Airmar SB264 Switchbox

Airmar has now made it possible for saltwater fishermen to “widen up” the high-frequency 200kHz performance for most of today’s popular fishfinders. The new SB264 switchbox lets you wire your existing 1kW Airmar transducer and a new SS264W, Wide-Beam, 200 kHz transducer for wide and narrow-beam selection at your fingertips. The SB264 works with most of Airmar’s popular 1kW transducers including the B260, M260, B258, and B256. Installers can leave in any of these installed models and mount an additional SS264W 200 kHz Tilted Element transducer, then wire both into the SB264.

This switchbox can also be used to switch between a narrow-beam 200kHz transducer such as the SS264N and a wide beam 200kHz transducer such as the SS264W.

The waterproof panel-mount switch is easily installed and takes minimal space. This lets the operator toggle between 200 kHz wide (25°) or narrow-beam (6°) fish finding, together with the 50kHz low-frequency operation. Traditionally at 200 kHz, most transducers provide a narrow focused beam in which fish swimming near the boat can go un-marked because they are not in the transducer beam. At 50 kHz, the beam is wider, thus marking more fish, but resolution and detail are not as crisp. Tightly spaced fish tend to appear on the fishfinder screen as one large target or “blob”. The SS264W 200 kHz wide-beam transducer provides the coverage and resolution needed so that fishermen do not miss any fish or bait lurking close to the boat. Additionally with the wide-beam, tightly spaced fish appear on the fishfinder screen more as individual targets and as arches.

Wide-beam 200 kHz operation is great when trolling or searching for fish in the mid to upper portion of the water column. This makes it ideal for tuna and marlin fishing. Switching to a more traditional, narrow-beam, 200 kHz operation works best when bottom fishing for cod or grouper in waters up to 400 feet, providing optimal bottom detail and separation between the bottom and tightly-spaced fish targets. A narrow and wide beam 200 kHz combination on the boat caters to the versatile fisherman who may be bottom fishing with a narrow-beam in the morning and tuna or marlin fishing with the SS264W 200 kHz wide-beam by afternoon.

Product Features

• Switchbox dimensions : 6.25"H x 6.25"W x 3.5"D
• Two-way toggle switch with waterproof rubber boot included
• 6M power supply cable included
• 6M cable to connect remote switch included
• Power supply 10-32V DC

Installation Notes

• The switchbox should be mounted in dry location about 3'-5' from the sounder
• The two-way toggle switch mounts in a 1/2" hole on a convenient panel with a maximum thickness of 1/4" and a rear clearance of 1 1/2". The included adhesive label for this switch measures 2.5" x 1" and sticks onto the surface around the switch
• You will need to cut the transducer cables and connect the bare ends into a terminal block within the switchbox - choose a location where there is an extra loop of at least 24" length in the transducer cables to facilitate these connections inside the switchbox, and where both transducer cables run side-by-side
• Raymarine transducer cables need extra parts for installation and those parts are included in a labelled bag