# Trouble shooting wind instrument.



## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

I have a ST60 Raymarine wind instrument. The wind speed indicator suddenly stopped working, and the numbers were replaced by dashes. The wind direction indicator still works, as do the instrument lights. Very little info in documentation. Can I use a multi tester to determine if a signal is getting to the instrument. If so, how. Seems like the best place to start. Other trouble shooting methods?


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## SEMIJim (Jun 9, 2007)

As I understand it, there's a connector at the top, where the transducers plug into the cable? From what I've read, that's usually the problem.

You might try getting a DeoxIT and ProGold kit, treat following the instructions, and see if that doesn't clear it up. Sometimes those products work miracles.

Jim


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

this is why i replaced my ST60 gear...


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## SEMIJim (Jun 9, 2007)

sailingdog said:


> this is why i replaced my ST60 gear...


Yeah, I know. Thing is: When you have other ST60+ gear, like we do (depth, knotmeter), it's the only logical way to go. But I'll be honest: Tho I'd _like_ to have a wind instrument, I'm not pushing for it. I'm not pushing for it because: 1. I can't really justify spending even what the ST60+ wind instrument would cost and 2. Given the ST60's notoriously poor service record, I'm not inclined to push for even that.

So we'll live w/o it.

Raymarine's ST60+ wind instrument is a perfect example of what's wrong with American-made products these days: It's pretty obviously broken-by-design, and, just as obviously, Raymarine is disinclined to fix the design.

Jim


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## robfinora (Apr 25, 2001)

sounds like the motor in the wind-speed device at the masthead needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Can you get up there? Look online and you will find a shop that will rebuild the masthead unit motor. I had the same thing do down on my unit (I am drawing a blank on the brand) - I had an older unit and the manufacture went out of business. I was able to get it fixed online. It cost about $50.


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## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

AFTER going aloft and removing the instrument, I had the brainstorm to go to the Raymarine website (duh!!) . They have a pretty good system for troubleshooting. It includes a simple test to see if the the transducer is supplying power to the read out (and vise versa), which is what I was looking for. Sadly, the transducer is in my hand! I could actually rig something up to test it in the cockpit, but it would be a hassle. Oh well, off to the shop to get it repaired. From the responses in this thread it sounds like the odds are good it's the transducer, but if it's not, I'll feel pretty silly!


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## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

To follow through on this topic. Raymarine didn't find anything wrong with the transducer. I remounted it, and performed the test referred to earlier in the post. It indicated the instrument itself had a problem. Sent the instrument to Raymarine and FINALY got it back (after several months and three phone calls). They fixed it for a flat rate of $199. Just installed it and I'm still looking at dashes (same problem)! I'll update when I figure it out. I can safely say at this point though, expediency and communication in customer service is not Raymarine's strong point.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

I'd bet it is a wiring issue. Chances are pretty good that you've got a broken wire or corrosion between the masthead and the display. The most likely culprit is the deck fitting where you connect and disconnect the mast wiring when unstepping/stepping the mast. Have you tried connecting the masthead transducer directly to the instrument head.


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## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

*Grrrrrrr!*

Put a multimeter on the red connection of the instrument which supplies power to the masthead. Apparently, it should read 8 volts, it was reading around 2.93, same as when I first sent it to Raymarine! Only now, I don't have wind direction, which I did before!:hothead Sent them a e-mail yesterday, have yet to hear back. I can hear it now... "Well, send it back to us (In Massachusetts) an we'll be happy to take another look at it"! 
Then..... I can imagine my next call; Hello, VISA?...about that $200 charge from Raymarine..... 
I hope I'm wrong!


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## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

*Raymarine/Customer Service?*

Everything I've heard about Raymarine's customer service has turned out to be true. Their communication is terrible (often non existent!), and I've come to the conclusion they don't know how to fix their products. The funny thing is, the ST60 is a basic unit compared to what they are selling now! Anyway, I went round and round with them. They finally tried to blame the issue on the cable (of course, it was the only thing they hadn't worked on!). I was doubtful because the wind direction didn't work when I received the screen back from Raymarine (and it did when I sent it to them). I played along and went back up the mast and checked continuity on all 5 wires. All had continuity. Raymarine's answer was for me to send BOTH, the screen and mast head unit back to them (again)! I asked them if the wanted me to rip the cable out of the boat and send it as well so they could evaluate the whole package!:laugher I told them, forget about it, and to give me my $200 back! Until I replace the unit with one from another manufacture, I'll leave it in my console. I'll tell everybody who asks why it doesn't work about my experience with Raymarine's "Customer Service". In the meantime, when my rail starts going under water, I'll reef, and when the boat stops moving, I'll let out more sail and/or start the motor! But for now...I'm done with the instrument, and with Raymarine forever!


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## thekeip (Aug 8, 2007)

In the 6-7 yrs I've worked with RayMarine, i can't remember ever NOT getting connected to a competent tech on the 3rd or 4th ring.
I love their tech support..couldn't do without it.
Howard Keiper
Berkeley


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## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

OK Howard.... forget "Tech Support". When we thought the problem might be the cable, I called Raymarine to see if I could get a replacement. The automated system asked me if I wanted to leave a message or wait for a rep. After waiting about ten minutes for a rep, the automated system told me I had to leave a message , and that a rep would contact me within 24 hours. That was Wednesday of last week and I still have not heard from them. In THAT case, I was giving them a opportunity to sell me something, and they didn't respond. I take no joy in flaming Raymarine, I'm simply reporting my experience. I wish it had been different. I didn't spend all this time and money to still have an instrument on my boat that doesn't work. Nobody wants that thing to work more than me!


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## r.furborough (May 28, 2006)

Look for a joint/splice in the cable, particularly near the base of the mast, it may be a small white box or just crimped and taped joints. This is probably to assist in unstepping the mast but invariably due to the location it gets wet and can cause similar problems.


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## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

r.furborough said:


> Look for a joint/splice in the cable, particularly near the base of the mast, it may be a small white box or just crimped and taped joints. This is probably to assist in unstepping the mast but invariably due to the location it gets wet and can cause similar problems.


The cable is continuous from mast head to display. If it did have a problematic splice/junction, I wouldn't get continuity would I (I did)? The other problem with the theory is that the display lost wind direction when the screen came back from Raymarine repair (it was only lacking wind speed when I sent it). While stranger coincidences have occurred, I think it's more likely that Raymarine screwed something up, as they claim they did fix a problem (didn't specify what it was). It went to the shop with one problem, came back with two....Hmmmm


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## L124C (Oct 4, 2007)

Pulled the stick (for other reasons) and noticed the prongs on the head were far too short to connect with the female receptacle (didn't notice it when I was swinging 45 feet off the deck!). Apparently when I sent the head to Raymarine, they didn't put it back together properly and created another problem. Sent the instrument to them, they fixed it, but the system never worked right because of the bad connection. Gave up and found the problem 5 years later! Sent it to Raymarine, they fixed their screw up and the unit works fine.


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## BarryL (Aug 21, 2003)

Hey,

What a blast from the past! Thanks for following up.

Barry


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## Chris NZ (Jun 11, 2017)

Thanks for all this info. I will be doing some more debugging of my ST60 which has started doing the same - Dashes for wind speed but still has direction. This has recently started happening after 15 years of only a few problems. That said most of the buttons on the log, depth and wind are no longer working so I am migrating to a B&G system but was hoping to do the ST60's next year.

I just wanted to check if you manage to get the speed back as well as the direction?


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## FreeAgent (Apr 19, 2017)

I have similar but different problem with my Datamarine wind unit at present. Speed displays fine, but not direction. Direction does not move. But if I jiggle mast base connector, it may move to a new position. I did plug the masthead unit into the back of the head unit before stepping mast, and it 'seemed' to be working. 

I always use deoxit when hooking unit up, but still likely have connection problems. There are three plugs. Masthead, Base of mast and Head unit. The Base plug is a high quality aircraft grade connector. Shouldn't be the problem, but thinking of removing and soldering wires just to see if that IS where problem is. If it is masthead, I know pins/sockets are clean. Maybe it is an internal wiring fault. 

Over the years I have had numerous problems with this unit. I have more or less kept unit working myself. Once bought new cups and display covers from DMI. The LCD display gave up at one time, but I found it was a standard part and got one from local supplier (being soldered to PCB, R&Ring was interesting!) When speed became erratic, found oil had leaked out of head unit, so just re-filled.

It's become more a challenging hobby than a useful instrument


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would buy a Raymarine product today, and therefore why they are still in business. I've gone through the same run around on the ST-60 *TWICE* and the unit still only works when it wants to. Only difference between the OP & I is that I didn't waste my time calling the total incompetents RM hires to frustrate customers who expect their customer service to help them.
Years of operating vessels equipped with RM electronics and I don't think I can remember any one of them that had all the RM gear working properly at the same time.
I guess if someone thinks saving a few bucks up front is worth the kind of frustration and disappointment the OP and so many others have shared about RM equipment on this forum (and others), then that will be their regretful choice. 
Raymarine should sell their designs to a company with an interest in something other than the quick buck of the original sale, then quietly disappear from the industry.


