Wiring depth sounder to Standard Horizon CP150C gps chart plotter

[chiguy454]

Looking for some help wiring a depth sounder to my gps. I'm a new to this type of wiring. I have the manual, but a little confused as to how I should wire the three sounder wires to send signals to my gps so it displays the depth on my screen. Anyone with some know how on this who could give me some advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mjf55]

chiguy, the way your GPS will communicate to your depth sounder is via a special serial port using NMEA protocol. Section 4.1.2 of the manual shows some suggested wiring diagrams to other NMEA devices. The is one diagram that connects to an External NMEA Device, using Green, Blue and Brown wires. In order to help you further, we need to know the exact model of your depth sounder? Perhaps in the depth sounder manual, it explains how to connect.
Anyway, let us know the make / model of the depth sounder and we can help more.

 

[chiguy454]

Hey, thanks mjf. I have no idea the brand of depthfinder. It looks to me like the factory in hull transducer, whatever was probably installed in the boat. It's an '88 Bayliner ciera 2455. See the boat was purchased as a project and the guy I purchased it from felt he need to chop all the electronics out before he sold it. I figured rather than drilling holes in the transom I would just figure out how to wire the existing transducer to my standard horizon GPS that I am installing to eliminate extra gauges since it looks like I can send the depth info directly to the GPS as well.
I can tell you that the transducer is a 3 wire set up with white, black and a clear casing wire. The main part I am confused about is which wire on the transducer connected to the input and the out put and also the green (common) wire on the GPS unit.
And also it mentions something about what language the transducer signal is in.

 

[mjf55]

chiguy, unfortunately that will not work. In order for a depth finder to work, it needs tonhave the correct head ( display electronics ). Not only that, but it need to be matched to the transducer, as far as frequency it uses. So, that NMEA interface i mentioned in the previous post will talk to the electronics, not the transducer.
So to complete what you want, you need a depth finder head, that matches the transducer , that also supports NMEA.
Hope that helps

 

[chiguy454]

Ahhh, got it. I guess I was thinking that it could be wired directly to the nearest connection on the gps. I do have a depth finder gauge that could be wired to the transducer, but was trying to avoid the extra clutter and electronics. So I guess if I just added that gauge, I may as well scrap the idea of wiring it to work with my gps as the whole reason of doing that is because I have no existing depth gauge on board. Thanks for your input! That's why I ask before I do lol

 

[chiguy454]

That was "nmea connection" not "nearest connection" auto correct got me there

 

[mjf55]

Got it. Good luck. We are here if you run into any more questions or issues.

 

[chiguy454]

Great! Thanks! I really appreciate the input!
-Doug