Furuno 627 with 2 KW Transducer

[odes20]

Having read Furuno website, I am assured that in connecting my 627 to a 1 KW Transducer i can expect better performance. I have a 2 kw Transducer and want info to see if its worth using it. Yes I know that the 627 is a 600 watt machine, so im wanting to know if using the 2 kw will provide simalar increased performance just like a 1 KW will do.

Thanks for your input in advance.

[Bremic]

No one else wants to reply, so I will give you my understanding, it may not be correct.

The transducer acts like a pair of ears, it will not be able to put out the power the transducer is capable of, but, the larger "ears" will be better able to "hear" what comes back. This is where the better performance comes from.

There is a big price difference between 1kw and then 2kw, but if you already have one, why not. Does the 2kw operate on the same frequency as your sounder?

[scottar]

Sort of correct to a point Bremic. There are other forces at play as well. In laymans terms the transducer is two things - the first is a speaker when it turns the electrical pulse into an actual noise (put your ear up to a transducer and you will hear it clicking when the sounder is running). This is the potential fly in the ointment with running a larger transducer on lower output sounders. If the output is too low for the transducer, it won't perform properly - much the same as trying to run a stadium speaker off a walkman. There are also potential impedance mismatches as well (this is why on the larger commercial grade sets they have impedance matching taps that need to be set correctly. An impedance mismatch will mean that the signal is being degraded / reduced.

The second function is as you say is "like a pair of ears" - "hearing" the signal and returning it to a electrical signal that the electronics can then process. As transducers get larger they do tend to have a larger element or a network of smaller elements that do provide more sensitivity.

What model transducer do you actually have Odes ?

Unfortunately no one may actually be able to give you a specific answer unless they have actually hooked one up and tried it.

[odes20]

I have the standard airmar P 66 . I spoke to a Furuno Tech from Taylor Marine, and he said yes, it will work ok, but only by putting it thru a Matching Box, which is a unit that sorts out its impedence etc.

Most threads im reading show that single frequency transducers eg 50 or 200 in 1 or 2' kw have to run thru a Matching Box

The furuno 50/200 khz 1kw trannys have inbuilt diplexers and come with a 10 pin plug, ready to fit my unit. The following post below which I pasted in is a good read, which gave me the info to confirm the improved performance of the higher wattage trannyies. This is also confirmed on the Furuno Website

"""not 100% true Honsu, trannsdcuers are like speakers, the advantage of a more powerfull tranducer running on a lower rated power is a it picks up more return single. If you go the 2kw tranny, then you going to need two transducers, ( as no multi 50~200 2kw units exist)and you going to need separate 50khz and a 200khz tranducer, and as the 585 has to run through a matching box then MB1100, so thats going to cost you big dollars,The main advantage of running a bigger tranny is the size of the reciever transmitter in the unit, the bigger the ears, the more it hears...simple. I have seen a FCV620 runnig through a matching box with a 2kw 200khz tranny and a 1kw 50khz tranny give absolute commercial quality results.
But I'd go for a commericial tranny in the 1kw ( 50/200khz combo) range rather than the standard off the shelf rec fishing transom mount if you want for detail.
my choice would be a CA50/200-1T ( rubber or bronze) with a matching box.
http://www.furunousa.com/Products/Pr...%20Transducers
read the Furuno help guide to sounder set up and transducer selection. If you can't find it on the Furuno site, pm me your email address and I'll e-mail a copy to you, a bit big to upload here. or call the guys at Taylor Marine, the Furuno agents and they will e-mail it to you for free as well.
ps I went the FCV 295 route, using a 2kw 200khz and a 1kw 50khz tranny set up, ( only reason I did not go the 3kw 38khz is the COST!!!)

[Dogtoooth]

Let us know how you go odes20 with your transducer decision. I went down the same path with transducers for my 587 and I settled with a thru hull tilted 20' degree 600w. I've never lost bottom at any speed, vital for finding new spots. What really made my decision was how wide and long is your CONE angle your transducer is reading, for example the 1kw TM260 angle is purely meant for deep water 150m +. So the area your transducer is when chasing reds and LMN is only about 4 metres wide on 200kHz in about 60 metres, not wide enough for me. That made my decision for me to go with the thru hull 600w which the angle in 60 metres is about 6-7 metres wide. Before you get your transducer check how much coverage your 2KW transducer is reading on the bottom when you are fishing in 50-80 metres.

[scottar]

Whether the matching box is required for a single frequency installation purely depends on the impedance - unless you want to run singles to cover both frequencies in which case the MB-1100 ( or whatever model it is now) not only matches impedance but also allows a 5 wire (two pairs plus shields) transducer set up to be connected into a 3 wire sounder that is primarily designed to be used with a dual resonant transducer (one element does both frequencies). The Furuno literature doesn't list the 620/627 as a compatible range for the 2 kilowatt transducers but there are a couple of posts elsewhere that are saying it works ok. At 2 kilowatt I don't think you will run into the issue I described above with transducer size but if it was a 3 or a 5 it may be a consideration. Ultimately though with mix and match stuff like this you never know until you try it. In my career I came across a couple of equipment mismatches like this that were hooked up purely due to having a particular transducer off an old unit in a hull that worked far better for particular fisheries than the "standard" transducers ever would have.

[ShaneC]

I always thought (remember I am an absolute gimp when it comes to all things electronical) that the output of the sounder would determine the efficiency of a tranny. What I mean is that if you put a 1kw tranny on a 600 watt unit you would only use 600 watts of that transducers potential.

I had an issue with a tranny a while back where the XID function (the gizmo that tells the sounder what tranny is running) was faulty from Airmar. My 3kw tranny was telling my head unit that it was a cm260 instead of a cm599. So the unit only punched out enough output for a 1 kw tranny and thus the results were a little disappointing on my end. Once I got the tranny reprogrammed, the unit then punched out 3kw of power then the tranny ran to its potential with much better results.

So long story short, I always thunken that if you put anything more than a 600 watt tranny on a 600 watt unit anything over and above that power output was wasted. I have been wrong before but it was a long time ago. I would be very interested to see your results.

[scottar]

I always thought (remember I am an absolute gimp when it comes to all things electronical) that the output of the sounder would determine the efficiency of a tranny. What I mean is that if you put a 1kw tranny on a 600 watt unit you would only use 600 watts of that transducers potential.

I had an issue with a tranny a while back where the XID function (the gizmo that tells the sounder what tranny is running) was faulty from Airmar. My 3kw tranny was telling my head unit that it was a cm260 instead of a cm599. So the unit only punched out enough output for a 1 kw tranny and thus the results were a little disappointing on my end. Once I got the tranny reprogrammed, the unit then punched out 3kw of power then the tranny ran to its potential with much better results.

So long story short, I always thunken that if you put anything more than a 600 watt tranny on a 600 watt unit anything over and above that power output was wasted. I have been wrong before but it was a long time ago. I would be very interested to see your results.

What you are thinking is correct Shane but there are performance gains to be had as well by using a transducer that has a more sensitive element when it comes to the receiving side of the equation provided the issues with the transmission side (impedance mismatches and possibility of too larger element to drive properly) can be sorted (if they exist). The standard 600 watt transducers are a lot less sensitive than the bigger ones


Take a look at the comparison table

http://www.airmartechnology.com/uplo...hures/b260.pdf

[odes20]

And I hardly think Furuno would advise of improved performance for 600 watt units using 1 kW trannies if in fact it wasn't true. Read their info on Transducers , it's a good read. Thx for all the great info guys.