FF fading in and out

My cuda 350 FF is fading in and out. The charge seems strong, then it starts fading and finally craps out.  di elrctric greese helps for a bit.  Can you replace the connection end... Or am i in the market for a new ff.  Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.  Thanks. Wayne

By "charge seems strong" is this assumption or measured with a volt meter?
The cuda can still run at something like 9 volts. If power source is on the fringe of that, it will fade on you.

Assumption (don't have a volt meter...and from my wording of the original post it's clear I don't have much electrical knowledge).  I have 8 rechargeable AA batteries powering the ff.  after 'giggling' the connection it lights up bright (sometimes), then will start to fade.  I'm thinking the connection has either a short or corrosion. I,m wondering if I can splice a new connector (if I can find one) or if I need to get a new transducer cable. Thanks for the feedback.

Try scrubbing the connector ends out with a wire brush and WD40.  If that doesn't work, ohm out the individual leads while flexing the cable to see if you have an intermittent open in one of the wires. 

-Spot-

If that doesn't work, ohm out the individual leads while flexing the cable to see if you have an intermittent open in one of the wires. 

Spot, it doesn't sound like that advice is going to be much help to this guy given his previous comment.   

(don't have a volt meter...and from my wording of the original post it's clear I don't have much electrical knowledge).

It sounds like you have a bad connection.  You either need to get a cheap digital multimeter and learn how to measure the resistance of your connection wires, or clean the hell out of and grease the connection points(make sure to check the fuse holder too if you are using one), or get a new transducer.  It sounds like it is your power connections that are the problem.  If the problem spot is the plug that you connect to the head unit, you're probably in the market for a new transducer cable if cleaning it doesn't work.  If it's the connection point at the battery end of the cable, that's an easy fix.

Thanks gosling whisperer, insayn, and Spot, I appreciate the advice.  Hope to figure it out before the May 1 ling opener.

laughingsteelhead,

You say it fades in and out, what exactly is fading out? What I'm getting at is it depth readings/echo or the unit itself appears to be powering down?

I'm going to assume you mean the entire unit appears to be powering down at times and if you can wiggle the cable near the connector, I agree that it is most likely a power issue.

Easiest way to troubleshoot a power issue is using a test light or an LED with long leads, alligator leads or use paper clips like I do:) Connect ground of test light to ground and start prodding the connector going to your power source. If it doesn't like up, wiggle cable while prodding again and if it still doesn't light up, you know it's not your unit but the power source, cable connection to power source or cable connection to connector. No reason to use a multimeter on power source, if it doesn't light up with a test light or LED, there is no power.

If you are going to scrub the connector, use a non ferrous wire brush, preferably a copper bristle brush. The reason for this is that steel brushes that you see for cheap leave contaminants on your connector or electrical equipment that will begin to rush due to the iron.

For solvents, try Corrosion Block or Deoxit in pen or spray form. This will help break up and neutralize the corrosion caused by salt water enviroments. They are safe to drench your electronics in if you really want.

As far as your question regarding connectors, yes, NMEA connectors are replaceable and can be purchased at any marine electronic store or online. NMEA is very easy to splice and dealing with 0183 devices are as simple as a western union splice on a pair of broken headphone wires. NMEA 2000 on the other hand is an absolute nightmare when it comes to building backbones and integrating but you don't have to worry about that unless you paid several thousand for your FF:) Take note of wire positions on connector and solder the colors together.

Yes, you can cut a transducer cable...within reason. The most common cable issues occur near the unit due to the weight of the cable pulling on the connector, take some heat shrink and add that for the 6" from the new connector back to help give it some rigidity. Look at the cable and if you can see a bend that appears natural, that is most likely the cause for the connection issue so try and support that area next time.

If you are losing your depth and pictures of gold fish on your screen, then I would worry about your transducer. Transducers convert digital signal to air waves at certain frequencies awhich your unit interprets depending on the time and intensity of the return. If this is not your issue, make sure you have fresh batteries and check your connector.  The thing with transducers is a lot of time people will operate them out of the water. The problem with this is the electrical pulse that excites the piezoelectric element(at XXX frequency your unit is designed to interpret) in the ducer is not dampened by air so the acoustic waves are reflected directly back to the ducer. When the ducer is in the water, the energy is dampened due to the difference in medium density between water and air (only water transmits 6 times faster than dead air space). Think of it as overdriving your speaker by turning the volume or gain up to high. There is not enough resistence to slow everything down so the cone will end up tearing or separating on your speakers.

Don't rule out the battery pack, batteries and wiring on the battery pack either.

Best of luck,
-Will

Wow...what a detailed response. Thanks Will.  I really appreciate the thorough feedback.  Will be troubleshooting tomorrow. Wayne

I had the same exact issue and found it to be the blade style fuse holder. I cut it out and got a new one from fishermans. Now it works like a charm.  I found it by checking continuity between connections (solder joints, each prong of the fuse holder, pins in fish finder connection and connections on the battery side)

If I'm not mistaken, the CUDA's don't use the NMEA type connections.

I should have mentioned before my first post on this subject(hard to read novels on phone). My response was for all fishfinder and troubleshootinh electronics.

The cuda does use NMEA 0183 interface. It may not use it for the ducer and may only be used for gps but unless they are using a proprietary connector(only 2 companies im aware of doing this but id rather buy a car) then those self sealinh connectors used for marine enviroments can all be had. May take searching due to pin and key configurations, but they are available. Ive lost track of how many ive had to repair and replace, there are more out there than there should be.

I did not realize the cuda had an inline fuse as bluewrx02 mentioned. In that case, go with blue on this and check the fuse. Blade atc type fuses are the worst thing to happen to marine electronics. Go figure, they are automotive fuses. With ATC style fuse holders, the contacts are soldered directly to the wire as blue stated. Unless youve been adding dielectric to seal it, the metal blades will become coated and dull colored. You can scratch this of and try it but since wiggling worked, the solder joints are most likely broken. Bluewrx02 must be a tech:)


-Will

Blade atc type fuses are the worst thing to happen to marine electronics. . . .  Unless youve been adding dielectric to seal it, the metal blades will become coated and dull colored. You can scratch this of and try it but since wiggling worked, the solder joints are most likely broken.

Very good point.  I haven't been putting dielectric grease on the fuses in my fish finders, and will do it right away.

I have had a fuse holder get completely corroded out to the point where it created an open circuit and my sounder didn't work.  Now I use a liberal amount of dielectric grease on the inside of the fuse holder, then wrap it in electrical tape.

I am more a fan of bus fuses. They are easier to weatherproof than ATC style holders. Another option to a complete weatherproofing job with vulcanizing tape, electrical tape and Scotchkote is to buy liquid electrical tape. Its similar to Scotchkote only much thinner. It can get messy so line the deck before you do it and make sure the winds not blowing or youll end up redesigning your clothes. The liquid is cheap and can be found at Wallyworld or any automotive parts store. When you needvto replace fuse, just peel it by picking at it or cut the seam.

What's the value in using a fuse on a DC powered fish finder besides adding another failure/corrosion point?