NASA Clipper Wind problem

FrankJB

FrankJB

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In the interests of saving a few quid I bought a NASA Clipper Wind system off eBay from a seller who always seems to have a lot of NASA kit for sale.
Because of the need to have the mast out to fit it I didn't get a chance to test it in anger for almost a year after I bought it.
Now the bad news. When I did get to try it I discovered that the display was 180 degrees out! Wind from ahead seemed to come from over the stern!
So I thought OK, find out which cable pair carries the data from the masthead unit to the display and just reverse it. Sounds OK? Not a bit of it! I now have a mirror image of what I should be seeing. A breeze over the port bow looks as if it is coming ofer the stbd bow!
The moral of this story, test anything you buy off eBay as soon as possible and thoroughly. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I only have myself to blame.

I will have to delve a bit more deeply into the workings of the device so if anybody has any experience or advice I'd be delighted to hear.
 
You can calibrate the apparent wind direction with the NASA Clipper wind - if you dont have the handbook have a look at the NASA site for details....... not sure if they do manuals online. If not PM me and I'll send you a copy. Its easy enough to do - needs two people but otherwise quite straight-forward.
 
As StevieWhitts says, you can calibrate the wind direction so that it is correct for your boat. In fact, it is quite normal for the direction to be wrong because NASA don't know the orientation that you will choose for your masthead unit .

User manuals are available from the NASA web site in the 'Support' section.
 
I've tried both the recommended methods for setting the orientation in the manual and it always comes up 180 degrees out. So short of shinning up the mast and holding the direction indicator so it's pointing over the stern to fool it whilst its being set I don't think it's going to work.

I'm pretty confident there is a basic problem with the device. (I suspect they are rejects from NASA).
 
[ QUOTE ]
I've also bought a fair few NASA instruments off EBAY from a seller called Angela Mulley. If you have bought your gear from this seller it may be worth contacting her as any problems that I have had have been promptly resolved.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, that's the seller. I just think I have left it far too late to go back to her. It's getting on for two years now since I bought it so I don't honestly feel I can hold her responsible.
 
If you look at the list of the 'Chief's' of NASA you will find that she has very strong links with the company.

You may find there is a short path from the factory to ebay.

There is probably not a fault in the unit. I have purchased stuff from her without any problems.

If you phone NASA directly and explain the problem the technical people there will be able to help you irrespective of where or how you purchased it from.

I had problems on a wind repeater which I had purchased about four years previously and they were resolved quickly and correctly on the phone.

Cheers

Iain
 
Ive bought loads of stuff from Angela Mulley, no problems so far.
The mast head unit has been recently changed, I believe its much better now. (see sailing today Dec issue page 60)
the problem with the display being 180 out is definately the calibration,
I had the same thing and sorted it, but cant remember exactly how. Im sure its in the instructions ,the part about setting the dead ahead, though its a little complicated!!!
 
Hello frankjb,
There is almost certainly nothing wrong with your unit. Don't think of swapping two wires. ( They are the sine and cosine of the wind angle. Swapping them will alter the direction of the reading, used if the sensor is used upside down.)
When you do the call:- go into engineering mode and, with the vane pointing forward, press inc then dec and the unit will be callibrated. What hapens in the unit is when you press inc it takes a reading and when you press dec it takes another reading. It then puts the direction half way between these readings. If however the vane has moved between the readings there is a 50% chance the difference between these readings will be the long way round the circle ie. it will be 180 degree out. If this happens just do it again.
regards.
 
Did this get resolved? I have the same problem with a NASA Target 2 wind device and have tried what it says in the manual to zero avail!
 
thepadd said:
Did this get resolved? I have the same problem with a NASA Target 2 wind device and have tried what it says in the manual to zero avail!
Click to expand...
There are two electrically completely different NASA wind masthead units.
Analogue with 5 wires (4 wires and a screen) and a digital one.

I've had the analogue version to bits.
One failure mode is the magnetic part in the moving vane rusts, which means the sensor loses a lot of output.
A new vane kit is a bit over £20.

The direction information is sin and cos, offset by 2.5V. Range about 1.2V to 3.8V IIRC.
So when one is a min or a max, the other should be close to 2.5V
The sensors are hall effect 'chips', available on ebay.
The wind speed on mine had failed. The legs of the sensor had rusted away due to the unit being wet inside.
I think this may also have affected the direction sensor due to damp and corrosion products on the PCB.
I cleaned it up and it worked again, but only with the new vane.
There are four trim-pots in there which I fiddled with, to get the 2.5V centre voltage and the same swing on each output.
That was a guess on my part.


It's not the finest instrument, but it's been up the mast a long time I think!
The wind-cup bearing was so worn, the cups had worn a groove in the housing

I also changed the connector up there, the original was fairly UV-attacked, I used a circular SP series for about £6 the pair on ebay.

Does that help at all?
 
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