Maretron vs. Airmar Ultrasonic Wind

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Saltyhog

I had not heard of Cruzpro before, so I did a bit of googling. Looks like some interesting stuff and probably economical. What are your issues with the wind setup. Is it not performing up to task, or are you just unsure due to it's relative obscurity in the US?

From the specs, I like it because of it's low power requirements. It seems every instrument head now requires almost 2 watts of power. Once you start adding up a number of displays, over a period of time, you're talking real AH's. I know it's not an issue for the big boat crowd as they have ample means of generating all the power they need for washing machines and ice makers. But for those of us on a tight power budget, every mA counts. I'm starting to rethink my upcoming electronics purchases to not include a lot of N2K stuff for exactly that reason.

That is such a small amount though compared to the fridge.

[dpddj]

Saltyhog -
We did not depart friends, although I think their products are refreshing in concept.
Ultimately, after many hours of up and down the mast, repulling new cables, troubleshooting, packaging and sending units to NZ and spending as much money trying to figure out what was wrong as the system cost, the whole system will have been replaced. I am hoping the replacement items (still waiting on one) work for a very long time.
A guy I know bought an Airmar system for what I have into this and has been very pleased with its performance and durability. Best part, he hasn't been back up his mast.

[cortezsailor]

I was considering mounting the Maretron ws100 on a radar pole off the stern , with a height above water of 15 ft. Has anybody done this and has any of its effectiveness been degraded by this mounting? Maretron saids it should not but I would like first hand experience on this if possible. Can the Furuno RD33 read the information from this unit or is the DSM 150 leagues above.

[colemj]

The WS100 will accurately read the wind and direction at the point of its mount regardless of where it is mounted.

However, the rub is that where it is mounted determines if the wind and direction is accurate overall.

If mounted 15' off the stern on a pole, I suspect that the wind speed and direction at that point will not be related to those you would want for general sailing. The sails will greatly effect the apparent wind it sees - to the point that depending on the mount position you could hypothetically be sailing in 20kts of wind on a beat and be measuring 5kts of wind from behind.

Any display that can display NMEA2000 wind and environmental PGN's will work with it.

Mark

[barnakiel]

If you want the wind function of your AP, you want the most accurate and stable wind data. This would suggest maybe possibly PB200 has the edge.

b.

[colemj]

The PB200 is 2-3x the price of the WS100. While it may have a performance edge (I don't know), our WS100 operates perfectly in wind mode with our AP. IMO, the specific AP is more of a determinant in this mode than the specific wind transducer.

Mark

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

If you want the wind function of your AP, you want the most accurate and stable wind data. This would suggest maybe possibly PB200 has the edge.

b.

Apparently the PB200 does not process or stabilise the wind data, contrary to some early erroneous reports. It gives pitch and roll data in the usual N2k format, separately, and the wind data is essentially the same as what the WSO100 produces. There was a big discussion about this on Panbo. In any case, ultrasonic wind data doesnt really need any stabilisation since there's no inertia - there's no mechanical vane to flop around. It works great.

Sent from my SGP521 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by colemj

The WS100 will accurately read the wind and direction at the point of its mount regardless of where it is mounted.

However, the rub is that where it is mounted determines if the wind and direction is accurate overall.

If mounted 15' off the stern on a pole, I suspect that the wind speed and direction at that point will not be related to those you would want for general sailing. The sails will greatly effect the apparent wind it sees - to the point that depending on the mount position you could hypothetically be sailing in 20kts of wind on a beat and be measuring 5kts of wind from behind.

Any display that can display NMEA2000 wind and environmental PGN's will work with it.

Mark

Indeed. You definitely want it at the masthead, high enough to be in clean air out of the wash from the headsail. Not on a stern pole where it will be blanketed by the rig on some points of sail and buffeted by turbulence. Also, as Mark says, wind speed and direction close to the surface is different. Because of friction with the sea surface. Get that device up high in clean air.

Sent from my SGP521 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[dpddj]

In case anyone is interested, the replacement Cruzpro display I installed a couple weeks ago has now also gone Tango Uniform. This is a stand alone system. Masthead sensor, a cable, a display and 12VDC. Nothing else is connected. It announced it's death. Went to 95 knts of wind (actually 20 or so), then TU.

I will pull this POS off the boat and deep six it in the Gulf Stream. Without any ceremony.

[Saltyhog]

Originally Posted by dpddj

In case anyone is interested, the replacement Cruzpro display I installed a couple weeks ago has now also gone Tango Uniform. This is a stand alone system. Masthead sensor, a cable, a display and 12VDC. Nothing else is connected. It announced it's death. Went to 95 knts of wind (actually 20 or so), then TU.

I will pull this POS off the boat and deep six it in the Gulf Stream. Without any ceremony.

Thanks for the update. Sorry for your troubles (and the expense), but certainly appreciate the heads up on this gear.

[Lantau]

Does anyone know if the Maretron WSO100 wind sensor can provide wind data to a Simrad AP24 autopilot? If so, how is the connection made (bearing in mind that Simrad uses "Simnet" instead of ordinary NMEA connectors)?

Thanks!

[CarinaPDX]

If the AP came with a Simnet cable then you can cut it in half and put a Maretron field-installable DeviceNet connector on in order to make an adapter cable, or just spend the $50 and buy the adapter cable. That assumes you will want to create a simple backbone with DeviceNet connectors. Or you could set up a Simnet backbone and adapt the cable from the Maretron wind sensor. The only difference between SimNet and NMEA 2000 with the standard DeviceNet connector is the connector. They use the same 5 conductors and protocol. (Personally I find the SimNet connectors and cables to be much lower quality.) To create a backbone it will be necessary to have a power tap and terminating resistors on either end. Look at the Maretron catalog as it has a good tutorial.

Greg

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Lantau

Does anyone know if the Maretron WSO100 wind sensor can provide wind data to a Simrad AP24 autopilot? If so, how is the connection made (bearing in mind that Simrad uses "Simnet" instead of ordinary NMEA connectors)?

Thanks!

Yes, of course. The AC24 takes wind data, heading and control inputs from the network. So any networked wind instrument will do. You don't connect the pilot computer to the wind instrument. They just both have to be on the same network.

SIMNET and NMEA2000 is the same thing except for the physical connectors. You can use devices with both types of connectors on the same network by using adapters or field-installed connectors as necessary.

[Jerry Woodward]

Since this thread was recently bumped and seems to be a general ultrasonic wind sensor thread, I'd like to ask a question. My boat currently does not have a wind sensor or wind display but I would like to install one. As I am very happy with my Ipad at the helm for navigation, I am considering also using it as a multifunction display by installing an N2K multiplexer with wifi and using iNavX. Thus for wind, I am considering getting a Maretron WS0100 and running a N2K backbone up the mast. I wouldn't need a display since the WS0100 data should display on iNavX, right? Is anyone using the WS0100 with an ipad? Are all the data accessible?

[tanglewood]

Back on the WSO100 vs Airmar, I personally know 4 people with WSO100s, and everyone of them has had multiple failures. I have had two failures in 3 years, and am replacing with Airmar. No more WSOs for me.