# Raytheon ST-60 instruments



## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I''m disappointed with one component in my beautiful Raytheon ST-60 system.
I have found the ST-60 speed/log impossible to calibrate and it provide erratic calculations. Anyone here that have experience from this type of nav-products?


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Check its installation. Is it installed near the centerline and foreward of the keel? If it is on the side of the keel it will be affected by heel angle and turbulance eratically. Also how do you know it is reading eratically and not reflecting you actual speed through the water? Also check you averaging function which if it is set to average not frequently enough can give very bizarre readings. 
Good luck
Jeff


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## Constantin (Dec 16, 2000)

Question: How good are the ST-60 components? We have the ST-50 stuff on board and our wind meter self-destructed due to its tendency to absorb water. Are the ST-60''s sealed better?


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## [email protected] (Mar 1, 2000)

Hi Constantin,

We have used ST-50 for the last 9 yrs. and still are dry, despite longly exposed.

As far as I understand, main differences between 50 & 60 are more related to the display and numbers size than to software or hardware stuff.

However I did found that quartz display, even if properly covered, tend to difuse and to loose clearness, brightnes and clarity over time. Is quite difficult to find a replacement for theses displays. 

Regards


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## [email protected] (Mar 1, 2000)

Vitamin,

I think you should first check wether the erratic (calculations?) response out from your instrument is a matter of hardware (the wheel down your hull) , or an instalation issue.

First test can be carried out by lifting the speed sensor, (don''t forget to cover the through hull) and checking the readout of the instrument while somebody blows or moves the wheel of the sensor. (Ask this buddy specifically not to blow or move erratically the wheel, if not you will be in square one again )

If this is a brand new equipment, it is hardly to believe you are having a hardware problem. Probably as Jeff suggests, you may have a instalation or configuration problem. Following the manual instructions very close, is easy to check the configuration out. I am an absolute asle in this fied, and was able to fix all of the problems arising from an ST 50 Raytheon system.

In addition I wonder whether the 12 v supply of your system is affected by its routing or any other equipment in the same line.

Lastly, if nothing said here provides a solution to your problem, which is something I do regret to expect, you may post your question in this electronic forum. (I thought it was sponsored by Raytheon)

http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/forums/electronics.html

Don''t give up. An american guy, step the moon 30 years ago, so your issue is a piece of cake.

Regards

Fernando


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

WE HAVE A LOT OF ST60 AND RAYTHEON EQUIPMENT ON BOARD.WE RUN INTO PROBLEMS WITH SEATALK EQUIPMENT IF OTHER INSTRUMENTS HAVE DIFFERENT VALUES SET FOR EXAMPLE ONE INSTRUMENT IS IN NAUTICAL MILES AND ONE IS IN STATUTE MILES. MAKE SURE ALL ARE SET TO THE SAME VALUES. THEN DO A MASTER RESET.IF THIS DOESNT WORK CALL RAY MARINE THEY WILL TALK YOU THROUGH THE FIX
ERIC


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## Constantin (Dec 16, 2000)

[email protected],

The design of the ST-60 is somewaht different in how they seal the units. While the ST50 depended on snap-fits to keep the water out, the ST 60s are hermetically sealed but have a gore-tex patch to allow the unit to breathe without allowing water in.

Our ST50s are installed on a 45 degree incline, a condition I am sure will aggrevate any problems. Another Prout Escale owner got so discouraged that he put a perspex cover over the ST50s to keep rainfall from hitting them.

Ours cloud over and were repaired a number of times at Ray Marine in New Hampshire. The first time we replaced the displays was not because of condensation - the digits dissappreared when the back light was turned on! Not something you want to discover while pulling into a new anchorage at night. Each display cost us $50 plus labor (ouch!)

I actually considered ripping all the Autohelm stuff out as I consider the Raymarine warranty to be a joke. But the costs and hassles of replacing everything will probably incline me to replace the ST50 display units over time.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Thank you all. I have in all seven Raytheon instruments on my boat and four are ST-60. I have had little "problems" axcept with the speed/logs performance, so I am very pleased to see these comments. After all, who givs a rats-ass if you have 46 or 48 meter meter under your keel, but if you are jiggling that genoa sheet and the speed display is going up/down 1.50 knots for no darn reason, then you go balistic like me..

I also think the ST-5000 Autopilot could be a bit more "acute" despite being on responce 1 and nine in rudder gain. It sort-of "wobbles" but don''t really wack the rudder hard over, even if we are drifting out of course when becalmed. Most of the time when we go in a straight line at a decent turn of speed it works OK. 
Right mates, your knowlage flowing, please!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

You note a master reset for equipment linked through SeaTalk. Where can you find the information to do a "Master Reset", I do not recall seeing this discussed in the owners manual.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I BELIEVE IT''S CALLED RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULTS.
UNFORTUNATELY MY BOOKS ARE ON THE BOAT IN STT.
ERIC


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Well, I had my ST-60 instruments installed six month ago and have executed the "speed calibrations" more times then I can remember. 

