Wind Transducer

[Alden68]

Hello all...

I have a Raymarine St60 wind instrument with the Rotovecta transducer. I just picked up a new mast this afternoon and the spar shop was unable to remove the transducer cable from the old mast so it had to be cut. I will call Raymarine tomorrow to see what wire they recommend to splice and reconnect but I was wondering if anyone here might know the best wire and procedure to use.

Thanks in advance...

[Alden68]

A Raymarine dealer said that any shielded 22-gauge or lower wire would work fine. They suggested using shielded speaker wire as the cheapest solution with simple butt connections.

Thoughs....comments....concerns?

[sailingdog]

I would highly recommend you use marine grade wire, as it will be far more corrosion and fatigue resistant than non-marine grade wire. Marine-grade wire is fully tinned for corrosion resistance, and uses finer strands than non-marine wiring for better fatigue resistance.

Given the distance the signal has to run, I would use a larger gauge wire than 22 AWG wire. I would also recommend you twist the wires together to help shield them from interference. The manufacturer can tell you which wires should be twisted together, if any.

If you're going to use butt connections, cover the butt connector with adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing and stagger the connections by several inches, so that the butt connectors aren't all at the same point in the wiring. If you don't do this, you'll get a very thick bundle of the butt connectors that can cause problems later on.

The adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing will help protect the connections from physical strain as well as water intrusion.

I hope that helps.

[Alden68]

Thanks for the advice. Any idea where I can get shielded marine grade wire?

[sailingdog]

I believe you can get shielded marine-grade wire here. They sell it in various gauges, and up to three wires, per shielded cable.

You can also get it here. But I believe they'll be a bit on the expensive side and only have 22 AWG wire listed.

[Alden68]

great -thanks!

[sailingdog]

glad to help

BTW, here's another possible wire source.