B&G gauges + sensors and antifoul
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Scott SV Tengah
Hi all,
We have the original B&G H3000 system on our A54 and we're currently in the process of taking the hull back to gelcoat via hand scraping and sanding. As part of the process, we used Interprotect on spots where the painter was a bit too aggressive with his scraping. He accidentally applied Interprotect to the two sonic sensor rubber covers (one on hull facing aft and one on forward edge of keel). I have not found any guidance on whether epoxy barrier coat and consequently ablative antifoul will cause problems with this sensor. Any thoughts on this? A separate issue is that our analog gauges are failing due to broken retaining rings on the back of the gauges. I've replaced one of them at considerable expense considering this is a 15 year old system and would rather not plow more money into replacing parts on an antiquated system. Has anyone successfully attached these connectors using tape/sikaflex/etc? Thanks! -- Scott 2007 A54 #69 SV Tengah http://www.svtengah.com |
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Hello Scott,
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I also had re-occuring problems with my 12 year old analog B&G displays and recently decided to replace them with a TRITON 2 digital display, using NMEA 2000-NMEA 0183 converting cables to interface with the existing H3000 processor. Cost in Greece for the kit: approx. 1,000 euro, tax included. I was assured by the seller and by a trustworthy electro-tecnician that installation is simple; I entend to replace one of the analog displays with the Triton2 digital display and leave the other ones covered and unplugged for estetics. I should know how it works after launch in Turkey, in about a month. Louis Trepanier A54-83
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Scott, The face material on the transducer is a tuned acoustic matching layer with characteristic impedance between that of the piezo element and water. Its purpose is to maximise the transfer of energy from the piezo element into the water. Adding additional epoxy material will degrade performance a bit, but probably not enough to affect operation. Voids are a different matter though. |
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Mohammad Shirloo
Hi Scott,
If your speed cable and transducers are original, be very careful exerting any pressure on the rubber caps. Ours came off while wiping the hull with a sponge underwater when my hand accidently bumped the rubber cap. If you’ve never changed your transducers before and can find a new one, I would recommend replacing it while out of the water now, if you can find one. They usually have a 15 year life span and if the epoxy that has been applied affects the performance when you go back in the water, you would have to haul out again to replace.
Happy Sailing;
Mohammad and Aty B&B Kokomo AMEL 54 #099
From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io>
On Behalf Of Dean Gillies via groups.io
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2023 6:59 AM To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] B&G gauges + sensors and antifoul
Scott, The face material on the transducer is a tuned acoustic matching layer with characteristic impedance between that of the piezo element and water. Its purpose is to maximise the transfer of energy from the piezo element into the water. Adding additional
epoxy material will degrade performance a bit, but probably not enough to affect operation. Voids are a different matter though. |
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Scott SV Tengah
Thanks all, very helpful.
Louis - do you know if the 0183 to NMEA2000 converter cable was a B&G specific cable for something generic? From memory, the connectors on the back of the existing analog gagues are not 0183 but rather some specialized B&G cable. -- Scott 2007 A54 #69 SV Tengah http://www.svtengah.com |
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Scott, I got them here in Greece and looking forward to their installation next month in Turkiye where my boat is on the hard… If you wish, I can send you pictures of each connectors. Louis
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Scott SV Tengah
That would be great, thank you! On Fri, Mar 24, 2023, 10:04 Louis Trepanier <louis.alepa@...> wrote:
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Louis, Scott. I have the Hydra 2000 unit if possible pictures of your work is always good to review. Please when doing any changes post your helpful pics. Randall ALBEDO A54#56 On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 19:27 Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:
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Hi Randall,
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I will inform you next month as to how conversion went, with pictures. Louis A54-83
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We also having problems with the sonic speed indicator. Most of the time it works well, but sometimes out of the blue it gives a completely wrong indication. And after a while all works fine again. Asked Pochon La Rochelle if they could replace the transducers but they said the parts are not available anymore. If problems remains they advised to install a paddle wheel 🥺 Next month when the boat is on the hard we will inspect and try to clean the transducers. Hopefully that will solve the problems. |
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Vladan SV PAME
Hi Laurens,
Last spring after I put back boat in the water I had odd or no reading on boat speed. My first tought was that something happened with transducers while boat was out of water as people from shipyard were sanding and applying antifouling. But in fact issue was that I packed toolboxes tight under bench where big black box of Hydra CPU is installed and they made a pressure on it. After I re-packed toolboxes not to touch big black box everything worked well and work ever since. Hope this experience can help someone. Best Regards, -- Vladan A54 #157 SV PAME |
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Hi Vladan, We certainly going to check this as well. |
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Stefan Jeukendrup
Hello Laurens,
Often I have the same when sailing close reach.... The measurement uses "time of flight"of an ultrasonic pulse. At higher speeds air bubbles might get into the transducer pathway or the acoustic wave misses the receiver, a meter appart.
Despite the claims of B&G the reality is that the analogue Sonicspeed is not so accurate and often shows incirrect vallues, at other times it works well. The B&G Microsonic ( digital: microprocessor plus higher power transmitter) is compatible, uses the same transducer pair and generally works more reliable.
Helpfull for troubleshooting:
The problem with the transducers is water ingress over time,
first the rubber dislodges and then the crystal gets wet. De transducer resistance and the AGC voltage give a good
indication of the state of the acoustical pathway.
Sensor replacement I pulled once both sensors half way out on the hard and later
installed new ones in with the boat in the water. No problem since
the cable exits are above the waterline. For instance Gary Wells wrote a good post about the Sonicspeed system: #60222
I have a few spare Sonicspeed boxes but no more spare
transducers...
Stefan jeukendrup sv Malaka Queen
SM2k #348 @ Portsmouth Dominica Op 24-03-2023 om 09:36 schreef Laurens
Vos:
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Scott SV Tengah
So do all of you leave the rubber covering on the transducer "naked"? In other words, no epoxy barrier coat, no undercoat and no antifoul?
-- Scott 2007 A54 #69 SV Tengah http://www.svtengah.com |
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There may be some of these Sonic Speed sets available. The original replacement cost from B&G was about 1200 € Google b&g 184-00-076 If you snooze you lose Bill
On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 2:10 PM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote: So do all of you leave the rubber covering on the transducer "naked"? In other words, no epoxy barrier coat, no undercoat and no antifoul? |
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Stefan Jeukendrup
1 layer of antifouling over the rubber cap
Stefan Jeukendrup
sv Malaka Queen SM2k #348 @ Portsmouth Dominica
Op 24-03-2023 om 16:10 schreef Scott SV
Tengah:
So do all of you leave the rubber covering on the transducer "naked"? In other words, no epoxy barrier coat, no undercoat and no antifoul? |
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Paul Dowd and Sharon Brown
I got a pair of transducers from the UK in November 2020 for USD299. I have not installed them yet. Unfortunately I do not have a record of the company.
Cheers, Paul
Paul Dowd & Sharon Brown S/Y Ya Fohi, Amel 54 #98 skype: pauldowd
From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> On Behalf Of CW Bill Rouse
Sent: 24 March 2023 15:26 To: main@amelyachtowners.groups.io Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] B&G gauges + sensors and antifoul
There may be some of these Sonic Speed sets available. The original replacement cost from B&G was about 1200 € Google b&g 184-00-076
If you snooze you lose
Bill
On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 2:10 PM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:
-- Cheers Paul Ya Fohi - Amel 54 #98 |
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