Unfortunately the behaviour vary from week to week and never are as consistant as my trusty electronic trailing log (and two GPS-units) that made ''sense" from day one. 

The ST-60 system however is a sofisticated "networked" system and depend on the performance of each component to deliver useful calculated information. 

I have begged and "crawled" for the Australian Raytheon distributer Oceantalk to let me borrow a ST-60 header unit so I can just snap it in and test the difference. They flatly refuse this or the "idea" that I have a hardware problem/software problem. 

I feel cheated and at a loss to understand why they are so uncoperative. After all, it is just the ST-60 speed unit that I have problems with, and testing another one would be such darn simple way of getting ahead in finding the problem. 

Is it me, Rytheon U.K. or Oceantalk, Australia that is the problem?


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

raymarine in new hampshire are the nicest people i have ever dealt with. i would give them a long distance call.
eric


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Nice or not, what can they do?

They would probably just send my query to Raytheon that will (again..) pass my information back to the Australian distributer "Oceantalk".

Nothing gained and back to square one...


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

i still believe you should talk to their rechnical support department- or at least send them an e-mail outlining the problem.
nothing ventured nothing gained.
eric


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

i still believe you should talk to their rechnical support department- or at least send them an e-mail outlining the problem.
nothing ventured nothing gained.
eric


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## VIEXILE (Jan 10, 2001)

I''ve walked into the "returned equipment room" at Raytheon in Manchester, New Hampshire, and was allowed to paw through parts until I found what I needed for my Autohelm ST3000 - free of charge. They don''t retail there, but they WILL try to help if they can. Kimberlite --- it''s Carnivale down here. They''ve hauled your boat and made it up into a parade float......Jam Band''s been living on it....


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

hi,
i''ll be in st thomas on friday after 4pm.
why don''t you come over to molly malones (?)
at american yacht harbor for a drink ?
if i''m not there i should be on the boat at ayh. kimberlite is a blue hulled tartan 37.
eric


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## VIEXILE (Jan 10, 2001)

Going up to Spanishtown and the Baths for the day friday and stopping off at the William Thornton on the way back. Stinkpotting some friends down from - well - Manchester NH - for the day. Should be getting back in around 5:00 to STYC. Maybe we''ll come to Molly''s for a bite to eat around 5:30.....KW


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## VIEXILE (Jan 10, 2001)

Oh yeah - Saturday is the "Adult Parade." Clearly a misnomer, given the outfit the locals are making me wear. I''m with "Fun Lovah''s," the troupe that has P''Your Passion playing with us. Should be a gas. Big fireworks Sat. night, too. It''ll be nice once this place quiets down. I''m headed back to Maine in May to launch the boat and stare longingly to the southeast, ever wondering if I ought not just head for Bermuda.....and to do a little trout fishing on the Machias River....KW


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

where are the fireworks?
there should be 5 of us at mollys i don''t expect to leave for bermuda before monday. see ya there 
eric


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

From letter to OCEANTALK, the Australian Raytheon ST-60 agent. 

You state: "The swapping of equipment with out solving the problem creates more harm than good and postpones the date at which customer satisfaction is achieved". 

My comment is: This is a simple 5-minutes swap-job to actually exchange the header-unit and then be able to test the outcome, nothing amateurish about that. I have already waited six month with this ST-60 installed in my boat and still waiting to see even a commitment to a future date when it will be fixed. Some positive practical action is not going to create any "harm''. How could it? 

If a simple "swap" indicate that the header-unit is faulty, you don''t need to know anything more, just send it back to UK manufacturer for the proper "experts" to bench-test it there. A huge leap forward! 

I understand that you are primarily a sales organization with sub-contracted local installers and with no "in-house" laboratory facilities in Australia. Do I assume right?. I hope you don''t feel this has degenerated into some "prestige issue and that is why your organization blankly refuses me this obvious and simple possibility? I hope my trusty instinct is missleading this time. . . 

You state: "We need to know why we are doing something before we do it and be confident that we are giving the customer what he is entitled to." 

My comment is: Not a very scientific / investigative professional approach at all in my opinion. Often you must "do something" in order to gain some knowledge. All I am asking for is a reasonable well serviceable speed log. How about that? 

Fact is I am now quite happy to accept a mediocre, even a somewhat "crappy" unit, thank you very much, but I think I am stuck with a product much below that base standard, and that I cannot accept. What precisely ARE my entitlements in your opinion?. 

I have nil problems with any of the other ST-60 or ST-50, or related products, so why this protracted problem with the speed display and sensor unit? I say, just pop a new set in the mail this very evening and we will all be much better off for it. Trust me!


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