Stowe instruments

[John_N]

I have a problem with my ageing Stowe anemometer. The wind direction indicator has never been satisfactory since I bought the boat seven years ago (the needle jumps about all over the place) but as I am not a racing man such sophisticated instrumentation is not important. However it is nice to know the actual wind strength, if only out of academic interest. The problem is that over recent years the LCD display has grdually blackened over and is now unreadable. Has anyone else had a similar experience and if so did you resolve it? I have been told that the LED chip(?) can easily be replaced but unfortunately Stowe ceased trading several years ago and A.W. Marine, who took over their stock of spares, no longer have the required part. Does anyone have a scrapped display unit that I could cannibalise? The model concerned is the Stowe Micro 220.

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[BobWilliamson]

LED chip for an LCD, sounds a bit strange. If the LCD has gone down gradually it would NOT suggest a faulty chip. LED,LCD or otherwise. sounds more likely that the basic electronics is failing perhaps a capacitor or resistor supplying the LCD or decoder.

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[DeeGee]

It is the LCD display, not the LCD driver chip ( you DID mean LCD, not LED, didn't you!). Where you get one is another story, which I can't write. >)

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[John_N]

Sorry, I did mean LCD. Must have hit the wrong key or had a 'senior moment'!
I'm pretty ignorant about electronics but that's one difference I do understand.
Thanks for taking the trouble to reply to my stupid question.

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[BobWilliamson]

I know what you mean I suffer from a very busy thumb I get spaces where I shouldn't. All the same I still wouldn't chase around looking for a chip or a display,
reason: gradual failure often indicates somthing more simple. chips failing are more often instantanious. best of luck.....Bob

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[jfkal]

Needle jumping can be solved by setting a dampening parameter. The LCD problem could be moisture builtup inside. I had that problem the other way round, the LCD was fading. I opened the case, gave the inards a good hairdryer job, cleaned the lense, re-sealed the case .....instrument as new.

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[pvb]

Needle jumping...

The damping function doesn't stop this. The problem is wear in the plastic body of the windvane. The hole which the axle goes through gradually wears into a conical shape, which then allows the body to wobble - as it does this, the ring magnet inside it flaps around madly and the display needle goes berserk. Fixable by getting a new plastic windvane body from AW Marine. When I got mine a little while ago it was "only" £24 +VAT!

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