Raymarine ST-60 Wind Instrument

[Nodak7]

Took Wild Oats out for a sail yesterday and at first my ST-60 Wind Instrument appeared to work fine. Just as we got away from the dock though the Instrument showed straight line across the display. I turned it off and when it came back on it was reading wind speed but the direction was almost 180 degrees off. I tried it again today and it is still off. Has anyone else experienced this before or have a clue what may cause it or remedy the problem?

 

[stuartsw]

From my experience with our ST-60, I strongly suggest checking your wind sensor’s connection at the mast-top as the FIRST strategy.
I spent hours tracing and re-examining the connections, only to have a rigger go up and find corroded connection pins. A little Scotchbrite action and a bit of dielectric grease later, everything was set back to normal operation.

 

[Panera]

I believe that there is a calibration routine that sets the direction. Check the manual.

 

[Kings Gambit]

I believe that there is a calibration routine that sets the direction. Check the manual.

Yeah, I have had to reset mine half a dozen times. The typical symptom is the wind direction indicator being off by 180 deg, as the OP states. It might also be time to service the vane and rotor up top, as noted above. But servicing the unit up top will not reset it; you still must do that by the manual. It can lose its calibration if you spin the boat around a couple of times quickly, among other ways.

 

[Marc14857]

I don’t have it in front of me but there is a troubleshooting section on the WM website and I think in the manual that walks you through checking the voltages for the wind direction and speed. I checked mine at the terminal board between the base of the mast and the boat and found a corroded spade lug.

 

[LakeOntario270]

Yeah, this is how mine started off. It went from occasional -180 degrees, 3 bars to nothing would reset it. Here's the fast way to test at the display

Set a multimeter to the 20V DC scale:
Test at the connections on the rear of the display head
Red to shield should read 8 volts DC steady. This is the masthead power supply.

Blue to Shield should read anywhere between 2 and 6 volts DC. This is the port side directional element. The voltage
changes as the vane turns.

Green to Shield should read anywhere between 2 and 6 volts DC. This is the starboard side directional element.

Yellow to shield should read between 0 and 5 volts DC. This is the wind speed circuit. The faster the wind is blowing, the
higher the voltage will read.

If all readings look good, it's the display which is non-repairable. I purchased a new i60 display from eBay. Problem solved.

 

[Nodak7]

Yeah, this is how mine started off. It went from occasional -180 degrees, 3 bars to nothing would reset it. Here's the fast way to test at the display

Set a multimeter to the 20V DC scale:
Test at the connections on the rear of the display head
Red to shield should read 8 volts DC steady. This is the masthead power supply.

Blue to Shield should read anywhere between 2 and 6 volts DC. This is the port side directional element. The voltage
changes as the vane turns.

Green to Shield should read anywhere between 2 and 6 volts DC. This is the starboard side directional element.

Yellow to shield should read between 0 and 5 volts DC. This is the wind speed circuit. The faster the wind is blowing, the
higher the voltage will read.

If all readings look good, it's the display which is non-repairable. I purchased a new i60 display from eBay. Problem solved.

LakeOntario270 thanks a bunch! I did take the display out and tested it. The blue and green voltage readings were both 0 and the others were within limits. I then went to the line directly from the mast head and tested those voltages. They were all within limits. So now I know the unit on the mast is good with good connections but am confused about whether the Display is bad or not. The display is reading the wind speed and a direction opposite of what the unit on the mast is showing. But I am not certain why I would not get voltage at the back of the display but the display would still be reading a direction??? I took my reading from the pins on the back of the display (see picture) and assume that somewhere in the unit power is not getting to those pins. I am leaning towards a bad display. Your thoughts?

 

[Kings Gambit]

LakeOntario270 thanks a bunch! I did take the display out and tested it. The blue and green voltage readings were both 0 and the others were within limits. I then went to the line directly from the mast head and tested those voltages. They were all within limits. So now I know the unit on the mast is good with good connections but am confused about whether the Display is bad or not. The display is reading the wind speed and a direction opposite of what the unit on the mast is showing. But I am not certain why I would not get voltage at the back of the display but the display would still be reading a direction??? I took my reading from the pins on the back of the display (see picture) and assume that somewhere in the unit power is not getting to those pins. I am leaning towards a bad display. Your thoughts?

Refer to posts #3 & #4 for instructions.

 

[Butch23065]

Nodak,

I have some ST60 Wind parts left over from my upgrade. When you figure out what you need give me a call.

Butch

 

[pfaffk]

Last year I had to have the ST60 wind vane replaced as the tail broke off and would no longer point into the wind. After it was replace the vane pointed correctly, but the instrument showed a totally different direction. I found a thread on a Ray Marine forum that references the Service manual and using the self test options to fix our problem. Below is the link to the thread which also contains the link to the manual.
Step 3 in the Diagnostics does is allow you to re-set 0,30, 60, 90,150, 180 etc around the compass. My ST60 was off and it did not know where these cardinal points were. Once I set and save them I then went into calibration, and adjust that to have the unit point correctly into the wind. Now my ST60, ST4000+ and B&G Zeus T7 all have the wind coming from the same correct direction.

Here is the link to the forum post and in the is a link to the service manal.
http://raymarine.ning.com/forum/topics/t...=activity,

 

[Nodak7]

Thank you all! It actually turned out to be water in the mast head connection. I found it when I replaced the head unit. The rubber o-ring let sone rain water pass thru during one of our bad storms recently. Thanks again. I learned a lot from you all.