FCV-627 and Airmar B60

[asen.navarro]

Good morning.
Until a few days ago I had a Furuno 620 installed with an Airmar B60 12º transducer. The sonar worked well, but I had the opportunity to buy an FCV 627, and I bought it. Furuno USA says that the B60 12º transducer is compatible with the FCV627 (B60 = 525T-LTD/12), but I select that option and it does not work 100%: when I activate the bottom discrimination, it shows the depth well, but the fishfinder says that the entire bottom is rocks...and it is not real. Is any additional adjustment necessary? Regards from Spain

 

[Johnny Electron]

You might want to have the transducer tested. Over the years I have seen people get a new sounder working at full power to connect to an older transducer which was wearing down with the older sounder. Once a new full power sounder was placed on the old transducer it starts to give way. The B60 is worth about 6-8 years of operations and then should seriously consider replacing it. A transducer test would let you see the degradation.

 

[asen.navarro]

Thank you very much for your response, it´s very interesting. I didn´t know that transducers had an "expiration date." I will try to test the fishfinder on another boat with a compatible transducer, and perform a degradation test on my B60. I have read in the FCV627 manual that it´s necessary to define the boat's draft for the bottom discrimination, but could this the reason that it only identifies bottoms such as rock? I will try to test this weekend. My boat is old, only 5 meters long and has a little Volvo Penta inboard diesel engine. It has the diesel engine as a ground connection but the fishfinder is not connected to ground (inboard engine). Would it be necessary or appropriate to connect it to ground? On the other hand, the Airmar B60 transducer has a generic terminal, and it has a Furuno adapter, could this be another factor? (wire too long, coiled, airmar-Furuno adapter...). Thank you so much

 

[Johnny Electron]

Transducers can be extended up to a total length of 65 feet and then you start to impact their performance. If not excessively long and was working on your last sounder, I wouldn't be concerned about the extension unless in disrepair.

 

[Sparky Wire]

It is important to pick the correct transducer and setup any needed offsets. It is very import to run BD or Accu-fish separately. They should not both be on at the same time or the results will be normally be bad. The calculations have completely different needs for the signal. Johnny is correct about the extension. While they shouldn't be longer than needed, anything up to 65 ft is fine.

 

[asen.navarro]

Transducers can be extended up to a total length of 65 feet and then you start to impact their performance. If not excessively long and was working on your last sounder, I wouldn't be concerned about the extension unless in disrepair.

Thank you very much again. No, the installation is short, so there is a lot of wire left over from the transducer to the fishfinder. With the FCV620 the B60 worked very well, and the only problem I have now is the bottom discrimination...rest of functions of the FCV 627 I think thats OK. I will try later to have an Airmar or Furuno distributor test the transducer, and in the meantime I use the 627 without the background discrimination.

 

[asen.navarro]

It is important to pick the correct transducer and setup any needed offsets. It is very import to run BD or Accu-fish separately. They should not both be on at the same time or the results will be normally be bad. The calculations have completely different needs for the signal. Johnny is correct about the extension. While they shouldn't be longer than needed, anything up to 65 ft is fine.

Thanks for the reply. The small boat had a mid-range Garmin fishfinder, but I was able to buy a Furuno 620 at a good price 6 years ago (I have always believed that it´s the best brand of fishfinders), and then I decided to put the Airmar B60 transducer because I read that it was compatible with 627/628, and I wanted to improve the 620 in the medium/long term. The problem is when I have now been able to change the 620 model for the 627 model... and the bottom discrimination does not work... I will try running bottom discrimination with accufish turned off. I have read that it´s also important to define the draft of the boat, is that correct? (however, i thinks that it isnt a necessary adjustment for the BD failure). Thank you, from Spain!!