Can having fish finder on out of water ruin the transducer?

[RoldGold]

I'm noticing silence in the basement, so I figure I better go check things out. I see my 3 year old sitting in from of my fish finder, watching all of the pretty colors on the screen. It couldn't have been on for more than two minutes, but my understanding is that this is not a good thing. Just wondering if anyone knows if/how much damage this can do to the transducer. If so, how can you tell it's damaged. Lesson learned!

Thanks!

[pathogen]

I believe no damage whatsoever. If the transducer was being banged around, that is a different story.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I too think you will be fine.. I have accidently left my boat depthfinder on over night and have seen no ill effects..

[PerchJerker]

I agree, you will not hurt them by running them out of the water.

[Jim Uran]

Nope you will be just fine!

[Tom7227]

Might not have done the kid any good if it was pointed the wrong way.

Just kidding.

[dan z]

shouldnt have any issues, done it many many times, heck I've done it on purpose to check how accurate the readings are. this is for a flasher.

have done it on the open water model too, no effects I notice

[leech~~]

If it does. NEVER buy a Demo unit out of a sporting goods store!

They run day and night!

I don't think that it does anything to them.

[jbird68]

Shouldn't hurt anything. But the reading you see while out of water are not the same when it is in water. The sonar signal bounces back faster in water that it does in air(I think I have that right). When I point my transducer at the wall to test it, it reads about 10 foot when I am actually about 3 feet away.

[mr.z 1972]

The unit is not water cooled. There is no difference to the flasher where it works at.

In the air the signal travels faster than in water. The water is more resitant to sound then air. The reading will show deeper in air because the timing to depth ratio is set up for water use.

[RoldGold]

Sounds like I'll have to let him sleep in the house tonight:). Thanks for the input everyone! I'm glad he's showing some interest in fishing!

[LightningBG]

In the air the signal travels faster than in water. The water is more resitant to sound then air. The reading will show deeper in air because the timing to depth ratio is set up for water use.

Opposite actually:

In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is 343.2 metres per second (1,126 ft/s).

Sound travels faster in liquids and non-porous solids than it does in air. It travels about 4.3 times faster in water (1,484 m/s),

The formula inputs are the density and compressibility. Water is much denser which would slow it down, but since it is nearly incompressible, it is much fast in water than in air.