If you have one of the paddle wheel speed transducers like the one shown above then you will know how easily they can get clogged up with weed. Made by Airmar who supply transducers to Raymarine, B and G, Lowrance and just about all the other manufacturers of marine electronics these transducers are very common. They work fine after the annual haul out and service but even the smallest little critter or section of weed can effect the reading or stop the paddle wheel from going around at all. Considering that the log is one of the most useful and essential bits of navigational kit aboard it is frustrating to say the least when it packs up working.
Now thankfully there is an answer and that is to install the replacement Airmar CS4500 sensor which as I understand it is a direct replacement for the removable center section of the existing transducer. This means that the old paddle wheel can be removed and the CS4500 slipped in it's place and once wired up will mean that you or I will be back in action in a jiffy. Because Airmar transducers are made to be serviced from the inside of the boat even when afloat then the paddle wheel can be swapped out for the new unit even while the boat is in the water thus saving the expense of a haul out.
Unlike the paddle wheel log the new unit has no moving parts and measures the speed of particles in the water moving past the transducer face. It does this twice every second so an instantaneous readout is virtually guaranteed.
Best of all the new transducer has nothing to hang up on any weeds and so it looks like I might be able to go a whole season without having to clean off the paddle wheel every time I go out on the boat.
For full details on the CS4500 you can click Download CS4500 to view a PDF.
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