Raymarine ST60 Wind 2006

[Charlie-Bravo]

Popped out for a day sail and noticed the wind direction on the ST60 was wrong, it was indicating apparent wind at 25 degrees port tack and we were broad reaching on port tack. We gybed , the instrument showed that we were now on starboard tack, but again it thought the wind was around 25 to 30 degrees to our heading, and not the 120 to 140 degrees blowing behind my right ear.
It has not misbehaved before.
Looking at the wind vane of the ST60 it was agreeing with the wind hawk vane on the vhf antenna , sailing in circles proved that the Raymarine vane wasn't stuck.
On the way back to our berth I then noticed that the indicated wind speed was now going pearshaped as well, reading 2 knots and we were sailing close hauled at about 5 knots, by chance we had the wind at 35 to 40 degrees and the wind instrument more or less agreed.
Back at our berth with the wind blowing from the aft, the St60 still thought we were bow into wind, and sat there with the needle twitching slightly, ..... and so was I. I thumped it, but it wasn't a cure.

Today I took the binnacle apart and examined the cables, then unplugged the daisy chain of sea talk cables and re plugged them in, no corrosion seen as I was hoping for (the easy fix) and the only thing that changed was the wind speed now looks corrected, so some progress, next I examined the cable junction at the bottom of the mast, all is well there, and no amount of wire giggling produced any change at the ST60.

I have viewed many a thread here, and may have to re read and get the multimeter out, but would like to hear if there is likely to be a deck level fix, or is it most likely to be a trip up the mast? Or perhaps 2006 is just a long time ago and it's old.

Wish my drone could handle pliers and screwdrivers!

CB

[Caxton]

My ST60+ started acting completely erratically. I ended up replacing Parts A28164 (PCB) and A28167 (Vane and cups).

Here is a picture of the PCB which was the actual culprit.
photos.app.goo.gl/URMDgWWWHgW68dJbA

Here is the video I found on you tube showing the repair.  I don't speak Italian but clearly saw what he was doing.
st60 Raymarine Wind crazy problem &repair


Worked like a charm.

Caxton

[zaphod]

Looks like Caxton has you on the right track.

While troubleshooting my Raymarine instruments I learned that there are 2 different types of transducers you could have. Analog transducers are easily tested with a multimeter. If your wind instruments are analog they will plug into a little box which then plugs into the Seatalk network. Often that box is what fails.

If you have digital "smart" transducers the wire from the mast will plug directly into the Seatalk network. All of the analog to digital conversions happen in the transducer itself. If it is sending incorrect data to the network then the transducer circuitry has likely failed. You can try recalibrating the instruments, but it is likely you need to replace the unit at the masthead.

[Syrah]

I experienced a problem like that. In my case it was because I had placed a bag containing a notebook computer on the port side shelf in the main cabin, just near the electronic compass. The moment I shifted the bag, the problem went away. Readings at the helm were off by about 20 degrees.

[Charlie-Bravo]

I'll try the recal, and no little box to fail so as said it could be up top, I found a full set of tests on the Raymarine site and will see what's what over the next couple of days.
Thanks for the inputs 
CB

[Don Reaves]

I've had similar problems with my Raymarine ST 60 wind instrument, but it's clearly not the problem you're having. In my case, the solution has always been to climb the mast and clear the spider webs that are hanging up the moving parts. It's quite frustrating.

[reiner]

I had last year a similar problem. Changing the board solved the problem. This work is not very difficult, unfortunately you have
to climb in the mast and take down the wind gauge for the board change.

[virtualburton]

Fantastic, Thanks for sharing.