing so will burn out your transducer even after a few minutes. Is there any truth to this? It doesn't seem right to me, but I thought I would ask the experts. Thanks! Umm... maybe you're not asking "the experts." I think if I had that question, I'd be e-mailing it to the manufacturer of my sonar unit! (I've owned various sonar units and I'm sure I must have left them on out of the water more than once, for at least a few minutes or maybe a lot of minutes, and I've never had a problem....) Tight lines, Bob Quote
Super User Wayne P. Posted September 25, 2015 Super User Posted September 25, 2015 You heard a half truth repeated from ignorance. Regular transducers wear out over time since the crystals vibrate when transmitting sound and when detecting the return echos. The only ones that can "burn out" are the very powerful ones for very deep water that have to be submerged when in use like the very expensive AIMAR ones to keep them cool. It takes more than a few minutes to generate enough heat to damage it. The shoot-thru version of those are installed in a tank of anti-freeze. Quote
eddallen Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 All the manufacturer's warn against running your transducer 'out of water for extended periods', but, never seem to say what an 'extended period' is. It doesn't need to be a high dollar Airmar like a TM185-HW as it could also happed to the P66. I have had my Lowrance transducers running in the shop for more than 2 hours at some times, and, when they finally fail I'm not sure anyone other than engineers could lay the blame on heat from that dry running. A person can scoff all they want until such time they need to replace one of those $1000 transducers, then, they will probably pay more attention to manufacturer's suggestions. I personally define 'extended period' as longer than 5 minutes, so anytime I am dry running a sonar transducer I will wrap the ducer in a cold soaking wet towel. If you have already 'accidentally' left the sonar ON for an 'extended period', the damage is done if any at all. No way to fix it now, so just wait till it fails, if it ever does, then replace it. Quote
Super User Jig Man Posted September 29, 2015 Super User Posted September 29, 2015 Been doing it for a long time and never had a problem. I fish 80-100 days per year and never turn the thing off from unload to load. 1 Quote
Racerx Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 It's a bunch of b.s.. Was just reading about this fallacy, recently. Quote
eddallen Posted October 1, 2015 Posted October 1, 2015 It's a bunch of b.s.. Was just reading about this fallacy, recently. Could you share the link? Quote
Racerx Posted October 2, 2015 Posted October 2, 2015 I'll be glad to, if i can find it. It was something i just stumbled across. I'll see if i can re-trace my tracks. Quote
Racerx Posted October 2, 2015 Posted October 2, 2015 Okay, got it. First, the quote: "One misconception is that if you leave your unit on while the transducer is out of the water you will damage the transducer. This is entirely false. While leaving any electrical device on for long periods of time can reduce the service life of the equipment, a transducer will not be damaged by leaving it out of the water while still pulsing." Now, the link to the article: http://www.yakangler.com/blogs/user-blogs/item/2733-fishfinders-and-transducers-oh-my And, if you think about it, it makes sense. You have people hull-mounting their transducers. Most of those installs do not have the transducer in any sort of liquid medium (I say "most" because some people actually fill a well around their transducer with water.), and it doesn't harm the transducer in THAT environment. Quote
eddallen Posted October 2, 2015 Posted October 2, 2015 OK so I read the entire article. It was difficult but I managed through it. I suggest everybody on this forum read it, and have your mind focused on your own experience as you do so. The ONLY thing I found worthwhile in that article was his referrence to Bruce Samson (Dr Sonar). The author undoubtedly has a strong knowledge of industrial Ultra-Sound but, 10,000 hours squinting at a sonar screen does NOT an expert make! He never qualified himself other than sitting in front of the screen for many hours and tying those hours into his industrial Ultra-Sound experience. No sonar commercial install experience, no sonar sales experience, no sonar troubleshooting experience or no sonar repair experience. For instance, this chap states; "The transducer needs to be nearly perfectly still, the fish needs to be nearly perfectly still, the fish has to be somewhat large and dense." to get perfect fish arches. Guys, this is absoultely backwards! Without movement you get only lines....NO arches. He even confuses SONAR for Ultra-Sound. He is unaware that SONAR is an acronym for SOund NAvigating Radar. Had he understood even the basics of sonar, I don't think he would have made some of his statements. I don't know that there is an absolute answer for the 'overheating' question, but I do know there is a lot more to transducers than he talks about. Edd Quote
Racerx Posted October 3, 2015 Posted October 3, 2015 He doesn't confuse it, he states that what they commonly refer to as "sonar" in fishfinders is acutally "ultrasound". Are you saying it's NOT ultrasound? Here's another link: http://www.thehulltruth.com/marine-electronics-forum/434151-transducer-damage-used-out-water.html Some state prsonal experience with this, other have quoted company stances. Sounds like it COULD decide on the type of transducer. Quote
eddallen Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 He doesn't confuse it, he states that what they commonly refer to as "sonar" in fishfinders is acutally "ultrasound". Are you saying it's NOT ultrasound? Here's another link: http://www.thehulltruth.com/marine-electronics-forum/434151-transducer-damage-used-out-water.html Some state prsonal experience with this, other have quoted company stances. Sounds like it COULD decide on the type of transducer. Gil Travis, or semperfifishing, is MR. Transducer in my book. He is the only person I know who studied this science in college and has worked in the field putting the knowledge to practical use. Please note tho, in his response he refers specifically to the Airmar M260 and makes no generalization regarding other transducers being run in dry air. I suggest, since you have the thread link, you PM Gil and talk transducers. He's a wealth of knowledge and doesn't mind getting people going in the right direction. If you go to the Vendor area of that forum you will find his blog, also full of great 411. Remember that SONAR is only an acronym for SOund NAvagation Ranging. The first article would have been more correct in referrencing a SONOGRAM in comparrison to SONAR. IMO Edd Quote
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