Another ST60 Wind Question

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Dec 3, 2003
544
None None Rochester, NY
This has been the year of problems. I am not in a position to call Raymarine, so thought I would throw it out here.

When I turn on the wind instrument, it reads the wrong wind direction. Wind speed seems OK. Here is what I have done that will work for a while:

1. Go to the Dealer Calibration menu, and reset all to default.
2. Go to the User Calibration menu, and re-cal the wind direction. It is usually off by 100 degrees.
3. Do a couple 360 degree circles.

It will work pretty accurately for the day, but when turned off, and turned back on the next day, it is wacked again. I have to go through the same re-calibreate procedure stated above.

I tried doing the 360 degree circles and get the 3 beeps, but that also has no effect. I also tried leaving the power on over-night, and the next day I had dashes for wind speed.

Any ideas out there?
 

Tim R.

.
May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
If it does not remember your calibration then I would say the instrument is faulty. They have excellent(in my experience) tech support and they should be able to help you determine the exact problem and get you a replacement if necessary.

BTW, why do you state you cannot call Raymarine? Do you mean just at the moment you posted the thread?
 
May 16, 2007
52
- - C350, Ontario, Canada
I had the problem that the 0's and dashes were displaying on the instrument. I checked all the lines for proper voltage to make sure the mast transducer was working. In the end, I reseated the SEAtalk cable and all was well.
 
J

john E.

Transducer

This has been the year of problems. I am not in a position to call Raymarine, so thought I would throw it out here.

When I turn on the wind instrument, it reads the wrong wind direction. Wind speed seems OK. Here is what I have done that will work for a while:

1. Go to the Dealer Calibration menu, and reset all to default.
2. Go to the User Calibration menu, and re-cal the wind direction. It is usually off by 100 degrees.
3. Do a couple 360 degree circles.

It will work pretty accurately for the day, but when turned off, and turned back on the next day, it is wacked again. I have to go through the same re-calibreate procedure stated above.

I tried doing the 360 degree circles and get the 3 beeps, but that also has no effect. I also tried leaving the power on over-night, and the next day I had dashes for wind speed.

Any ideas out there?
Our had the reading backwards and the unit turned upsaide down on top of the mast. The wid speed cups should be on the bottom. Look at the transducer on top of the mast and see if it is on rightside up.
 
Dec 3, 2003
544
None None Rochester, NY
Tim, We are cruising Lake Ontario, and my cell phone doesn't work in Canada. I just got Skype, but I figure that it would be much easier to call when we get home.

Ralph, Good idea... I will recheck the seating. I had the cables unplugged a few weeks ago to hook up my sending unit with a short cable to the main unit. I had removed the wind transducer last year because I had to replace the wind-vane. It got broken somehow during the winter while on the mast. Maybe a bird. Anyway, when I replaced the vane, I accidentally pulled the insides out of the tube. It really hasn't worked right since. This year I built a short cable so that I could "bench test" both units hooked together close-by. I did a re-set on the unit, and everything looked good. We then went up the mast and installed the mast-head transducer, and everything still looked good. We then started out 2-week cruise, and I found that the instrument would appear to lose it's memory. I am hoping a call to RayMarine will get me on the right track.

John.. it's not up-side-down... Thanks.
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
Not holding the user default means

the internal backup battery or capacitor is bad. They last for years and are not user serviceable or so the factory would have you believe.
If it is a battery it is pretty easy to pull the circuit board and id it. Might have to un-soder it but that is pretty easy. If it is a capacitor it is problematical where they put it. If you can read circuits they are not hard to find but not may of us can do that.
Got a picture (real close up of both sides) of the circuit board?
 
Jun 30, 2004
446
Hunter 340 St Andrews Bay
What's this about a battery

Last year I was able to recalibrate our ST60. This year I have not been able to get it to read properly. I've heard more able that this year (both in my marina and here) than ever before. Some alignment of the stars?

I have not tried going all the way to Dealer Calibration. I'll try that, but tell us more about this battery deal. Ours would be 4 years old now.
 
Jul 25, 2009
270
Catalina 1989 C30 Mk II Herrington Harbour South, MD
the internal backup battery or capacitor is bad. They last for years and are not user serviceable or so the factory would have you believe.
If it is a battery it is pretty easy to pull the circuit board and id it. Might have to un-soder it but that is pretty easy. If it is a capacitor it is problematical where they put it. If you can read circuits they are not hard to find but not may of us can do that.
Got a picture (real close up of both sides) of the circuit board?
Bill,

It sounded like a BIOS type battery to me, too. Their manual didn't mention it at all, though.
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
Battery type

There are 4 ways to store configuration data
A battery
a capacitor
a static ram chip
physical media you write to then read on boot up

I'm sure it is not some physical media and when I cracked my S50 I did not see a battery. That leaves a capacitor or ram chip. I did not see a capacitor that would fit the bill as those are rather large. So I'm thinking that RayMarine uses a static ram chip. Not much chance of replacing it (surface mount on my unit) as the leads are VERY close together.

I read the manual and saw that there are 4 alarms that can be set on an ST60, max and min speed, and max and min apparent wind angle.

Check your unit and see if those values are being kept between power cycles. I find it odd that the factory defaults are being kept but not the user defaults. Do you have "user config on" set?
 

Tim R.

.
May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
I find it odd that the factory defaults are being kept but not the user defaults. Do you have "user config on" set?
I don't. Factory defaults are probably held on a ROM chip separate from the writable chip for user config.
 
Jun 22, 2004
41
Catalina 470 Marina del Rey
Ken... I think you answered your own question by saying "I accendiatally pulled the insides out of the tube. It really hasn't work right since". Sounds like you broke the transducer.
 

NYSail

.
Jan 6, 2006
3,136
Beneteau 423 Mt. Sinai, NY
This is the same problem my ST60 is having....wind speed appears to be good however the direction does not function accurately. Was told that it could be a power issue.... I tried to recalibrate, reset to default settings but nothing seems to work. Tonight I am going to resplice the cables and make sure all fittings are good.... And if this does not work I will call a repair man.

Greg
 
May 16, 2007
52
- - C350, Ontario, Canada
Line voltages

Before you re-splice your lines here are the voltages on the ST60 Wind that you should be seeing:

[FONT=&quot]Red to ground: 8V
Blue to ground: Variable 2 to 6V
Green to ground: Variable 2 to 6V
Yellow to ground: Variable 0 to 8V

One additional thought the Blue is the port side directional element and the green is the starboard. Is it possible that you reversed the wires somewhere?
[/FONT]
 
Dec 3, 2003
544
None None Rochester, NY
Sorry for not posting

We just returned from our 2-week Lake Ontario cruise, and the past few days I have been out of touch with Internet access.

I will need a day to mull all the answers over, and I plan a phone call to RayMarine on Monday, so perhaps I will have a better response then.

Thanks..... Ken
 
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