Anyone use a Maretron ultrasonic wind sensor with a Raymarine MFD?

Apr 24, 2006
868
Aloha 32 Toronto, Lake Ontario
I have read a few posts where people liked the WSO100 for a variety of reasons (no bird damage, accurate, etc.). None of the posts I found described what they connected the unit to or how they dealt with calibration.
It seems to me that I should be able to read wind speed and direction from my Axiom MFD (and display the usual wind display on a split-screen). Being NEMA 2000 there should be no speed calibration required but I realize getting direction completely accurate necessitates a trip (or a few) up the mast to physically realign the unit.

I am curious if anyone has tried this and how well it works?
 
May 20, 2016
3,015
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
You’ll need one of Maretron display products or PC interfaces. The cheapest was like $400 iirc last time I looked into it.

Bumber than the N2K Standard doesn’t cover either calibration or firmware updates

Mahalo
 
Apr 24, 2006
868
Aloha 32 Toronto, Lake Ontario
I finally managed to connect with two others using the WSO100. It looks like I do not need a Maretron display. Wind is precision calibrated at the factory (nothing to adjust), damping is set to a value that seems optimal and I don't care if the temp or humidity sensors go out of adjustment. The only PITA is that if I need to adjust direction then I have to go up the mast and do it physically. That said, I saw a mounting solution using a vernier screw adjustment to tweak alignment.
It also turns out a friend has a NMEA2000 USB gateway (Yacht Devices brand) that I can use with the free Maretron software to adjust calibration data stored in the WSO100 itself.

I agree it's a bummer that manufacturers are trying to force their wind/aux MFD devices down our throats using calibration as the reason. It's even worse with Raymarine when you consider they have programmable offsets for a ton of sensor inputs - but not wind vane. A few lines of code and we wouldn't have to go up the mast to adjust this (when using other brand NMEA 2000 wind sensors).

Chris