Nasa Wind Cups - am I doing anything wrong..............

I'm in the same position as you, I replaced the entire masthead unit a couple of years ago and, by about 16 months later, I had to take the rotor off because the pivot had worn and loosened to the extent that the cups were rattling against the stationary part of the vane: the resultant rattling coming down the mast made it impossible to sleep. I'm not buying yet another masthead unit, I content myself with just knowing the wind direction not the speed. In my experience NASA instruments generally are good - its just the wind indicator mashead unit that's rubbish.
 
the latest mod is to change the bottom housing and the pin is threaded with a washer and nylock nut to hold it on. jools ( ships woofy) posted a photo by photo way to do it, i have done it as well and so far successful, its only a tenner for a new housing
 
mine lasted 2 years before dropping off the other month, probably because I was gloating that mine were ok when everyone else was having problems with there's!
 
Hi ferrispedro, How are your winches! I phoned nasa a week ago re-problem with clipper depth unit. I sent it back to them within week of fitting but instead of a replacement they returned it "no fault found" I have had better dealings with the local scrapyard owner. I think it's just a couple of blokes, nothing like Garmin or Silva, won't buy nasa again.
 
Hi Guys, really put the (wind) up me now, something else to look out for
Just reading these posts suggest that more than a few are disgruntled with the service from NASA, it may be worthwhile e-mailing this thread to NASA customer service so they are aware of problem, you may even get a response.

Just a suggestion
 
I'm afraid all you are doing wrong is using NASA wind speed gear. Whilst I am sure there are exceptions to the rule (see this thread), they generally seem to be prone to shedding their wind-cups, wearing out or just being inaccurate. The general view is that they are cheap and cheerful.... but, not very cheap and as an owner of one, I'm not very cheerful!
Morgan
 
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<u>Refurbish and modify a nasa wind masthead</u>

Due to losing the pin on my nasa masthead unit I was left with two choices, send my crew up to attempt to glue a new pin in place and face the possibility of not getting it straight or losing another set of cups, this was the second time we had lost cups. I fancied, rather than just replacing the pin, replace the whole base unit which uses a better M2 nyloc nut to hold the cups in place.

I called nasa who sold me a base unit for £10.00. This was great. I am far more confident that the newer method with a thread and nut is superior to the spring clip arrangement they did employ.

I also wanted to make the head unit easier to repair, so have modified it to include a plug and socket at the masthead, this means my crew just has to unscrew four screws and the connector to bring the whole unit down, to be worked on in comfort.

Part One – Replacing the base unit

When you unscrew the seven nuts and bolts which clamp the head unit together it splits as below> This is actually the new base before I put it back together, hence the silicone grease added to keep water out. It was bone dry when I separated initially

01.jpg


We need to unscrew the circuit board from the base unit, this is held down by three self tapping phillips screws.

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It is then necessary to unsolder the five wires from the stands on the edge of the circuit board, make a note of the order of these wires before removing. Removal is best using solder wick or a solder pump.

03.jpg


You should now be left with the wires free of the circuit board, gently extract them by pulling on the cable from the bottom of the pole, you will of course need to loosen off the plastic nut which forms a cable clamp. Retain this nut as the replacement head unit does not come with a clamping nut, best leave it on the cable.

04.jpg


You now need to gently push the cable back up the tube of the new base unit, this may require a little wiggling over the kink in the pipe. Once through solder the wires back in place using the removal guide you wrote out earlier. Now you screw the circuit board back down and close the case using the seven nuts and bolts. Note I have painted the case and joints in silicon grease to maintain waterproofing.
05.jpg


Part Two – Modifying - This of course is personal choice, just added to give ideas.

I decided to add an in-line plug and socket at the masthead, this was purchased from Maplin, I have chosen a screw locking type, it actually sits under the mast cover up top to keep the weather off, but you could use a tie-wrapped rubber boot to keep it dry if you chose to leave it outside.

The connectors had 8 pins, I only needed 5 which is not a problem. You may find a 5 pin plug and socket, but I would advise against the din type nasa use as there is no way to lock them together up top.

06.jpg


Here I have stripped back the outer insulation. The four wires were stripped back and tinned. A fifth wire (grey) was soldered to the screen (braid) to enable me to ensure the screen connection remained unbroken by connecting it through one of the pins.

The plug clamp also clamps down onto the screen, this should stop the connector creating any noise onto the signal wires within the screen. Note. I have also cut ready the heat-shrink pieces to seal the joints to the pins. These should be removed when you start soldering, just adding them to each wire in turn, otherwise the soldering iron will shrink all of them before you have a chance to pull them over the joints. Sealing could also be done satisfactorily with Vaseline or silicone grease.

07.jpg


The plug soldered up and ready to be closed up.

08.jpg


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A similar method is used to connect the socket, ensure you write out your pin-outs carefully and if blue is on pin 1 then it should also be on pin 1 of the socket, it is easy to get them back to front, check and check again, the plug and sockets have pin numbers on the back, follow them!

10.jpg


The re-assembled masthead unit, without and with wind-cups and my new in-line masthead connector to allow the unit to be brought down for future repair.
11.jpg


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Hope this helps a little.

J
 
Interesting. I had a problem with an AIS engine. Sent it to them day before yesterday and got it back repaired today.

I have heard lots of good reports on the service that they offer.

One of their guys did start to post on here a while back (UID was tech_help or something like that) but he go shot down very badly when the launched their AIS stuff and I have not seen him since.

Might still respond to a PM.

W
 
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