Raymarine ST40 Wind Problems

[scottb34300]

Hi, I have a Raymarine ST40 Wind unit fitted on my boat with the rotavecta wind transducer. I.e. three cups, one larger than the other. Can apparently tell the wind speed and direction with just this method.

However, I have a problem. At certain wind angles when sailing the direction is very wrong, it can even be the complete opposite.
I want to link it in with my autohelm, so I can use the tack button when sailing single handed, however, have no confidence in the wind system. Any suggestions?

Many thanks,

Scott

 

[cliff]

I had a similar problem last year with the wind instrument. After many phone calls to the manufacturer and having changed the mast head unit and returning the display head for "repair" (there was nothing wrong with the display unit) the problem was traced to the multi pin dri-plug on the deck. A couple of the pins were not making good contact and there was moisture inside both the plug and socket units (so called "professionally" fitted)
My instrument would read either ~60° out or ~180° out at times. If you have a dri-plug or other type of deck plug fitted, I would check it out first.
--------------------

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"

 

[pvb]

Rotavecta...

The Rotavecta transducer only has 2 wires, so if it works at all I'd suggest it's highly unlikely that a deck connection is the problem. You've presumably also had a look through binoculars to check that the Rotavecta cups aren't damaged.

Although the Rotavecta is a very clever solution, even Raymarine acknowledge that it's not particularly responsive to wind shifts. In fact, they say that "If you are serious about wind information being in your system for tactical or navigational decisions, the standard masthead transducer is the better choice.." Only problem is that the ST40 wind instrument won't work with a conventional wind transducer. Might be worth checking whether your Autohelm will work with a separate windvane - this would probably be the most cost-effective solution to getting autotack working.

 

[jimg]

Re: Rotavecta...

Have you tried going thru the calibration process again? Might help, if it was not done properly before.

 

[scottb34300]

Re: Rotavecta...

Thank you all. I'm going to post again asking people if they know of any wind vanes that can interface with my Raymarine ST4000+ Autopilot.

Many thanks,

Scott.

 

[john mccready]

your autopilot

Thank you all. I'm going to post again asking people if they know of any wind vanes that can interface with my Raymarine ST4000+ Autopilot.

Many thanks,

Scott.

hello i have st1000 wired to plotter ,it will follow a route on plotter,or go to waypoint, also connected to st40 wind,it will follow wind angle. two ways of connecting it ,1st is simple connect all yellow seatalk wires together
or connect to wind via nema, but not seatalk and nema ,one or the other. sometimes nema pos must be connected to nema neg from a sender unit to a reciever unit. eg you do this on an antenna,to plotter
your autopilot probably can be wired via nema

 

[john mccready]

i have st40,excellent system,problem free for 4 years then failed to read wind direction,refused to recalibrate turn mode ,reads' turn off' dealer calibration on mode
display has been repaired by raymarine with same problem, rotavector pcb replaced,same problem,still reads 'turn off'
display returned to raymarine,who tested it and loaned me another,both read 'turn off' and fail to calibrate both read wind speed but no direction,
still in contact with raymaine,and going to replace rotavector pcb again,incase faulty before replaceing entire rotavector unit
does anyone know fault? strange, reads speed very well but i know its not going to calibrate when reaching turn stage during calibration because it seems to be switched off,also tried resetting factory defaults same result,
pity it was very accurate when it did work,boat sailed to held wind angle better then most crew could hand steer

 

[Ritchard]

I have a similar set of symptoms to John Mccready above. I have an ST40 wind that worked fine for two years, and this year is giving me grief. It seems to read the wind speed pretty accurately, but the direction is seemingly random. I have tried doing the circles, doing calibration, factory reset, more circles, more calibration. No joy.

I fear that this new symptom is the result of installing new connectors at the masthead and at the base of the mast. I had only simple crimp-on connectors prior, but they worked fine! Now I have some cool military surplus watertight connectors, and I fear they are not doing the job. This means another trip up the mast to fiddle with the masthead connector, as well as plucking the mast off the deck to fix the bottom connector.

Can anybody think of anything else that might be giving me these symptoms before I undertake several hours of frustrating crane-oriented repairs?

 

[DaveS]

I fitted one of these a few years ago. Worked great for a year and allowed my Autohelm to follow the wind - which proved to be less useful than I thought it would be. Next year it lost its memory, but worked fine after being re-calibrated. The following year it worked erratically, and after that it didn't work at all. No changes to connection arrangements. It has now been replaced by another (second hand) instrument which is less clever but which works.

I occasionally have a look at the ST40 with a view to fixing it, but connecting a meter to the wires while spinning the cups I get no response on DC voltage, AC voltage, or resistance scales. Does anyone know what output to expect from the rotovector?

 

[nigelmercier]

Warning: old thread

your autopilot probably can be wired via nema

I imagine that after NINE YEARS he has figured it out by now.

And it's NMEA.

 

[Modulation]

This thread makes me feel not alone anymore as I ' too, had this problem develop after 3 years with the ST40. After the usual fiddling, I decided that I didn't really need the wind direction, just the speed. It did mean that I couldn't couple it to other stuff.

I have a similar set of symptoms to John Mccready above. I have an ST40 wind that worked fine for two years, and this year is giving me grief. It seems to read the wind speed pretty accurately, but the direction is seemingly random. I have tried doing the circles, doing calibration, factory reset, more circles, more calibration. No joy.

I fear that this new symptom is the result of installing new connectors at the masthead and at the base of the mast. I had only simple crimp-on connectors prior, but they worked fine! Now I have some cool military surplus watertight connectors, and I fear they are not doing the job. This means another trip up the mast to fiddle with the masthead connector, as well as plucking the mast off the deck to fix the bottom connector.

Can anybody think of anything else that might be giving me these symptoms before I undertake several hours of frustrating crane-oriented repairs?

 

[pcorrech]

I bought a boat with ST40 wind and rotavecta that had the same problems as decribed above, giving erratic wind direction and not responding to calibration. The problem was that the axis of the rotating rotavecta was dirty with some kind of rusty spiderweb. Took the rotating device off, cleaned it thoroughfully, wd40ed it, and then it admitted calibration and now is working without any problem.