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## Lazerbrains (Oct 25, 2015)

FWIW, I've had good luck with RM CP's, radar, and autopilots. Wind instruments - not so much.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

capta-
Ages ago, when "Hey, I can take this cell phone thing out to the boat and actually CALL them while I'm at the instruments" was a radical new concept, I did call Raymaywhatsis about some problems. Maybe things have gone downhill since then, but they answered quickly and responsively. And when I mentioned that some of our instrument covers say "Raymarine" and others still said "Raytheon" and how that really wasn't aesthetic or flattering to either of us...they even sent out new covers, no charge.
I will confess that I abhor proprietary interfaces and mentioning "Seatalk makes me flash on the old Abbot & Costello routine about "Niagara Falls!".
But unless things have changed for the worse, the folks at Raymarine seemed no worse than at several other instrument companies. Then again, I'm sure some Datamarine customers are pointing out theirs have worked forever, too.(G)


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## FreeAgent (Apr 19, 2017)

FreeAgent said:


> I have similar but different problem with my Datamarine wind unit at present. Speed displays fine, but not direction. Direction does not move.


Never went sailing, but while working on boat today, the wind direction seemed to be working! Indicating same as Windex and no amount of wiggling would make it read incorrectly! We have had a lot of wind the past few days, so possibly masthead unit was stuck. However, based on living with this beast for past 10 or 11 years, I expect today's success will be short lived


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## overbored (Oct 8, 2010)

Older Raymarine windex has been a problem on the ones with an aluminum block connector at the top of the mast. the newer ones are a black plastic connector that is molded into plastic block. Raymarine had a lot of problems with wires corroding thru and shorting out. This caused intermittent problems. 
Check the wiring before replacing the windex


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## Chris NZ (Jun 11, 2017)

Fixed it! Back to speed and direction now. I had three problems:
1. A drill had gone through the wire and the corrosion was causing a short.
2. The crimped clips from the transducer were corroded and needed replacing - even though they looked good.
3. The light switch was broken so I could not switch off VMG. Fixing this involved taking the unit apart. The switch is soldered to the board so unfortunately I could not swap over the display and the VMG which would have been the best. I managed to activate the switch using 2 screwdrivers to connect the terminals top and bottom on left and right simultaneously. This returned the unit to wind speed. I then cut off the rubber button so VMG could not be preselected by accident.
All debugging only required continuity checking only ?


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

hellosailor said:


> capta-
> And when I mentioned that some of our instrument covers say "Raymarine" and others still said "Raytheon"(G)


Raytheon, to the best of my knowledge is still a quite successful marine electronics company, they just don't mess with small craft gear anymore. Lots of navy stuff, etc.
The way I heard it, Raytheon hired a bunch of "young Turks" to upgrade and modernize their yacht electronics lines. However, after developing some pretty esoteric new gear the "young Turks" disagreed with the old vanguard about how to market and service this new gear. They took "their" designs and started Raymarine. Playing on the similarity of names, many of Raytheon's customers went unknowingly over to Raymarine, nearly destroying Raytheon.
I can bet they wanted their Raymarine covers on Raytheon's gear, right quick, if this tale is correct!


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Very interesting. This goes back probably 10-15 years, and AFAIK Raytheon at that time had actually been acquired, or sold out their marine business, so that Raymarine was the legitimate successor to the line. They would have been open to some very damaging suits for copying the gear, the model numbers, the colors and design so faithfully if they had not been, as I see it.

Can't tell the players without a scorecard. Someone who really is interested, could research that with business filings and the like.

You know, like whether Procter and Gamble's logo really represents Satanic interests. (sigh).


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## FreeAgent (Apr 19, 2017)

Company history is on their website: Company History [English (Canada)]

It says:
2001	• Raymarine acquires Raytheon's Recreational Marine Division in a management buy-out backed by Hg Capital
and
2010	• Raymarine acquired by FLIR Systems

There may be more, only scanned it.


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## TakeFive (Oct 22, 2009)

capta said:


> ...The way I heard it, Raytheon hired a bunch of "young Turks" to upgrade and modernize their yacht electronics lines. However, after developing some pretty esoteric new gear the "young Turks" disagreed with the old vanguard about how to market and service this new gear. They took "their" designs and started Raymarine. Playing on the similarity of names, many of Raytheon's customers went unknowingly over to Raymarine, nearly destroying Raytheon.
> I can bet they wanted their Raymarine covers on Raytheon's gear, right quick, if this tale is correct!


Well I read it on the internet, so it must be true!


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