My Garmin Vivid Striker 7SV displays a transducer not connected error message. The cables are fine (no damage/cuts) and I'm leaning towards the connectors as the issue. I'm going to spray them with contact cleaner and have ordered a new Y cable (just to be safe).  If it matters, it's installed on my kayak. Oddly, after 5 or 6 hours on the water the transducer will connect and all will be good. The unit is about a year and a half old and has worked flawlessly until now. This issue has occurred in the last 2 trips on the water. Any ideas?

If you disconnect/reconnect often, the Molex sockets in the plug can open up a little...giving an intermittent connection. Saw this a lot in electronic controls of machines I built when I worked in manufacturing.

Thanks! Maybe the new cable will resolve the issue. I remove the FF every trip, so it's a once a week connect/ disconnect cycle.

I'm on my 4th transducer (about one per year) on my Striker 5cv (GT-20 transducer). Mine is trolling motor mounted, so it is in a more vulnerable spot. I tried a different way of dealing with the spot where the shaft swivels, which has been the spot where they eventually give up. You won't always see obvious signs of damage, but when it goes to the error state, I can wiggle the wire around in that area, and find right where it has failed.

Is it possible once the trouble area is located to remove that section of cable and splice the wires back together? The transducer (GT52HW-TM) for the Striker Vivid 7SV costs about $250 and that's a big ouch.

 

My 9SV is doing the same thing, pretty sure the universe is telling me to upgrade graphs, and throw in a black box and LVS 34 for good measure 😂

46 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

and throw in a black box and LVS 34 for good measure 

 

Don't do it.  Must resist the dark side.

 

 

23 hours ago, Big Hands said:

I'm on my 4th transducer (about one per year) on my Striker 5cv (GT-20 transducer). Mine is trolling motor mounted, so it is in a more vulnerable spot. I tried a different way of dealing with the spot where the shaft swivels, which has been the spot where they eventually give up. You won't always see obvious signs of damage, but when it goes to the error state, I can wiggle the wire around in that area, and find right where it has failed.

I never considered that the pivot point (I'm using a RAM Mount transducer arm) and I might not have allowed enough slack with the cable. I'll have to investigate this further. I did a search and it looks like the cable can be spliced together to repair a damaged section. It'll be a time consuming repair  but doesn't look too difficult. A heat gun w/reflector nozzle, solder seal connectors and marine grade shrink tubing plus some basic hand tools should be all that is needed. It sure beats having to purchase another transducer.

 

I am having the exact same issue with my Striker Plus 7sv. I got that message the last 3 times I was out. I checked my connections multiple times but that didn't fix it. The strange thing is after a few hours on the water it suddenly starts working again and stays on for the rest of the day with no issues. Baffling.

18 hours ago, kayakamania said:

I am having the exact same issue with my Striker Plus 7sv. I got that message the last 3 times I was out. I checked my connections multiple times but that didn't fix it. The strange thing is after a few hours on the water it suddenly starts working again and stays on for the rest of the day with no issues. Baffling.

Mine was doing the exact same thing. I'm not positive but I believe the issue is the cable connections at the back of the unit. Admittedly, it's a crappy system (connections). I've found that you really have to send those connections home abnormally hard. They shouldn't require so much force to make a solid connection. I used some dielectric grease and it seems to help make the connections.

 

I really like the unit. This issue is the only hiccup and a disappointment for a FF that brings so much to the table.

3 hours ago, Crow Horse said:

Mine was doing the exact same thing. I'm not positive but I believe the issue is the cable connections at the back of the unit. Admittedly, it's a crappy system (connections). I've found that you really have to send those connections home abnormally hard. They shouldn't require so much force to make a solid connection. I used some dielectric grease and it seems to help make the connections.

 

I really like the unit. This issue is the only hiccup and a disappointment for a FF that brings so much to the table.

I'll have to try the grease. I plug and unplug the cables multiple times pretty hard when it happens and it doesn't make a difference. The weird thing is when it suddenly starts working while I'm not doing anything to it. 

I also ordered WD-40 Specialist Contact Cleaner Spray. I'll try that as well. I like the unit as well so I hope I can resolve the issue. I got this to replace a Lowrance Hook4x that I had to do factory resets all the time on. The Garmin has worked great until this started happening.

You really have to push in the cables to the point of it feeling like it's too much force. So far, that has helped if not resolved the problem. I know I just jinxed myself by saying that.