Datamarine Depth Sounder shows MSD when in shallow water

[Bill Shreeves]

The Datamarine S-200DL has showed "MSD" when motoring and under 7' of depth pretty much since I got the boat 2 seasons ago.  While extremely annoying when I pretty much want it most, we've managed without incident but, it's time time to do something about it.  While investigating, I traced the wire from the transducer and found a pretty well corroded connector, not too far from the transducer, that pretty much fell apart when I went to take it apart.  I'm sure that didn't help at all but, what are the odds that a poor connection would most likely appear at shallow depths while motoring?  It usually shows depth @ anchor and in the slip.  The boat is on the hard so, I wouldn't really know if fixing the connection does the trick until launched which is too late to replace the transducer.   If anyone with more experience, which is pretty much everyone on the forum, has any thoughts or suggestions, I'm all ears.

The other question I'm wondering is, if I replace, I need to stay with e 2" thru hull which leads me to Raymarine but, the displays from Raymarine won't fit where the old round Datamarine L.C.D. is.  Can you use a transducer from one mfg with the display of another?

Thanks,
Bill

[Jon W]

My 2016 Raymarine system uses an Airmar dst800 for depth/speed/temperature. It might be worth contacting Airmar and asking if they have a transducer that works with your display.

[Noah]

Checkout these folks. They say they have lots of compatible parts for older Datamarine instruments.
http://www.dmimarine.com/

[Stu Jackson]

Bill,

August 2015 Tech Notes, Knotmeter Cable:  http://c34.org/knotmeter-cable/

Search on transducers.  Most are made by airmar.

[KWKloeber]

Quote
"The S200DL will show MSD when the transducer is not in the water, in water under 2.5 feet or in water over 190 feet, this is normal since the instrument can not read in these situations. If it happens at normal depths this could be a fault in the instrument or the transducer. "

Are you saying "under 7 feet" water depth, or less than 7' under the keel?

Are you saying it's too late to change the transducer..... because she's in the water or having to change the mount?

[Bill Shreeves]

Ken - The boat is on the hard and will be for the next couple of months.  The display works pretty well until I get into water that is less than 7' deep under the transducer.  The depth sometimes flashes but mostly displays MSD until the boat stops @ anchor or on the slip.  I'm typically moving pretty slowly at this point because of shallow water.  I haven't taken the time to determine when it begins to show again when in or approaching the slip or @ anchor because I'm pretty busy focusing on other matters although, that would've been interesting info.

Jon - My take away is that depth transducers aren't necessarily proprietary communications to the displays?  So, I could possibly buy a 2" transducer from one mfg and a round display that fits where the existing Datamarine display is?

[mainesail]

These instruments are in the 30 year old range and it may be time to consider an upgrade. I have seen a number of my customers chasing their tails trying to fix old DM stuff only for it to go crazy again a short while later. A blanking plate is easy to construct to hide the old hole with a new instrument. Today's N2K (NMEA 2000) instruments can act as multiple displays for speed, temp and depth or a myriad of other N2K signals.