ST60 speed stopped working but paddle wheel OK

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Rafiki

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My ST60 speed log (tridata) started working intermittently on my first trip of the season. Well actually not at all on teh firts trip, OKhalf way through the second trip, not at all the third trip etc. I suspected something electrical rather than a fouled paddle wheel.
Yesterdasy I pulled teh paddle wheel, cleaned it off, but flicking it round with my finger had no effect; the log still read zero. Tried switching on and off, but still no joy. I have looked at the conenctions behind the instrument and all appear secure.

So where do I go from here. I have replaced the paddle wheel unit with the blanking plate for the time being. Any thought would be welcome. Can you buy just a new paddle wheel I wonder.

Depth works OK and so does windspeed (different instrument of course)

Regards

Andrew
 
Another thought on this matter.
Several years ago I had this problem, fitted new paddle wheel, still did not work, in desperation reset instrument to factory settings, it worked.
Some time later it stopped working, I worked out that doing a standing gybe the main sheet had pressed some of the buttons, causing the problem, now I sheet in a bit before gybing and speed continues to work OK.
Try resetting first.
Hope this helps.
 
Onia said:
So where do I go from here. I have replaced the paddle wheel unit with the blanking plate for the time being. Any thought would be welcome. Can you buy just a new paddle wheel I wonder.
Click to expand...

Don't forget there is probably damping on the log read out so a single flick of the wheel might not register.

You can certainly buy paddle wheels for ST50s so I doubt there's a problem for ST60s but there's really not much to go wrong with the wheel if it looks physically OK. I really only considered that *after* buying one for my non-functional log. Ended up replacing the transducer.
 
ST60 Paddle wheel

Hi Andrew, I had exactly the same problem just before I launched this year. Ray marine electrician/ agent came and checked the thing out said the transducer was shot ,no explanation why? so I had to buy a replacement, which was an Airmar which cost £80. Now everything works fine, and I have kept the old one for a spare?, not quite sure what spares I might be able to use, but kept it anyway.

Best of luck with yours, which ever way you go?







Onia said:
My ST60 speed log (tridata) started working intermittently on my first trip of the season. Well actually not at all on teh firts trip, OKhalf way through the second trip, not at all the third trip etc. I suspected something electrical rather than a fouled paddle wheel.
Yesterdasy I pulled teh paddle wheel, cleaned it off, but flicking it round with my finger had no effect; the log still read zero. Tried switching on and off, but still no joy. I have looked at the conenctions behind the instrument and all appear secure.

So where do I go from here. I have replaced the paddle wheel unit with the blanking plate for the time being. Any thought would be welcome. Can you buy just a new paddle wheel I wonder.

Depth works OK and so does windspeed (different instrument of course)

Regards

Andrew
Click to expand...
 
I had this with a VDO log. The sender works by having a magnet in the paddlewheel and a reed switch in the housing. I bought a 90p reed switch from Maplins and fitted that and it has worked ever since. Easy test is to get the two wires that go into the sender and touch them together repeatedly and see if you get a reading on the log. If so, your sender isn't working and you'll either have to replace it or do the above.
 
Yes it does have that function but I've never manged to get it to work in the past socan't rely on that to indicate whether power is getting through etc.

Good thought though!
 
Onia said:
Yes it does have that function...
Click to expand...

Do you mean sea temperature? :confused:

I believe the sea temperature read-out needs to work, or the instrument thinks it is a repeater & ignores attached transducers.

The fact that the depth read-out is working tends to rule this out, though. Unless there is a separate depth instrument that is sending the data via sea-talk.

Andy
 
I've had a number of occasions where the Airmar transducer stopped working. Both on my own boat as other boats. It seems to me there is some time device inside the transducer to make it stop working after X time. This to keep us buying new stuff obviously. For the Raymarine version of the Airmar transducer it seems first the seawater temperature reading goes and some time later the whole thing goes. In one of these occasions I managed to do over 60 knots in my 30 ft sailboat. According to the log that is...
The fact that the paddlewheel is still operative doesn't mean anything. It's the Hall-sensor inside the transducer that goes haywire.

So my guess is you just need to spend some money on a new transducer to replace the old one.
 
misterg said:
Do you mean sea temperature? :confused:

I believe the sea temperature read-out needs to work, or the instrument thinks it is a repeater & ignores attached transducers.

The fact that the depth read-out is working tends to rule this out, though. Unless there is a separate depth instrument that is sending the data via sea-talk.

Andy
Click to expand...

To enlarge on this, it happened to my ST60 Tridata.
The speed section of the instrument needs a functioning thermistor otherwise, as said, it thinks it's a slave. The depth seems unaffected.
I can't recall if it showed "000's" or "---'s" however.
A very simple test/cure for this is to detatch the brown and white wires and connect a resistor of roughly 10 kohms across the terminals. It might also require resetting as master.
Worth a try for virtually nil cost.
That's how mine now works, and Scottish waters are all at 27 deg.C !!
 
I also have this problem and am looking at buying a new trandsducer. Does anyone know if I can simply cut the wires near the transducer and connect up the new one with some waterproof connectors. The thing that has put me off replacing mine is running a new cabe from the bilge all the way to the instruments.

Cheers
 
Newsailer said:
I also have this problem and am looking at buying a new trandsducer. Does anyone know if I can simply cut the wires near the transducer and connect up the new one with some waterproof connectors. The thing that has put me off replacing mine is running a new cabe from the bilge all the way to the instruments.

Cheers
Click to expand...

For a paddlewheel log transducer, I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with that, but you need to ensure good joints, well sealed with adhesive heat-shrink, and keep them out of the bilge-water.
For myself, I'd prefer to run the new cable all the way if possible. Could you use the old cable as a pull-through?
 
earlybird said:
Could you use the old cable as a pull-through?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the answer. The problem is that this is on a MOBO and the cable from the transducer enters trunking, goes the long way around the engine bay, through a mid cabin and up to the helm. It is cable tied throughout :(

I'll have think about oif there is an easier route to take, otherwise I may try to cut and join. What's the worst that could happen :D
 
Newsailer said:
I'll have think about oif there is an easier route to take, otherwise I may try to cut and join. What's the worst that could happen :D
Click to expand...

You can get suitable connectors from Raymarine. Mine has one. Occasionally needs a wiggle though to keep a good connection. There must be others on the web that are suitable as well.

It makes it is easy to take off, so you can easily take it home to give it a really good clean.
 
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