What is this connector and bracket? Fishfinder/GPS/etc.?

[searay250]

This connector and mounting bracket are on my boat from some previous owner. I assume they go to some kind of chart system, fishfinder, etc. but I'm not sure. The wires go below deck but I can't really trace them easily, there is no transducer on my transom but I'm not sure if there's like some kind of transducer or equipment below deck or not. These are off of a late 90's searay sundancer 250, but I'm not sure if these are stock or if they're some later addition.





Can anyone identify these connectors so I can figure out if I can find a compatible head unit for whatever these are on ebay or something?

Thanks so much!

 

[Mc Tool]

Looks like the whole harness for a fishfinder ,and the mounting bracket . I wouldn't be surprised if there was a transducer fixed to the inside of the hull.
Im picking the two biggest holes in that plug will be 12vdc . Stick a volt meter or test light in there and see if you cant find power , may have to look at/for an aux switch panel or fuse box .
Sometime scanning thru the fishfinder for sale pages can provide a pic of your plug and thus identification of at least the brand , it maybe common to a few of their models
Looks a bit like my old Humminbird

 

[Scott Danforth]

looks a lot like my old hummingbird.

not worth the effort to try to save them. get a new depth finder/sonar/etc and replace it.

 

[cyclops222]

Do not start doing a DIY job. Unless you absolutely and completely know, you will not create a problem, that no marine mechanic will want to repair.
It is creating no problems ?

 

[searay250]

looks a lot like my old hummingbird.

not worth the effort to try to save them. get a new depth finder/sonar/etc and replace it.

Thanks. Trying to confirm brand/model, can I ask what model fishfinder you have that has a plug that looks like this? Appreciate it!

 

[Mc Tool]

I dont have the humminbird any more.
If you get lucky and id or find the correct head unit you have the (possible ) bonus of it being plug and play , but your then stuck with what I suspect is fairly dated technology ....inc the transducer if there is one . If you go new you will have to install from scratch ,might not be a big deal ....Ive done a few over the years .

 

[dingbat]

Thanks. Trying to confirm brand/model, can I ask what model fishfinder you have that has a plug that looks like this?

No way to identify the unit just from the “style” of the connector. You would need the pin-outs to have even a remote chance.

Even if you could even identify the unit, there is no way to determine if the transducer is operational without buying a finding and buying a unit to test.

Do yourself a favor, cut your losses and move on to buying and installing a new unit

 

[searay250]

Thanks--just to be clear, I've already installed a new system (not a great system! Striker 4, but it does the job) so I'm not trying to use this as my primary fishfinder.

That said, I love old tech (bit of a tinkerer, or maybe a hoarder) and I would love to figure out of this current system works. I understand that most people would toss it out, but this is exactly the kind of old gear that I would rig up to my nephew's little jon boat or something so he can at least have a depth gauge rather than throwing it away!

So here's my thought process: the cables go deep into the helm and get tangled up with a ton of other cables. I have no idea if there's a transducer buried somewhere in my hull or not. For me, the time it would take to trace the wires, get down into the hull, figure out what's what, etc. is not worth it if this system doesn't work. I would much rather spend the, what, $100 on a head unit and plug it in and see if it works. If it does, great! It's probably worth my time to dig the system out and then I can do something useful with it. If not, I'm really, really glad I didn't spend all this time tracing down wires for a nonfunctional system. And oh well, I bought a head unit that now I need to resell on ebay.

So, I really do have a specific goal and thought process, and while I appreciate the advice that I should just replace it, that's good advice for most people but does not apply to my situation. I already have a newer system, I am specifically wanting to track down the unit that works with this cable and test this specific old system. I might cost myself some money to rescue an old system, but I'm okay with that

I get how it would be hard to do this without knowing the exact pinouts, etc. But, I figured I would post this here on the off chance someone has this same system and can say "oh! That looks just like my [whatever], same pin pattern and connector" and then for me it's worth the money to get an old one and plug it in. But if not, all good!

Thanks all!

 

[Mc Tool]

Thanks--just to be clear, I've already installed a new system (not a great system! Striker 4, but it does the job) so I'm not trying to use this as my primary fishfinder.

That said, I love old tech (bit of a tinkerer, or maybe a hoarder) and I would love to figure out of this current system works. I understand that most people would toss it out, but this is exactly the kind of old gear that I would rig up to my nephew's little jon boat or something so he can at least have a depth gauge rather than throwing it away!

So here's my thought process: the cables go deep into the helm and get tangled up with a ton of other cables. I have no idea if there's a transducer buried somewhere in my hull or not. For me, the time it would take to trace the wires, get down into the hull, figure out what's what, etc. is not worth it if this system doesn't work. I would much rather spend the, what, $100 on a head unit and plug it in and see if it works. If it does, great! It's probably worth my time to dig the system out and then I can do something useful with it. If not, I'm really, really glad I didn't spend all this time tracing down wires for a nonfunctional system. And oh well, I bought a head unit that now I need to resell on ebay.

