vex ducer

[Kemo Sabe]

Has anybody spliced their vexilar transducer cord, my cat chewed it up and I'm wondering if it's possible to repair it.

[BobT]

If you try it can't get any worse.

I suspect that a homemade splice may cause some degradation in the quality of the signal but maybe not. I know that when we splice thermocouples we have to take particular care to avoid issues and I'm thinking that a transducer signal may be very sensitive to changes in resistance and such in a similar manner?

Bob

[Crusty old Swede]

If you know how to solder, putting your cable back together is simple. The only thing that is real important is to make sure your repair is waterproof when you're done.

[hydro]

It's really very easy to fix and the cable/signal is not all that sensitive. Here are some tricks to help you out:

1. The little crimp collars sold at sporting goods stores for making leaders work well to butt splice wires. Just stick the wires into each end of the splice and crimp it down. You can solder afterward for good measure. Use electrical tape to insulate the spliced wires.

2. If the cable has a shield (foil or braid) around the wires, be sure to replace it before covering up the repair. Aluminum foil works well for this. Make sure it contacts the old shield on both sides of the repair.

3. To make a watertight splice, buy some shrink tube at the home store, and be sure to slide it onto the cable BEFORE doing the splice (experience here!). Before shrinking it into place, put hot melt glue on both sides of the repair. The heat shrink process will melt the glue in place and make a waterproof seal.