Finally, a wind instrument that will work with a Mac!

[MikeFloutier]

Based on the info from MikeFloutier I think this is what I need?



and this:



and this:



? I think ?? I hope I got it right ?

You only need the Garmin Bridge if you have a certain type of Garmin Chartplotter; might be worth trying without it first.

Looking at the Airmar unit you mention, the 120wx, the blurb says it's only suitable for stationary locations and that for boats you need the 220wx which is nearly $400 more.

Another thing to check is NMEA sentence that your AP is expecting. My Raymarine ST2000 only accepts the older (obsolete), NMEA wind sentence "VWR" whereas my NASA clipper wind unit, and, by the looks of the spec, the Airmar unit, only send the up to date sentence for Wind which is "MWV".

I had to obtain a converter to get the wind transducer to talk nicely to the RM AP.

[BOAT]

Based on the info from MikeFloutier I think . . . . . . . . . suitable for stationary locations and that for boats you need the 220wx which is nearly $400 more.

Another thing to check is NMEA sentence that your AP is expecting. My Raymarine ST2000 only accepts the older (obsolete), NMEA wind sentence "VWR" whereas my NASA clipper wind unit, and, by the looks of the spec, the Airmar unit, only send the up to date sentence for Wind which is "MWV".

I had to obtain a converter to get the wind transducer to talk nicely to the RM AP.

GGGRRRR!! MAN Mike - this is why I am always a big failure at this electronics stuff. ggrr - okay, so now I wonder if there is an ultrasonic sensor at all for sailboats?? I hear about them being used all the time over seas but here in the US I can't find a thing!!! It's like waterproof tanking systems for showers - I need one for my Mercedes RV here in the US but to find one I need to go ever seas!! It seems more and more that the most innovative and latest stuff is not in America anymore - I find that I need to buy more and more stuff over seas. Like the indicator I put on the AP - there was NOTHING in America for a piston driven rudder but overseas? I found lots of devices and they were all inexpensive.

America as a capitalist economy is really starting to become dominated by so many mergers that every company is a monopoly now and the consumers are poorly served in certain industries. I find that now I need more and more help from folks overseas to find the latest equipment innovations for 'boat' or my RV. Try to find a diesel powered turbine heater in the US - NUTHIN, but from Germany the Espar is widely available. I put a shower sump in 'boat' and wanted a sump sensor built into the shower drain and could I find that in the US? nope - had to go to Great Britain for that. Most of my RayMarine equipment is 1990's tech. My Garmin seems to keep up a little better.

I guess I am going to ask all you guys overseas to tell me if they are selling an ultrasonic wind sensor over there? It would be so much better on a trailer boat because I could leave it on the mast. You guys see anything over there? I can't find ANYTHING over here.

[MikeFloutier]

BOAT! Good news. First of all it looks like I was wrong about you needing the more expensive 220wx sensor.

I had based my advise on a quote on Star Marine Depot. I just checked the Airmar website and they say that the cheaper 120wx, that you were looking at, is fine for marine environments; sorry.

Also Star Marine Depot, who do great deals on Airmar, are actually based in Florida - https://www.starmarinedepot.com/airmar- ... ument.html

You just need to make sure your autopilot will recognize the newer NMEA wind sentence.

[MikeFloutier]

Also BOAT, remembering you have the ev-100 tiller pilot, I see that it doesn't seem to accept NMEA directly.

Have a look at - https://raymarine.ning.com/forum/topics ... -autopilot

Also, I forgot to mention, with regard to the AIS, setup, you will need a VHF feed either from a dedicated ariel or, if sharing your VHF radio signal, via a splitter - I went for the second option and it works fine.

[1st Sail]

I have been corresponding with SailTimer the past few months. Now I am concerned. They promptly responded to all my email technical questions. But then I'm talking with sales and not customer support if things go soutn. According to their responses they are currently shipping a newer version which uses Bluetooth 4.0 which has a significantly greater range (up to 300ft).

Neo how long has it been since you attempted to resolve issues with Sailtimer?
Ok ... Sorry to say, as beautiful as it was, the SailTimer Instrument was an unreliable, poorly supported, piece of sh~t. And the guy that runs Sailimer is arrogant asshole who was so nice .... before I paid my money ...yes both times!!.

