Reconnecting a cut transducer wire...?

[Tube4Slabs]

The transducer wire for my depthfinder somehow got split, and i'm trying to re-wire it back together. Have any of you guys tried this before and can it be done? There is wire underneath the black cable then under this wire is another small tubing piece that holds more wires inside. Do I need to somehow reconnect the wire in the small tubing first then reseal it, then connect the other wire on top. Will this even work? Anyone with any experience on this I would really appreciate any tips. Thanks

[Tn_countryboy]

The transducer wire for my depth finder somehow got split, and I'm trying to re-wire it back together. Have any of you guys tried this before and can it be done? There is wire underneath the black cable then under this wire is another small tubing piece that holds more wires inside. Do I need to somehow reconnect the wire in the small tubing first then reseal it, then connect the other wire on top. Will this even work? Anyone with any experience on this I would really appreciate any tips. Thanks

Tube4slabs; You should be able to do this with a little careful soldering. It will be a little tricky but, get some heat-shrinkable tubing ( from radio shack or an electronics parts store), get a pack with several different sizes, according to the size of your wires. If you have a soldering iron and know how to solder get some very very small solder. If you've never soldered, find someone to help you that has experience. Now before you start to solder, you have to cut the all the tubing your going to need. Start with a piece big enough to cover the outside cable, slip this over one end of the transducer cable and up out of the way, make it long enough to cover the entire repair. Probably about 4 inches. Next you'll have to cut a piece big enough to cover all the little wires that you'll reconnect. Make this about three inches. This will take the place of the inner tubing that covers the wires now. Try and slip it up out of the way next to the first piece you've cut.
Now if the first wire under the black outside cable is a braided mesh, this is a shield wire. Carefully strip back the black outer covering leaving about two inches of shield exposed, and be careful and try and not cut this shield up too bad. Slide the shield wire back over the outside black cable. The shield should expand when you slide it back. Do the same to the other end( transducer end) now you should have two cables with two inches of inner tubing exposed and wires in the middle. Cut about one inch off of each inner tube, don't cut the wires. Now you should have one inch of wires exposed to work with. I don't know how many wires you have, I'm guessing 4, but it doesn't matter. They should be color coded. Pick a color and cut 1/4 inch off of one side or the other. strip 1/4" off of each end and cut a piece of tubing 3/4 inch long. Use the smallest tubing that will fit over the wire. Slide it up over the long side and twist that color together and solder. Next cut 1/4 inch off of the opposite side of the next color your going to connect. This staggers the solder connections and makes less of a bulge. After you get all the wires reconnected, position the heat shrink to cover all the solder connection and use a heat gun to shrink the tubing. ( hair dryer usually will work, or a bick lighter). Next slip the three inch tubing over this group, it should cover the group and a little of the inner tubing on both ends. Shrink this tubing.. Now take one of the braid and pull it toward the middle till it's as small as possible. Another words put it back where it was originally, then pull the other end over the top. Over lap as much as you can..... Now if your pretty good at soldering you can try and solder these together, but it's not necessary, and it's dangerous, if you burn through .... so If it was me I'd just pull the last piece of heat shrink over the whole mess and shrink it. the pressure of the shrinking tuning will make enough contact with the two shields to do their job.
I've repaired 25+ wire cables this way, it takes a little patience and sometimes a third hand. Just don't get in a rush. and don't have your iron to hot. The quality of the insulation on the little wires will have a lot to do with how easy and how clean the job turns out. But I can't know that.
If the insulation melts as soon as you touch the wire with the iron, it'll be tricky. You'll just have to be quick.
Hope this helps... Had a dog chew one of mine in two once.. but it was just a piece of coaxial cable.
GOOD LUCK!!!

[Meat on the Table]

I have had to do this twice. Performed repairs indentical, one turned out good as new, one not so good. I do electrical and electronic maintenance at a tier one automotive supplier, and am convinced a person is better off buying a new cable.

[Moose1am]

I would go the new cable root but if you have patience and a steady hand you may be able to repair the cable like the other guys described in his excellent post.

One thing I would ad is this. They now make a liquid type plastic tape that you may be able to use to seal out water. heat srink tape may not shink enough to tightly see the cables and if water gets inside the heat shrink tape the splices will short out. I am thinking of the cable on my old humminbird flasher which broke once. The wires inside the cable were 22 gauge and I don't know of any heat shrink tubes that would fix over them very well.

I like the idea of stagering the splices though. That is a cleaver idea.

[Kenny]

I cut mine with the trolling motor locking pin last year on the water and just pulled out the old pocket knife and cleaned the break....twisted each wire back together and taped them over to prevent shorting...worked all year with no motor interference or any other problems. I am an electrician by trade but it was very easy to fix anyway...nothing complicated there.

[Ranger375]

Another good item to use is "Liquid Electrical Tape". This in addition to heat shrink tubing makes a water tight seal. I've done this since my unit has broadview transducer which is almost $100.00 for new transducer.

[FalconSmitty]

Liquid electrical tape is the best thing since JB Weld. I used it on my last trailer light repair. I put it over all the old connections too. Now I don't have to unplug to launch and load the boat.

[KARL]

Liquid electrical tape is the best thing since JB Weld. I used it on my last trailer light repair. I put it over all the old connections too. Now I don't have to unplug to launch and load the boat.

...even with good water-proof connectors..been using liquid tape over soldered joints for 10 years now...started when I salt water fished...I still unplug first thing while getting boat ready--do this to allow bulbs/leds to cool off ....more lights ruined by hitting cold water when lights hot then bad connections...at least in my experience...same thing with bearings on trailers when hot they will suck in water if any gap in seals...my $.04 :D

[Superdave]

Go to Radio Shack and get a connector for coaxial cable. Follow the instructions and it'll work fine. They come in several sizes.
SD

[Moose1am]

Excellent points. I didn't think much of the hot light bulbs and I hope that I remember to unplug the trailer lights first thing next time out. I always unplug the connection but don't always do that first thing. Didn't think about letting the light bulbs cool down longer. Thanks for that tip. I like that idea.


As for the wheel bearings well I knew that, which is why I try to fill the bearing buddies up with grease before each trip. That way there is so much grease inside them that when the hot bearing and wheel spinders hit the cold lake water the springs can collapes and still have enough grease inside the bearing buddies to hopefully keep the water out. I do try to let the boat sit a while after a long trip to allow the bearings to cool off a bit. I guess that is what also protected my hot light bulbs on the trailer. I try also not to get the trailer lights in the water. Mine are mounted high enough that I can get the boat off the trailer without them getting soaked each time. But then once in a while a wave comes along or I back up too far on a more shallow boat ramp and they do get some water on them. But they are the waterproof type and are sealed pretty good. If they do have any openings they are at the very bottom on the lights and the air trapped inside keep the water from coming inside. Sort of like a diving bell or a bucket full of air that is pushed under the water with the air trapped inside the upside down bucket. The air inside a bucket like that will keep the water out of the bucket.


Humm I wonder what the air pressure inside that bucket under the water does when a cold front comes though?

Answer next time. Any takers on this physics question?

...even with good water-proof connectors..been using liquid tape over soldered joints for 10 years now...started when I salt water fished...I still unplug first thing while getting boat ready--do this to allow bulbs/leds to cool off ....more lights ruined by hitting cold water when lights hot then bad connections...at least in my experience...same thing with bearings on trailers when hot they will suck in water if any gap in seals...my $.04 :D