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

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!!!!!

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.

That sucks!

Hopefully, Eagle can fix it for cheap.

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.

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?

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....?

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Nice fix there Mike!

UPDATED

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

That's it, nice MacGyver

Well there you go. Nice fix.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Nice !!!

well done!:luxhello: