[JB] [JB11]ST60+ Wind Instrument

[[email protected]]

I have a 1998 Gozzard 36 sailboat that I purchased 4 years ago. I have Raymarine and Raytheon instruments and my chart plotter is Standard Horizon. These are the instruments that came with the boat and I have not done any instrument upgrades yet. Over the past couple of years I have added six solar panels, a Silent Wind generator and upgraded my battery system to Lithionics.

For my wind, depth and speed instruments at the helm I have Raymarine ST60+ and at the navigation station down below I have a Raytheon Multi. Last Saturday, May 23 ,2020 I was out sailing and the wind speed digital readout would to two different things:
1) It would work for about 5 minutes with the wind speed numbers showing up then three horizontal lines would display were the numbers used to be.
2) Other times on Monday, there would be numbers indicating wind speed and after 1-2 hours it would only show the three horizontal lines. Usually when I would turn the electronics off at the breaker and then start again in 2-5 minutes it would work for a while, sometimes 5 minutes and other times 1-2 hours, then the numbers would go away and the three horizontal lines appear.
The wind direction pointer on the Raymarine ST60+ has not been consistently exactly the same reading as the wind vane at the top of the mast since I purchased the boat, but it was only about 5 degrees off. On the same day in question it was 45-90 degrees off and sometimes it would jump around erratically all over the 360 degree dial.

The depth indicator (also a Raymarine ST60+) would often in shallower water, 15-200 feet, give an accurate reading that would correspond closely to the nautical chart. In deeper water, 200-800 feet, it will give a reading from 10-16 feet and number would jump around.

The only trouble shooting I have done so far is to unplug the cables from the back of the Raymarine ST60+ units and check to see if there was dust or corrosion on the contacts and see if the plug ins were loose. I brushed them with a small nylon brush but there did not seem to be much dust and no corrosion so I plugged them back in firmly.

Would you be willing to help me figure out what is going on with my instruments and suggest suitable repairs?

Kent de Vigne

[Jules - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hello [email protected],

Welcome to the Raymarine forum,

Apologies for the delayed response, we currently have limited resources to attend to the forum.

When any data field, depth, speed, or wind shows --- that is indicating that there is no data being received, therefore not displayed as a number. If the ST60 instrument initially displays an actual number, then the data is being received and displayed. Most instrumentation is micro processor driven and if the data stops being displayed after a period of time it would be due to a number of reasons. 1) of loss of connection between the wind, depth or speed transducer and the display. 2) inconsistent power supply. 3) failing hardware - either transducer or display. To define which is actually faulty you need to have known working transducers and displays and swap them out to establish that. Wind instruments in particular can be struck by lightning and in most cases have to be replaced. Please contact one of our Authorized Raymarine Service Dealers for further assistance here Dealer Locator

ST60 wind instrument can be calibrated and it is possible to download the operation manual from the Raymarine.com website

ST60 depth instrument uses fairly low power to establish depth reading so in shallower water it will show a relatively accurate number and in quite deep water, as you've discovered, the displayed numbers are no longer relative.

Hope this helps

Happy boating and kind regards
Jules