Twin sounders

[Chrissooo]

Gday,

Is it possible to run twin sounders off the one (in my case two) transducers. I am planning on getting a HDS7 touch as my main unit. Is it possible/worthwhile to rig a 5 into the same tranduces mounted on th bow?

Cgeers

[dunk]

hi,

If they can connecect via ethernet, then yes. I have a HDS7 touch with the tranducers connected (50/200 & sidescan), and an HDS 7 connected via an ethernet cable (Yellow Plug I think). On both units, I select the source to be the touch unit. I think one can now also share navigation data between devices as well (maps off a navionics SD card, not just routes and waypoints etc).

If you are only using two units, then only the cable is required (can't remember pricing).

Duncan

[youngy]

I think the cost is only around 30 or 40 dollars, i ordered one for a mate.

In fact i think they sent 2 so we have a spare if it hasn't been sold already, if you live near the Gold Coast, cheers wayne

[Chrissooo]

Cheers Fellas

[freedomhawk12]

the problem with Ethernet, is the second unit becomes a slave unit, therefore has to keep reconfiguring between screens.

best option is to get a wireless module, then u can utilise a ipad as a second screen or iphone.

or the hds unit you put as a second unit can run on wireless then they can utilise the same transducer and don't need to keep reconfiguring between screens.

[dunk]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by re-configuring. The only time I notice which unit the transducer is connected to, is if I turn off the touch unit (the Master in your parlance) while using the slave. Obviously the sonar then cuts out. Turn the Master back on and all returns.

My impression is that the "master unit" just re-broadcasts the sonar data onto the ethernet as it receives it from the transducer. On the slave unit, all I did was specify the source for the sonar data (the touch unit). This is done once, from a setup screen, then one just forgets about it.

Wireless is still ethernet (TCP/IP), just without wires :-)

The main benefit I saw with the wireless, was tablet/phone access (and perhaps laptop/PC (not sure on that)), or if one had a huge boat (although I would still prefer wires).

I considered a phone/tablet as a second screen. There are a couple of problems with this. First is the difficulty in reading the screen in direct sunlight (alas my boat doesn't have a cabin). Second, my understanding is that the tablet mirrors what is on the main unit. So one can't have different displays on different screens. For some this may be fine (i.e. a second display at the front of the boat). It is certainly a cheaper option. Be aware that batteries don't last that long on tablets (and especially on phones), if the screen and wireless are constantly on. One then has the problem of powering the device without exposing it to the salt air/spray (again a cabin would help).

BTW Navionics has a good version of their navigation software/cards as an app. If it wasn't for the salt/screen/battery life, a tablet could easily replace a chart plotter. Its a good backup though.

Duncan