Garmin gWind issues

[Hillard]

Anyone else having problems with their Garmin gWind?

Installed August 2018 onto a new nmea 2000 system. Worked great till Feb 2019. Then it started working intermittently.

Garmin sent out a whole new unit and said to start replacing at the gnd10, then the cable, then the transponder.

Replaced the gnd10, no change.
Climbed the mast and replaced the cable and it started to work. Sent replacement parts back to Garmin.

All good for 1 month. Contacted Garmin again

Garmin had me measure nmea voltage. Looked good. Sent out a new transponder.
Climbed the mast again - installed the new transponder. System started working again. Cool!

All good for 2 months. Contacted Garmin again.
Had me measure voltage on the spare nexus port on the gnd10. Within range.
Nmea light on gnd10 blinking green as it should. Nexus light not lit. Isolated the nmea to just the gnd10 to see if network issues. No change. Fed 12v thru spare nexus port. No change.

Garmin sent out a new field connector for the nexus port. Installed it and still no change.

Garmin now sending out another gnd10. This will be the 3rd gdn10 (if it solves the problem).

Anyone else experiencing gWind issues? If so, how did you solve them?

I’m ready to just scrap this setup and go with another nmea wind transducer.

Thanks,
Mark

[Draughty]

Hi Hillard,
Sorry I have no experience with Garmin but if you go the replace with something else route be wary of B&G wind sensors, or their model 508 anyway.
I fitted one early 2016; lasted 3 months; FOC replacement but that failed a few months ago. Had to pay almost $400 for pro-rata warranty replacement which only has six months warranty.
I think if the executives responsible for making and supporting this stuff were working in a more consumer oriented market they would probably be put away for a while.

Rgds

[triibutu]

It appears the transducer connection at the top of the mast is not lasting very long. Is it properly weather-sealed?
Replacing components, especially the GND10 that should normally be installed inside, is unlikely to accomplish much. Especially as it hasn't helped before and both times you got the system working was when you climbed the mast, fiddling with the connection. Possibly didn't actually need to replace anything...

[Nightsky]

I bought a gWind in July that lasted for all of 2 weeks. Got a replacement that so far (knock on wood) is hanging in there. I had no idea that these units were so unreliable. The reason I went with the wired one versus the wireless version was because I had read they (wireless) WERE unreliable. I hope that this one holds up. Good luck with yours.

[Nightsky]

My replacement gWind has given up the ghost now too. Will try for a refund as it seems these units are not robust enough to do its intended job.

[Orion Jim]

Last fall I installed a gWind sensor and a GMI 20 display. It has worked flawlessly. I’ve sailed 1,500nm to Bermuda and a few hundred nm since my return to New England in everything from flat calms to 45 knot winds. All of the wiring and all connections were new, nothing old was reused. Great instruments so far.

[Hillard]

Back at the boat and installed the replacement gnd10. Gwind system is back up and running.

Don’t know how long it will last though. Let’s hope that Garmin has changed something in their setup since I installed the original.

[Mainebristol]

I'm going to buy some unit or other in the spring. Thanks for the data point. I'm leaning toward the calypso wireless job with the ultra-sonic sensor, but I still don't know... I can't find very many sailor reviews on any of these wind sensors, and the ones I do find are mostly bad! This just seems like a difficult instrument to make reliable. Anybody else?

[Hillard]

It lasted 3 days!

Was working beautifully the last 3 days. About to take the boat out and the system is dead again.

This is the most unreliable POS Ive ever encountered.

The GND10 is showing a green light for NMEA2000, no light for the Nexus side.

Time to switch brands. This has been a total waste of time and $600.

[Nightsky]

I was able to get a refund from West Marine. They were great to deal with. Just returned the bits a pieces, without original packaging even, to the nearest store I happened to be near, and my credit card was refunded the full purchase price. Now I have been several weeks without a replacement, and no idea what I'm going to put up there. Looking to find another brand that will plug in to the nmea 2000 backbone and display on my Garmin GMI 10's. Any suggestions anyone?

[Hillard]

Nightsky,
I bought mine via Amazon, will attempt a return, but that’s doubtful.

I have a Raymarine ITC 5 that currently connects my depth/speed and sea temp to the NMEA network.

I believe my best solution is to dump the Garmin gWind and replace it with a Raymarine st60 wind transducer and connect it to the ITC5.

Hate the though of climbing the mast again to remove the Garmin POS and then install the replacement. Ive been up there 3 time so far dealing with the Garmin.

Mark

[Dean2]

Finally joined Cruisers Forum after using it as an information source for some time. I'm hoping one of you frustrated gWind people out there can help, as I am having a ridiculously frustrating time with this POS.

I won't bore you with the last 2 years of bad advice, poor service and frustrating waits. My gWind seems to be ok IF the weather has been fine for a few days. If it rains it simply stops working. I had my rigger mate check it out and he found the sealing ring at the masthead join was crimped and he took it out. Sadly then he dropped it - just another incident with this project. I contacted Garmin support and asked for specifications of the sealing ring, to which their response was "This does not seem to be a user-replaceable part", along with a request for a copy of the receipt, pictures of the NMEA install, details of who installed it etc etc -the list went on!

I am 99.9% sure that my issue is with this join. My options are:
a) remove unit and feed entire transducer, cable, GND10 and GNX Wind up a Garmin orifice (pretty much my dream scenario)
b) remove cable and transducer, create waterproof soldered connection, replace in mast
c) find a comparable sealing ring without Garmin's "help" and giving that a try

Any ideas on that ring?

[Hillard]

Dean2,
I’d be surprised if your join was the issue. Mine had the oring intact, plus I taped the hell out of the joint. Ive recently deinstalled the whole system and when I took that joint apart it was as dry as could be. No sign of any moisture on the tape either.

When I got everything back down off the mast and the wire pulled, I put it all back together inside the cabin(no moisture). Initially, the gnd10 came back to life and the system worked!

For about 8 hours. Then it died again. Pulled the nexus connector from the gnd10. Redid the micro connector just to be sure, reinstalled it and the system came back to life. For about 3 hours this time.

Garmin had me check all voltages and they are good.

System is simply unstable.

Ill be going with Raymarine and an itc5 to convert the analog signals to NMEA.

Mark

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Hillard

Dean2,
I’d be surprised if your join was the issue. Mine had the oring intact, plus I taped the hell out of the joint. Ive recently deinstalled the whole system and when I took that joint apart it was as dry as could be. No sign of any moisture on the tape either.

When I got everything back down off the mast and the wire pulled, I put it all back together inside the cabin(no moisture). Initially, the gnd10 came back to life and the system worked!

For about 8 hours. Then it died again. Pulled the nexus connector from the gnd10. Redid the micro connector just to be sure, reinstalled it and the system came back to life. For about 3 hours this time.

Garmin had me check all voltages and they are good.

System is simply unstable.

Ill be going with Raymarine and an itc5 to convert the analog signals to NMEA.

Mark

Thanks Mark, depressingly it sounds like you are correct. I've thrown far too much money away on this to be happy, this sh*t is fresh out of the box and doesn't work. Grrrrr! Seemingly typical these days, we can land a man on the moon but can't create quality electronics that work.

[triibutu]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Any ideas on that ring?

I don't know what te masthead connection looks like, but if it happens to use the same "nexus" plug that goes into GND10, then this is a standard industrial "m8" connector.
Something like these: https://www.tme.eu/en/katalog/m8-connectors_112966/

Digging at manufacturers' sites might bring up the specs for the plug, sealing rings, etc.