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Saturday, January 30, 2016
Troubleshooting the Raymarine Wind Vane
This instrument died just before getting into Weymouth on our way to Cadiz and never worked again. So back to Zurich it came (actually, they came, both the masthead sensor as well as the display) for some troubleshooting sessions during the dark winter evenings. As it happened the Swiss Raymarine dealer lives more or less next door so I asked him to check out the equipment and... all was fine. (He also serviced the autopilot which should be good to go again, although it wasn't really broken to begin with.)
Before continuing some background info. The display is powered by 12V from the service batteries and sends 8V up the mast to power the sensor. The sensor sends back three signals, used by the display to calculate the wind speed and direction. Googling the details leads to the following cable assignment:
Black: Shield
Red: 8V power supply
Blue: 2 to 6V, the Cosine of the wind direction
Green: 2 to 6V, Sine of the wind direction
Yellow: 0 to 5V, wind speed
Troubleshooting in Weymouth I had this information, but did not get particular convincing results when measuring with the multimeter, so.... I decided to build a circuit which could be placed between sensor and instrument with an array of volt meters to once and for all understand exactly what is going on. Not a lot of point really since all checked out OK already, but an interesting project nevertheless and the result might be a good troubleshooting box to have on board in any case.
I did need a 12V power supply though -or use a transformer- but luckily the battery in our old, trusted Espace seemed to need replacement so the old battery made its way into the house. Once done and up and running this was the result:
The result was more or less as expected. And there is not a lot more to be said unless someone reads this with their own Raymarine wind problems in which case read on...
The 7.91V is the 8V produced by the display to power the sensor, the sensor just about visible top right on the end of that black stick which usually sticks out of the top of the mast. The 2.18V is the Cosine of the wind direction. It can be seen (on the display) that the wind is coming from behind so the Cosine is minimised at 2V. This signal would be maxed out at 6V with the wind coming directly from the front of the boat. The 4.04V is halfway in between 2 and 6V, this being the Sine of the wind direction, being 6V when eg on a beam reach on port tack, and 2V when on starboard tack. Combine the Sine and Cosine and the display can figure out what's going on with the wind direction.
The wind speed measurement is not a simple voltage proportional to the wind speed (as most commentators online seemed to suggest, even, oddly enough Raymarine themselves: "Yellow to shield should read between 0 and 5 volts DC. This is the wind speed circuit. The faster the wind is blowing, the higher the voltage will read."). The sensor is actually a pulse generator, oscillating between 8V (as shown above, 7.97V, the anemometer is stationary) and 0V twice per revolution of the anemometer and the display counts these pulses (eg per second) to deduce the wind speed. Turning the anemometer slowly the voltage measurement jumps between 0 and 8V but once speed picks up the actual voltage measurement becomes a bit meaningless.
Anyway, long story short, the cable in Struana's mast may have worn through or the contacts at the top really need a good scrub. Let's hope it's the latter since the mast is not coming down for a while, necessary to pull out the old cable and insert a new one.
Next: back to Puerto Sherry for some on-board maintenance, with a bag full of bits & pieces to keep me busy. Overnight train journey through France to Barcelona, then onwards through Spain by day. The day I have to fly to Struana, she will be sold, already enough CO2 in the air. Which reminds me, travelling by rail is by far the best way to travel through Europe, and by sailing boat by far the best for travelling around Europe.
Before continuing some background info. The display is powered by 12V from the service batteries and sends 8V up the mast to power the sensor. The sensor sends back three signals, used by the display to calculate the wind speed and direction. Googling the details leads to the following cable assignment:
Black: Shield
Red: 8V power supply
Blue: 2 to 6V, the Cosine of the wind direction
Green: 2 to 6V, Sine of the wind direction
Yellow: 0 to 5V, wind speed
Troubleshooting in Weymouth I had this information, but did not get particular convincing results when measuring with the multimeter, so.... I decided to build a circuit which could be placed between sensor and instrument with an array of volt meters to once and for all understand exactly what is going on. Not a lot of point really since all checked out OK already, but an interesting project nevertheless and the result might be a good troubleshooting box to have on board in any case.
I did need a 12V power supply though -or use a transformer- but luckily the battery in our old, trusted Espace seemed to need replacement so the old battery made its way into the house. Once done and up and running this was the result:
The result was more or less as expected. And there is not a lot more to be said unless someone reads this with their own Raymarine wind problems in which case read on...
The 7.91V is the 8V produced by the display to power the sensor, the sensor just about visible top right on the end of that black stick which usually sticks out of the top of the mast. The 2.18V is the Cosine of the wind direction. It can be seen (on the display) that the wind is coming from behind so the Cosine is minimised at 2V. This signal would be maxed out at 6V with the wind coming directly from the front of the boat. The 4.04V is halfway in between 2 and 6V, this being the Sine of the wind direction, being 6V when eg on a beam reach on port tack, and 2V when on starboard tack. Combine the Sine and Cosine and the display can figure out what's going on with the wind direction.
The wind speed measurement is not a simple voltage proportional to the wind speed (as most commentators online seemed to suggest, even, oddly enough Raymarine themselves: "Yellow to shield should read between 0 and 5 volts DC. This is the wind speed circuit. The faster the wind is blowing, the higher the voltage will read."). The sensor is actually a pulse generator, oscillating between 8V (as shown above, 7.97V, the anemometer is stationary) and 0V twice per revolution of the anemometer and the display counts these pulses (eg per second) to deduce the wind speed. Turning the anemometer slowly the voltage measurement jumps between 0 and 8V but once speed picks up the actual voltage measurement becomes a bit meaningless.
Anyway, long story short, the cable in Struana's mast may have worn through or the contacts at the top really need a good scrub. Let's hope it's the latter since the mast is not coming down for a while, necessary to pull out the old cable and insert a new one.
Next: back to Puerto Sherry for some on-board maintenance, with a bag full of bits & pieces to keep me busy. Overnight train journey through France to Barcelona, then onwards through Spain by day. The day I have to fly to Struana, she will be sold, already enough CO2 in the air. Which reminds me, travelling by rail is by far the best way to travel through Europe, and by sailing boat by far the best for travelling around Europe.
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