So, I really do have a specific goal and thought process, and while I appreciate the advice that I should just replace it, that's good advice for most people but does not apply to my situation. I already have a newer system, I am specifically wanting to track down the unit that works with this cable and test this specific old system. I might cost myself some money to rescue an old system, but I'm okay with that

I get how it would be hard to do this without knowing the exact pinouts, etc. But, I figured I would post this here on the off chance someone has this same system and can say "oh! That looks just like my [whatever], same pin pattern and connector" and then for me it's worth the money to get an old one and plug it in. But if not, all good!

Thanks all!

Totally get it . I have lots of old stuff and ( looking at my row of Tilley and coal miners lamps ) if I can polish them up they look great ......but if I can get them working too, well .....icing on the cake.
Huh takes a few minutes to crank up a Tilley lamp and I can see my immediate surroundings ,where as my Sofirn led torch fits in my palm and instantly lights up the row of trees 3-400 yards away ......and goes all night on a usb charge ....and cost less than the resto of the Tilley .
Im lookin at the Striker4 for my Flounder plunderer sib, I be keen to hear what you think of it .

 

[dingbat]

Thanks--just to be clear, I've already installed a new system (not a great system! Striker 4, but it does the job) so I'm not trying to use this as my primary fishfinder.

That said, I love old tech (bit of a tinkerer, or maybe a hoarder) and I would love to figure out of this current system works. I understand that most people would toss it out, but this is exactly the kind of old gear that I would rig up to my nephew's little jon boat or something so he can at least have a depth gauge rather than throwing it away!

So here's my thought process: the cables go deep into the helm and get tangled up with a ton of other cables. I have no idea if there's a transducer buried somewhere in my hull or not. For me, the time it would take to trace the wires, get down into the hull, figure out what's what, etc. is not worth it if this system doesn't work. I would much rather spend the, what, $100 on a head unit and plug it in and see if it works. If it does, great! It's probably worth my time to dig the system out and then I can do something useful with it. If not, I'm really, really glad I didn't spend all this time tracing down wires for a nonfunctional system. And oh well, I bought a head unit that now I need to resell on ebay.

So, I really do have a specific goal and thought process, and while I appreciate the advice that I should just replace it, that's good advice for most people but does not apply to my situation. I already have a newer system, I am specifically wanting to track down the unit that works with this cable and test this specific old system. I might cost myself some money to rescue an old system, but I'm okay with that

I get how it would be hard to do this without knowing the exact pinouts, etc. But, I figured I would post this here on the off chance someone has this same system and can say "oh! That looks just like my [whatever], same pin pattern and connector" and then for me it's worth the money to get an old one and plug it in. But if not, all good!

Thanks all!

Well, here is your cable…..it’s a Lowrance power only cable.

Now you need is a transducer. Guessing it was removed with the unit since you can’t find one

Compatible with Lowrance HDS, Elite Ti, Elite, and Hook displays

Lowrance Power Cable | Tackle Warehouse

www.tacklewarehouse.com

 

[Mc Tool]

I have a 3 year old Lowrance Hook Reveal 9 ts and that aint the plug for it

 

[searay250]

Well, here is your cable…..it’s a Lowrance power only cable.

Now you need is a transducer. Guessing it was removed with the unit since you can’t find one

Compatible with Lowrance HDS, Elite Ti, Elite, and Hook displays

Lowrance Power Cable | Tackle Warehouse

www.tacklewarehouse.com

Oh! Yes, this is it. Thanks so much for this, it was the spark I needed to track down a ton of models. Unfortunately, they are those awkward mid-tier models that are better than my Striker but would probably cost too much in time and extra gear to upgrade, and are overkill for my nephew's boat, so... I suspect this plug will just sit unused for a long time, ha! But, really appreciate the info, it honestly was the insight needed to crack this thing wide open.

 

[searay250]

Totally get it . I have lots of old stuff and ( looking at my row of Tilley and coal miners lamps ) if I can polish them up they look great ......but if I can get them working too, well .....icing on the cake.
Huh takes a few minutes to crank up a Tilley lamp and I can see my immediate surroundings ,where as my Sofirn led torch fits in my palm and instantly lights up the row of trees 3-400 yards away ......and goes all night on a usb charge ....and cost less than the resto of the Tilley .
Im lookin at the Striker4 for my Flounder plunderer sib, I be keen to hear what you think of it .

Haha nice! Yeah, you get it glad to meet another "if it aint broke, don't fix it... and even if it's broke, don't throw it away" person.

The striker is pretty new on this boat but luckily I had it on my other boat for many years so I can offer some insight! Just take it with a grain of salt... I'm just one perspective, all that.

