Raymarine ST60 Wind going blank (---)

[pelissima]

Installed are the ST Tridata, two Multies and a standard Wind. The ST60 analog wind, goes often blank at what I though irregular periods. Fellow boaters have the same symptom. I asked once and customer service suggested to check all contacts and cabling which I have done. It was also suggested to put it first on the link so no power is lost.
However the contrary seems to be the case. This weekend I checked the voltages at the junction box, and to my surprise it was about 10Vdc instead of 8. At this time I was connected to the shore power, so my 12 Volts were actually 13,8. For the rest of the weekend , every time the main engine was on and the alternator was driving voltage to above 13vdc, the ST60 went blank. Every time the voltage were below 13vdc, a power off then on, and I had the ST60 wind working again. Looks like there is a high voltage protection installed, but not high enough. Raymarine finally requested the unit back for service something I would prefer to avoid. Can anyone suggest a work around ??

 

[Mrnotming]

I had a problem once with rolling dashes in the st4000+ head. Then Blank.Had to get the eprom reflashed by SD marine via Marseilles dealer. Expensive. Subsequently discovered nipped cables running up the Cobra steering guard rail.Most problems area gone now. Except depth on tri-data goes random after 19 metres deep approx despite change of transducer.I thought all voltages were 12v nominal on the feeds.Is this not the case?Beware of testing anything 12V whilst on Marina AC power. My laptop hates this and will not show GPS on the chart until disconnected and re-started via the inverter on the ship's supply. Pull out the AC cable completely as some marinas do not observe polarity rules.(Do not Swim either!)

 

[Gypsy]

I am intrigued by your mention of 10V at the junction box instead of 8V. These instruments are intended to run from a nominal 12V (actually battery volts which of course can go above 14.4 when charging). Are they connected to the battery through something which is causing a drop to 10V? If so that would be the first suspect. You should expect to measure the present battery voltage across the red and shield wires at the entry to the instrument. The yellow wire is SeaTalk data out which will measure lower as it is a datastream with messages approximately once per second.

To avoid having to remove the instrument for return to Raymarine, try running a totally separate +/-12V feed directly from the battery or known good clean 12V source, preferably via a fuse of 3A. You don't need to connect the yellow seatalk wire to prove the point, the display should operate correctly and be reliable in a stand-alone mode for testing purposes.

 

[pelissima]

I afraid there is a misunderstanding here.
When I wrote 10vdc instead of 8 at the junction I meant measuring from the mast transducer and Not battery plus. In a Q&A section at Raymarine's customer support, I had written down the 'should be' voltages from transducer, just to make sure from this side. Voltages were a bit higher, hence I suspected the rest.
Thx for caring to write.

 

[IanR]

Had a similar problem with mine, got the DVM on the wires and found a low resistance short between the ananometer speed and earth. It turned out that the cable had chafed in the mast and caused the head unit to short out. Far from pleasant rewiring a mast that was in position. The head unit had to be replaced.... You would think that the display would be protected but nope..

 

[doug748]

The moulded 12v plug on the back of my ST40 caused it to switch itself on and off with an annoying beep. A clean up of the contacts and a squash with a pair of pliers seems to have sorted it out.