UPDATE! HELP!!! Any ideas on a FF repair? UPDATE!

[Cbad Mike]

My Eagle Cuda 350 shut off while I was on the water yesterday. Today I figured out why..... one of the pins on the unit broke off.
ANY IDEAS ON A FIX????????
I don't have the funds to go buy a new unit and want to exhaust all other options before even considering it.

Thanks,
Mike

UPDATE......

First off, Thanks to everyone for their advice and a BIG thanks to Wade for his offer.
I was real close to trashing the unit but had to at least try to repair it first. I thought what the hell, its not like I can make it any worse, right?
I might not have done it the absolute best way but I hope that what I did do helps someone else who finds themselves with the same problem.

First thing I did was take the unit apart and drill out a new hole right on top of where the broken pin was. I used a small drill bit and drilled through to the other side being careful not to hit any other wires.
I then took a piece of copper wire that I had laying around and cut a 4 inch piece. I put that piece in my drill and sanded it down to the diameter that it needed to be by using 400 grit sandpaper.
Using just the end of a connector, I connected the new pin to the existing wire.
Then very carefully making sure that I didn't get any on the existing pins, I dripped a couple of drops of fiberglass epoxy down into the female connection so that it started to drip out of the hole that I drilled.
I then inserted the new pin into the drilled hole from the inside. I did this to secure the new pin and to also make the female connection water tight.
After the epoxy cured I cut off the remaining copper wire and put the unit back together and plugged it in.


SO DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR BROKEN FISH FINDER JUST YET!!!!!

[alanw]

Dang dude send it in for repair, gotta be cheaper than a new unit. I don't think you can fix that yourself without opening it up and replacing the connector.

[jorluivil]

That sucks!

Hopefully, Eagle can fix it for cheap.

[bolocop]

Sorry man. Had the same thing happen with a humminbird ff. I used to leave the plug connected and also left the battery connected. Big no-no. Heard it was corrosion or some crap like that which will weaken metal.

Just bought another... Faster than trying repair. Possibly not that more expensive.

[RedSledTeam]

CBAD,
Well, if you really want to fix it, find a male and female connector, a short length of transducer cable, a drill, some adhesive, a good small soldering iron, and the most important ingredient is.... Find that Macgyver in you to come up with a fix. Also it helps to take a class in low resistance soldering. Or query BWE to find another head unit. If I have to tell you the rest, it's probably beyond your skill level. What model unit is it?

[ful-rac]

Well that sucks...i had the same thing happen when i had my eagle cuda as well. I think your due for a new unit...

Maybe start a, help buy cbadmike a new fishfinder fund thread....?

[Iceman]

I just had a customer come in with the same issue on a Cuda 350, I told him to throw it in the trash.......sorry to say.

[wade]

I got a 250 u can borrow till u get a good un'..

[jruiz]

You might have some hope with electrically conductive epoxy. They make epoxy doped with carbon or silver. Henkel who makes loctite now makes this product. I used it it for battery applications with good success.

[jruiz]

http://www.henkel.com/electrically-c...ives-27427.htm

[igotpron]

I think this is fixable. Isn't there another set of pins on the other side? I bet you could steal a pin from the other connector and replace the broken pin. You gotta have some decent solder skills but this should be repairable. Or find a new male female/male plug and just replace the plug combo all together.

[skrilla]

I wouldn't trash it over a broken pin. Hit up the manufacturer first to see if they could repair or replace the unit. If they say no then I'd try the repair. I'm guessing the 2 copper pins are power and ground. Maybe, depending on how comfortable you are working with soldering, you could rig up a separate connector for those 2 pins.

Were you using dieletric grease and disconnecting the cable after every session before it broke?

[dorado50]

I know nothing about everything, but I'll bet that if you use dielectric grease on your connections and disconnect the plugs only when necessary (I disconnect mine about once every four-five months) and disconnect the battery from unit after every use your sonar will last many, many years.

[William Novotny]

I had the same unit and I contacted eagle which is now lowrance. They said they will not service or repair Eagle products bit offered me the equivalent Lowrance unit which I believe was the mark 4 at their wholesale cost. I'm sure you would get the same offer.

[romspacenut]

Nice fix there Mike!

[Cbad Mike]

UPDATED

Thanks again everyone for your replies and advice.
BIG thanks to Wade for the offer!!!!

[alanw]

That's it, nice MacGyver

[skrilla]

Well there you go. Nice fix.

[h-james]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Nice !!!

[Iceman]

well done!