ST40 wind instrument problems

[gminkovsky]

ST40 wind instrument on my boat does not seem to be working. I had it repaired by the factory 2 years ago. AT that time the instrument just went blank.

This time, we just stepped up and the mast. I reconnected the wire. The instrument shows 0 degrees true wind, 134 degrees apparent. 0 wind speed. I disconnected, cleaned and reconnected the wire at the mast base. When the wire is disconnected, the instrument turns on and shows -- in each field. When the wire is connected it shows 0. I did a full factory reset, and also went through the initialization sequence. No change.

We did notice that at some point the wind wheel was not spinning. After a few minutes, it started spinning on its own again.

These symptoms were the same in wind conditions from 5 to ~17 kn.

Any suggestions?

[Jin]

Our ST60 wind indicator was not working from mid summer last year. It showed -- for windspeed and no direction. The wheel was spinning as it should.
I checked voltages and resistance at the deck plug and socket, but could not figure out what was right or wrong.
Over the winter the deck connector has been replaced (internally some corrosion) at the Quorning yard. The wind indicator was still not working at launch. It turned out the wire was damaged between the mast exit and the deck plug.
The wire was cut and extended with some new wire to the new plug.
It's OK now.

[Steve B.]

I just returned from a week's sail to the San Juan Islands in Washington State, about a six hour sail each way.
My ST 50 Autohelm Raytheon instruments are all connected by SeaTalk.

On the return trip I started to have a problem with the wind angle feeding the autopilot and to make a long story short, it was a bad seatalk connector problem. I fixed it temporarily underway with a zip tie.

I just got back to the dock an hour ago, and will report the results in detail after a few days. I'm an electronic tech, so hopefully I can point to the exact point of failure.
Meanwhile, Digikey.com has these connectors for the old style SeaTalk at about $4+ ea.
As soon as I synch all my electronics and get the link I'll post it.

If you can solder or know someone who does, don't get sucked into buying all kinds of expensive cable replacements on eBay or wherever.
It's not rocket science.

[gminkovsky]

I can solder and use electric meters. I am not sure what/where to look for it. All instruments seem to work fine except wind speed and direction. I know all 3 (wind, depth, speed) are connected with seatalk cable. The connections are at each instrument, behind the electrical panel, and also somewhere below next to relay board.

When the cable is disconnected at the mast, the display goes from 0kn to --. The wind angle also goes from 0/134 degrees to --/--.

The wind instrument also responds to all other buttons and settings.

I can follow instruction, but not sure what to look for or measure with meter.