I have been down that path before and don't wish to go there again. I thought for $350 it was worth a shot. Now I'm not so sure.

[BOAT]

Can anyone tell me what the wire spec is on these nmea 0183 or 200 signal cables? If I were going to go buy a 50 foot roll of signal cable to use with all this stuff what would I buy? Anyone know?

[Highlander]

I got a rolls of wire from a place called Sayal Electronics & Hobbies where geekes who make their own model planes , boats & drone,s make their own remote controls & such I got a good deal on a couple of end rolls where their was more than enough wire left on the rolls for me I think it was 6 & 8 conductor wires , I,m sure any such store would carry it I used it for my auto pilot ,wind instrument & other such stuff as LED wiring also
So just google electronic hobbies store in ur neighborhood & see what pops up

J

[1st Sail]

Neo,
How long has it been since you purchased your SailTimer?

[Neo]

Neo how long has it been since you attempted to resolve issues with Sailtimer?

A few days before Christmas 2017 was the last time I was emailing them.

.....a newer version which uses Bluetooth 4.0 which has a significantly greater range (up to 300ft).

I was originally shipped a version 2 .... I remember that clearly because I told them I wanted to put the Instrument at the top of the Mast so they said they would ship a Version2 with BT4.0 ... They said that's why I had to wait 5 months but in a later email they said I waited 5 months because they wanted to supply instrument to US during their summer and it was my winter so they made me wait!
Then when I was ordering my 2nd unit (version 3 or 4, with compass sensor in the brass pointer) I was told my previous unit did not have BT4.0

I have been down that path before and don't wish to go there again. I thought for $350 it was worth a shot. Now I'm not so sure.

I thought it was worth it too but it was a double bad experience so I can only say "don't do it!" .... Sales or Tech Support... this is (was) a small company and when I was talking to them it was the same person (and production manager) for everything..... He never signs a name but his style of writing (arrogant) was a dead giveaway!

I see they now take PayPal which would at least give you more buyer protection.
Best of luck with your decision.

[MikeFloutier]

Just to reiterate, my £99 Nasa Clipper Tactical Wind sensor works fine with my autopilot and also gives me accurate wind speed on my chart plotter.

The wind direction I'm interested in (which no instrument - on the boat - can give) is 20 miles away in 4 hours time.

Just sayin'

[kurz]

Just to reiterate, my £99 Nasa Clipper Tactical Wind sensor works fine with my autopilot and also gives me accurate wind speed on my chart plotter.

The wind direction I'm interested in (which no instrument - on the boat - can give) is 20 miles away in 4 hours time.

Just sayin'

Mike, what is the language of this nasa clipper Wind sensor?
I do not use a plotter.
I use the raymarine ev-100. I mean that the ev-100 display could show wind information (I do not want to much displays...).
Is it NMEA 0183? So I would need an translater for raymarine NG???

[MikeFloutier]

Just to reiterate, my £99 Nasa Clipper Tactical Wind sensor works fine with my autopilot and also gives me accurate wind speed on my chart plotter.

The wind direction I'm interested in (which no instrument - on the boat - can give) is 20 miles away in 4 hours time.

Just sayin'

Mike, what is the language of this nasa clipper Wind sensor?
I do not use a plotter.
I use the raymarine ev-100. I mean that the ev-100 display could show wind information (I do not want to much displays...).
Is it NMEA 0183? So I would need an translater for raymarine NG???

Yes Kurz, it uses NMEA0183 "MWV" so, like me , you would need a translater; in your case NMEA0183 > SeaTalk NG.

Actisense do one for around £150.

Alternatively, I had thought you could use a Raymarine wind sensor, but, looking at their manual, even their cheapest one (around $700) actually needs an additional translater ( they mention "Via iTC-5 converter or
transducer pod" in their manual).

It's interesting, in my case both the NASA wind sensor and the old (still available new) Raymarine st2000 speak NMEA0183. It's just that the Raymarine unit only understands the now obsolete sentence for Wind, whereas the NASA wind transducer is up to date. Hence I had to pick up a Raymarine converter; not to translate the protocol but the language.

