I Broke It!
by Brad Wiegmann
Save $$$ by repairing your broken sonar transducer cable.
If you haven’t broken one yet, you will sooner or later. Even though sonar transducer cables appear to be flexible and well fortified, in reality these cables can easily be pinched, pulled or cut, resulting in a broken transducer cable. Anglers have three options when this happens to the cable.
Sonar transducer cables are responsible for transporting information in the form of pings from your sonar transducer to the fishfinder. Without a properly functioning sonar transducer cable, the image could appear distorted or inaccurate. If the fishfinder is severely damaged, it will not receive any incoming signals from the transducer.
The number one reason sonar transducer cables get damaged is being pinched in the trolling motor bracket due to an improper transducer install. Another reason cables are broken is when being installed or pulled apart from the transducer to the sonar transducer cable.
Keep in mind that we aren’t just talking about your Lowrance, Humminbird or Garmin live imaging sonar transducer. It could be the traditional, side or down imaging sonar transducer cable running from your sonar transducer from the transom or even a puck installed in the hull of the boat.
One option to fixing a sonar transducer cable is to buy a new transducer to replace the old transducer. If your old transducer was having any issues or poor images, this is your best option. The new sonar transducer can be the same exact model, or an angler can upgrade by selecting one with additional sonar frequencies, allowing for other sonar views such as down imaging or CHIRP sonar.
Another option is to repair the damaged sonar transducer cable yourself. Replacing the transducer cable yourself will reduce the cost of repairing the damaged cable, but it does require a skill set many anglers don’t have. A quick search on YouTube shows several do-it-yourself videos on how to fix a broken sonar transducer cable and many with thousands of views. So, it’s obviously something anglers consider when repairing a sonar transducer cable.
If you don’t want to repair it yourself, another option is to send the transducer and broken sonar transducer cable to a repair company. Again, a Google search found several transducer repair companies capable of repairing any brand of sonar transducer cables. One that I recently contacted was Transducer Doctor. The owner Joey Cook had been repairing sonar transducer cables and doing electronic installs for 25 years.
Cook noted that it takes him around four days to repair then ship back to the owner a fixed sonar transducer cable. “I seal the repaired cable watertight, and it’s shielded to ensure the cable will be protected as good as new,” said Cook. In addition to fixing the sonar transducer cable, Cook also tests the repair before sending back to a customer.
The cost to fix a broken sonar transducer cable for most repair companies is around $225. That’s significantly less compared to purchasing a new sonar transducer.
(From Springdale, Arkansas, Brad Wiegmann is a professional photographer, videographer and outdoor writer published in dozens of print and electronic media outlets. Every month he provides CatfishNOW readers with the latest information on the ever-changing world of fishing electronics. He is also a well-known guide, podcaster and social media influencer. Learn more at BradWiegmann.com.)
