Installation
SeaKing & SeaPrince Imaging Sonars
0374-SOM-00001, Issue: 08
10
© Tritech International Ltd.
3.3. Installing the Sonar Head
Caution
Although the sonar heads are rugged, they should be handled with care,
particularly the connector and transducer.
The heads should be secured by clamping on the cylindrical body section such that the
transducer is unimpeded and not shielded. A guard can be fitted over the head to protect
from impact damage but this must not overlap the transducer area or it may have an effect
on the sonar image.
Caution
It is important that no clamping force is applied to the boot.
The clamp should be applied centrally to the aluminium body tube and should not be over-
tightened. Any metallic clamps should be electrically insulated from the sonar body by means
of rubber or plastic strips or mount brackets of at least 3mm thickness and extending at
least 3mm beyond the clamp boundary to reduce any galvanic corrosion effect. Non-metallic
clamps are preferable: if metallic clamps are used they should be painted or lacquered with
at least two or three coatings.
Caution
Avoid any metal alloys containing copper such as brass or bronze.
Care should be taken to mount sonar heads to ensure that they are mounted as close to
the true vertical as possible in relation to the trim position of the vehicle. The front filling plug
and red LED should be aligned with the natural direction of travel of the vehicle. Errors in the
head alignment can give rise to unreliable results.
3.3.1. SeaKing Communication Configuration
Caution
The power should be turned off before making a connection between the sonar
head and surface controller (SCU or SeaHub).
The Sonar head may form part of an ARCNET multi-drop, network of sensors that are
normally interfaced to the Surface Unit through the internal AIF interface PCB (installed in
the SCU) or external SeaHub serial interface module.
Normal communications with the Sonar head is via a customised version of the ARCNET
network system and requires a good quality balanced twisted pair cable. It is possible to
interface the ARCNET to wide band multiplexer systems - contact
Tritech International Ltd
for details.
Note
For an ARCNET connection termination resistors need to be fitted at each end
of the umbilical. Refer to Appendix C,
The Seanet SCU and SeaKing heads cannot be used with RS232 or RS485 AIF Cards
as used in earlier WINSON based SCU-3 systems. They must be used with SeaKing AIF