Even that they've put a stop to by discontinuing it; you have to pick them up 2nd hand on eBay when folk are upgrading their boats.

It's a bit of a minefield but if you have the time it's very rewarding.

The ultimate question is: do we really need a wind sensor at all. Is see quite a few big boats without them. But, of course, if you have the money....

[kurz]

The ultimate question is: do we really need a wind sensor at all. Is see quite a few big boats without them. But, of course, if you have the money....

Well I don't think we need a wind sensor. Maybe it will just be fun te read the exact wind speed.

My AP with wireless controll will be ok for 99.9% of situations.
Will the AP steer better in difficult situations becouse the AT gets with the wind information earlyar impuls to correct the boat? Now with just compass info the boat has first to get out of the course. Maybe with wind data the correction can be earlyer?
Dont know really, newer used wind-AP, just to think about...

[MikeFloutier]

Well I don't think we need a wind sensor. Maybe it will just be fun te read the exact wind speed.

My AP with wireless controll will be ok for 99.9% of situations.
Will the AP steer better in difficult situations becouse the AT gets with the wind information earlyar impuls to correct the boat? Now with just compass info the boat has first to get out of the course. Maybe with wind data the correction can be earlyer?
Dont know really, newer used wind-AP, just to think about...

To be totally honest I don't now use the "wind" feature on my autopilot at all.

In theory (and, I'm sure, in practice) there are times when it would be useful BUT, like you, I find steering by the compass is fine.

I've also linked the autopilot to my chartplotter and can get the pilot to follow a track/route BUT again, in practice, I never use this. I seem to remember that BOAT uses his AP in Track mode to return to his home port but the idea of doing this in Falmouth with all the various ferries criss-crossing, not to mention all the other traffic and randomly anchored boats, is too terrifying to contemplate.

I just could not resist installing and connecting a wind sensor simply because it was a feature on the autopilot.

I ended up spending more on the wind sensor, which I don't use, than the entire autopilot setup.

It would have covered the cost of my AIS installation, which included wifi and multiplexing, with plenty of change left over.

So, in summary, I'm with you Kurz, don't bother about the wind sensor.

[BOAT]

All the points you guys are making are good - this is why I am having a lot of trouble. Even if money is not an issue (a good tick tack system for rotating mast can be installed for 2000 dollars) it just does not make sense because that's way too much to spend on a sensor that never crosses the ocean - on a pac cruiser, sure, but a coastal rig like ours? Nope, makes no sense.

Now - I figure 800 bucks as the very limit for a complete system for a MAC but ONLY if it's also accurate and reliable enough to support driving the Auto Pilot in wind vane mode. Otherwise, for a wind sensor that's only good for general direction info I put 500 as the limit.

So I made the horrible mistake or trusting the Pegasus unit - it's not good enough. Okay, my bad - so now what? This whole issue is because of the rotating mast - so I guess I am now in the camp of the skippers who have put instruments on their M boats on the bow sprit (mastreb) or the aft arch (Highlander). I hate to waste an 800 dollar unit designed for rotating mast on a fixed aft arch but that's just what I am gonna do - TEMPORARILY.

As soon as I have tested the new installation of the Pegasus unit on the aft arch making sure I have a good signal that does not rely on that stupid rotation sensor I will know that my wiring is bullet proof and I will be ready to replace the sensor with something 100% better. The Maretron Ultrasonic unit was 800 dollars 2 years ago and now can be purchased for 500. I will watch the prices on the Ultrasonic units and when the price is right that Pegasus unit is going into the Pacific at 60 fathoms.

The main reason for wind vane operation is for sailing with the wind anyways - that's when the helm is the most challenging - and that is when you really need the help on the helm to keep the boat pointed direct with the wind more exactly so the sails stay full and to prevent jibes. My issue with wind running the pilot is long cruises with the wind like when I am traversing the length of Catalina island or getting home from Avalon - these are all day legs where I would like to be able to take a crap or eat a sanich or relax a little. With the sensor mounted on the aft arch it should work fine for running. I hope Highlander chimes in here and tells us how his aft mounted wind sensor works for him.