wind point instruments

[anderbra]

My boat has a Signet wind point and anemometer installed at the top of the mast and they transmit the information to displays in the cockpit. Recently, the wind point display stopped working while the sensor at the top of the mast still spins according to the wind direction. The wind speed display still is working fine.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I should do to fix the problem?

Please feel free to elaborate. The more info the better.

Thank you in anticipation.

PS: looking up the mast is neck breaking and telltales on shrouds are helpfull but not my kind of solution.

[Faster]

We had the same stuff on our previous boat and the wind direction never really worked reliably (but like you, windspeed was fine) Without any schematics repair is difficult but odds are connections may be the culprit - and those can be checked/cleaned. Still we were never able to get the windpoint to work reliably.

Signet is still in business and they will repair your stuff, or offer you a reasonable credit towards newer Signet equipment (at least last I heard)

The problem is, of course, you'd have to ship your masthead unit and receiver to California. You can specify a max spend amount before you'd rather upgrade.

I've purchased replacement LCD displays for depth and knotmeters from them in the past few years.. good service then. Give them a call or an email:

Signet Marine

[anderbra]

Thank you Faster.

My instruments are probably as old as the boat (+- 30 years) and it never occoured to me to see if Signet was still in existence.

Unlike yours, my wind point instrument worked very well untill recently. That's why I want it back.

Thank you again.

[celenoglu]

1. Connection problems: Although rare, check the cables. The connections to the dials and mast top are more probable.
2. The unit on the might be defective. This is generally a circular potentiometer which can rotate 360 degrees. This might be defective. In this case it is best to replace the whole unit. But it might be possible to repair it in some cases.

[BubbleheadMd]

Originally Posted by celenoglu

1. Connection problems: Although rare, check the cables. The connections to the dials and mast top are more probable.
2. The unit on the might be defective. This is generally a circular potentiometer which can rotate 360 degrees. This might be defective. In this case it is best to replace the whole unit. But it might be possible to repair it in some cases.

I agree with this. In the case of #1, you can perform a continuity check on the cable with an ohm or multi-meter. You can also put the multi meter on the plug of the potentiometer and spin the wind vane. If the resistance reading is "open" or "infinite" or it doesn't change at all when rotating the wind vane, then the problem is there.

I have an ancient (broken) Signet knotmeter, and found that they were still in business. Definitely check out their website. They offer drop-in replacements for some of their instruments.