depth finder wires chewed up

I recently bought a Ranger boat that a rat or something ate some of the wires in. I believe I have everything fixed except for the front depth finder. <br /><br />It's a Lowrance depth finder and the wires seem to be some sort of coaxial cable, the outside wire housing is black, with what looks like a braided wire shield that wraps completely around a clear housing another, I believe white wire. My question is how can this be repaired? Do I need to replace the entire cable or can I just splice it back together? If it can be sliced, is there a special way to do this or can I just twist the braided wire together and solder it?<br /><br />Being as this is a very basic depth finder from the late 80's I would eventually like to replace it with something more current and with better fish finding capabilities. In this case is there a more universal wire to replace it with or are all the wires fairly interchangeable?<br /><br />Another side question to this, is I believe all 3 depth finders on this boat appear to go to one transducer. Would that be correct of an '86 Ranger boat? If so how does that work? Would the wires "y" off somewhere? I just need to know what to look for.<br /><br />Thanks

Re: depth finder wires chewed up

It sounds like the damage is to the Transducer itself. If it were mine and it was an ould unit anywau I would try and just splice the wires back together using an insulated junction connector. Make sure the shielding of the Co-ax cannot contact or short on the inner signal wire. Old Lowrance unit transducers can be a bit of a pest to match up as they change the type of plug every 6 months. The very old ones have black plugs whilst the newer ones have grey connectors. You may have to but a new transducer and a patch lead to be able to join the new transducer to your unit. MAke sure if that is the case that you can get the correct connector for your machine or you may be wasting more money on it than its worth. That is why i would try and just patch the damaged one.<br /><br />Andy

Re: depth finder wires chewed up

Mine has black plugs. It looked as if there were a shorter wire, maybe 2', patched into the main wire. I think one of the wires was chewed off on the short wire, one on the long.<br /><br />I'll try to patch it in.<br /><br />So if I buy a new fish/depth finder for up front, will I need a new transducer or can it patch into my old one?<br /><br />Thanks for the the help.

Re: depth finder wires chewed up

If it has black plugs it probably dates back to the 80's. A new sounder will probably come with a new transducer so I would clean install the whole thing. Its not usual to patch into transducers and I don't see how they would be able to run 2 displays of different manufacturers off a single transducer. <br />Andy

Re: depth finder wires chewed up

Originally posted by AndyL:<br /> If it has black plugs it probably dates back to the 80's. A new sounder will probably come with a new transducer so I would clean install the whole thing. Its not usual to patch into transducers and I don't see how they would be able to run 2 displays of different manufacturers off a single transducer. <br />Andy

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I'm almost certain it was original equipment on my 1986 Ranger boat. I'll just try a temp fix until I get a new sounder and when I replace it, just do a clean install as you suggest. <br /><br />Thanks for the help.