ITC-5 Issue?

[mgcondon]

Greetings, I recently installed a Seatalk NG network, two i70, a p70, and an i60 wind instrument, AIS650, AIS100, ITC-5, and an NMEA0187 converter. The network has three 5-way connectors that link the instruments, my SG3 autopilot, E127 display, and VHF. The wind, speed, and depth transducers are all from my previous Seatalk network with ST60 displays. The old network and displays were completely removed.

All works well with the exception of the wind direction. Both the i60 and i70 displays show the wind speed correctly, but the direction indicator hovers between 180 and 195 degrees no matter what position the boat is relative to the wind. I read the masthead test procedure on another thread and performed that today. When powering the transducer with an independant 8v supply I read from blue to shield 3.46v, green to shield 5.1v, and yellow to shield 0.2v - all within the parameters. I then tested with the ITC-5 connected and read to shield 2.4v blue, 3.65v green, and 0.15v yellow. I only registered 6.0v red to shield. With the exception of the apparent low voltage all is within the specifications. To be certain I had good connections I replaced all of the female spade terminals and tried again with the same results. All of the equipment was purchased 5 months ago and installed in January.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Steve - Raymarine - Moderator]

Have you gone through the calibration procedure of the masthead through the i70 instrument display?

Menu>Setup>Transducer Set Up>ITC-5>Wind

[mgcondon]

Yes, twice. Once after the initial installation and again when the transducer cable was repinned. I attempted to calibrate both the i-70 and the i-60 separately each time, with the same results both times. The i-70 calibration screen never showed the boat completing more than about 15 degrees of the turn, despite making three complete turns during each attempt.

[Steve - Raymarine - Moderator]

You can only calibrate through the i70 display when the transducer is connect to the iTC-5, the i60 will only be a repeater in the system, because it requires a direct connection to the masthead in order to calibrate.

So you have never completed the calibration?

[mgcondon]

No, despite going through three complete circles the instrument never completed, nor did the indicator change more than 15 degrees.

[mgcondon]

To be clear, I would add that the attempts to calibrate the i70 were two attempts each on two different days, for a total of four. Each attempt was done with a minimum of three slow circles. One was done with several circles. The indicator on the i70 never rotated through the circle - it never moved more than 15 degrees.

[Steve - Raymarine - Moderator]

I think the next step would be to send the iTC-5 into the Service Center at the address below, to be evaluated by a service technician. You have completed the masthead tests and although numbers were low they were in spec. With the i70 not completing calibration and not progressing through the calibration procedure, I think we need to take either the masthead or the iTC-5 out of the variables and get the iTC-5 checked, which is the easiest to remove.

Raymarine Service Center
9 Townsend West
Nashua, NH 03063

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[PaulM]

Last year I had a similar situation. I could not complete calibration on the i70. So, to diagnose further, I connected the wind transducer directly to the i60 and tried to calibrate it. Similarly, it did not complete the calibration. Consequently, I replaced the wind transducer and its cables. That cured the problem.

[PaulM]

What I suggest, since he has an i60, is to connect the transducer directly to the i60 as the master, and see if the calibration works successfully. If so, the problem may be the iTC-5. If not, the problem may be the transducer, masthead base connection, or the cables.

[Steve - Raymarine - Moderator]

Great suggestions Paul, connecting directly to the i60, and making sure you set it as Master to calibrate the Masthead would determine if the issue is with the Masthead or the iTC-5.

Thanks for the useful input!