Depth sounder woes...

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Lola45,

The reported issue with the DSM may have been rooted in the transducer or within the DSM. For fault isolation purposes, it would have been recommended that the transducer have been tested to ensure that it was operational before mating it to the iTC-5. As indicated by the technician and as specified within the FAQ found here, it should indeed been possible to bypass the failing DSM and provide the system with depth data by interfacing the depth leads of the P319 transducer to the iTC-5. Calibration and offset would need to be applied via an i70/i70S MFID. When doing so, the DSM should be disconnected from the system.

When using an iTC-5, an i70/i70S Transducers Set-up feature will not list a depth transducer unless each of the following criteria have been met:
- the vessel must be located in the water and the depth below the transducer must be greater than 3' beneath the transducer ... this cannot be achieved when the vessel is out to the water
- the iTC-5 has been interfaced to a compatible and operational depth transducer supporting 200kHz operation
- the iTC-5 has been selected from the list of transducers and Depth has been selected from the iTC-5 transducers:
----- should the iTC-5 not detect a bottom return from which it will determine a depth value, then the Depth option will be grayed out to denote that it cannot be selected.

Accordingly, should the vessel have been located in the water in a depth satisfying the requirement above and have been interfaced to the iTC-5 as specified within the FAQ, then Depth should have been able to have been selected from the list of iTC-5 transducers. If not, then it may indicate a problem with the transducer (recommend testing it) or with the iTC-5 (replace it).