Here's the thing about the striker: It's a pretty bare-bones unit, and it's not in the same league as the newer sidescan/fancy transducer units. The picture is grainy and the bottom detection is somewhat unreliable. But... and remember that my sample size is small... it's the best unit I have found for the price, given what I want it to do. I mostly fish in the ocean, and I really only need maybe four features: In no particular order: 1) depth reading; 2) reasonably close bottom imaging; 3) waypoint marking; and 4) "is there something moving somewhere in between my boat and the bottom" capabilities.

For these, it's great for me. It's quite accurate on the depth (I fish up to 300-500 feet sometimes, although it's not nearly as good past maybe 300 feet), it marks waypoints.... Like I said, the bottom detection is not perfect, but I am mostly looking for more "am I over sand or reef" readings and it's good there. It's not the best for getting a very clear picture of structure. And it's able to sense schools of fish midwater, and can usually sense a single fish (but, I think, sometimes misses some). I've seen some of the newer like sidescan finders and it's NOWHERE in that league. I would consider it "pretty accurate" so for someone like me who is mostly looking for macro information, it's cheap and great.

The big issue is the screen. The screen is TINY. I first bought it for my kayak, and it was great for that. Then, when I bought a slightly bigger boat, I bough another one because it came up for cheap on craigslist and I already knew how to use it. It was a little small but it was totally fine. As I've upgraded boats, I've just moved it from boat to boat and it's now too small to actually be comfortable to use. Like split screen is a joke on that screen. I keep it around because I'm used to it and I'm worried about re-learning a new fancy one. If I were giving someone else advice, I'd say that if your boat is smaller than about 14 feet, this is a GREAT finder for the price and I would recommend it. But for bigger boats, where the screen won't always be 10 inches from your face, I think it's too small. So if I were giving someone with a larger boat advice and they didn't have a weird codependent relationship with this specific fish finder like I do.... especially if they wanted precise accuracy around fish and structure.... I'd recommend something bigger and with newer scanning tech (sidescan, etc.). I feel like striker 4s are probably still in the $100 range used or even under, and I bet that a few extra hundred bucks for a bigger screen and better transducer would be well worth it. But like I said, for smaller boats and especially kayaks, this would be my go-to recommendation! Or for someone with a larger boat who really only needs big-picture information or will be very close to the head most of the time, it's good! But very hard to recommed to someone who might walk around or who wants more accurate readings. I bet the accuracy different between like a $100 striker and a $300 unit is significant, probably worth $200 and probably significantly more than the $200 jump of going from a $300 unit to a $500 unit in terms of exponential differences in quality.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[dingbat]

I bet the accuracy different between like a $100 striker and a $300 unit is significant, probably worth $200 and probably significantly more than the $200 jump of going from a $300 unit to a $500 unit

There is no difference in the “accuracy” between a $150 unit and a $4,000 unit. Your Striker will give the same depth as either one of my high end units.

The difference is the sensitivity, and it’s a combination of the quality of the transducer, the signal processing and the resolution of the Display that ultimately makes the difference. A good transducer cost more than the Display

 

[searay250]

There is no difference in the “accuracy” between a $150 unit and a $4,000 unit. Your Striker will give the same depth as either one of my high end units.

The difference is the sensitivity, and it’s a combination of the quality of the transducer, the signal processing and the resolution of the Display that ultimately makes the difference. A good transducer cost more than the Display

Happy to be corrected on my wording here. This is a better description than what I said ^

 

[Mc Tool]

I think that you can prove accuracy on most stuff by checking consistency . Check the same thing a few times and see if you get the same reading ,if you get good consistency it reasonably safe to assume the thing is telling the truth depth or distance wise (I just done this with my new rangefinder )

 

[dingbat]

I think that you can prove accuracy on most stuff by checking consistency . Check the same thing a few times and see if you get the same reading ,if you get good consistency it reasonably safe to assume the thing is telling the truth depth or distance wise

Spent my entire career manufacturing, designing and supporting industrial measurement instrumentation.

Have this conversation with customers almost on a daily basis with the wide scale implementation of ISO/IEC 17025 Quality System related to measurements.

Your confusing accuracy with precision…Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value.

Precision (repeatability) refers to how close measurements of the same item are to each other.

 

[Mc Tool]

Spent my entire career manufacturing, designing and supporting industrial measurement instrumentation.

Have this conversation with customers almost on a daily basis with the wide scale implementation of ISO/IEC 17025 Quality System related to measurements.

Your confusing accuracy with precision…Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value.

Precision (repeatability) refers to how close measurements of the same item are to each other.

Yeah but. If I measure the same thing with the same gauge and get a different reading each time not only do I not have precision but accuracy must also be bad . If I get the same wrong reading each time its precise but inaccurate?
My range finder only displays yards or metres with no smaller units ,depth on FF displays feet also, so I guess as long as any error is smaller than the smallest unit of measurement you could say it was "usefully" accurate or precise .