Raymarine p70 "No Wind Data"

[Bolo]

Not too long ago I had an issue with my Raymarine wind instrument not showing any wind speeds just apparent wind direction. That issue was resolved after sending the mast head unit and the i60 wind display to Raymarine service and you can see how it was resolved by clicking here: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/raymarine-i60-wind-instrument-problem.21592/post-176243

Everything is back together and seems to be working fine now....EXCEPT....when I try to engage the "sail by the wind direction" feature on the p70 display and control for the ST400 Wheel Pilot I get a "NO WIND DATA" message on the P70. I sent in a product support message to Raymarine and here it is:

"When I try to engage the P70 to adjust the ST4000 to sail by the wind setting it displays the message, "NO WIND DATA". I get the same message at the same time on the AXIOM 7. Prior to this I had sent in both my Short Arm Wind Txd (which was repaired under warranty) and the i60 Analogue Wind Instrument (which had a broken pin). It was determined that the i60 was beyond repair so a new one was sent to me. Software updates were as preformed, by Raymarine service, on both instruments I was told. Before I had problems with the Short Arm Txd and the i60, the "sail by the wind" was working properly. I checked all connections and cables to the best of my ability. Could it mean that the P70 also needs a software upgrade to be compatible with the other instruments or is there some other issues?"

Raymarine hasn't gotten back to me yet so I thought I'd post my problem here to see if anyone else has had the same experience and maybe a suggested solution.

 

[Dave G.]

If you are getting wind data on your i60 instrument, it may be an issue with a data cable or system backbone, maybe a terminator. Do you get wind data on your Axiom when the P70 is not engaged ?

 

[Bolo]

If you are getting wind data on your i60 instrument, it may be an issue with a data cable or system backbone, maybe a terminator. Do you get wind data on your Axiom when the P70 is not engaged ?

Yes, well I’m thinking that the problem could be that (data cable, system backbone or terminator) which can only be determined by switching out those items with new duplicates. However, as you can see in the diagram below the cables to the P70s and the Axiom chart plotter from the (brand new) i60 wind instrument go in two different directions using different cables so for both cables (A06045 & A06038 + backbone cables) to be defective would be unlikely but not impossible, of course. Or the new i60 wind instrument that Raymarine gave me could be defective. Again, unlikely but not impossible. Also the i50 Depth instrument is sending reading to the chart plotter by way of it's connection through the i60 wind. I'll need to check if I get wind data to the chart plotter when the p70s is not engaged. I first noticed this problem this past weekend with sailing guest aboard so I didn't have the time to look into it more. Going to the boat tomorrow for a week long trip on the bay so I'll check that out.

By the way of clarification, the diagram I include shows magenta "stars" that reference the equipment that was already installed at the time I wired up the i60, i50 (depth) and the Axiom Chart plotter as part of my electronics upgrade that can be seen on my YouTube channel.

 

[Dave G.]

In looking at your wiring it is different from how I wired mine. Not sure if it makes a difference and a couple of other caveats, I also had the i50 speed instrument, no connection to autopilot(old st4000) and my plotter was a Garmin. I "daisy chained" The wind, speed, & depth instruments directly to the backbone( 1 connection), connected my Garmin directly to backbone. In theory not sure why it shouldn't work how you currently have configured though. Due to the Garmin in my system my backbone was a NMEA 2k and not Seatalkng. But Seatalkng is NMEA 2k with a Raymarine connector.

 

[peaman]

Ideally, in an NMEA2000 system, each device will automatically figure out what data it needs to receive from the network, but it doesn't always work perfectly. Sometimes, issues can be fixed by going into device setup and selecting "find sources automatically", or something to that effect. Other times, issues were fixed by going into the device setup and reviewing the data "Sources", and making changes manually as needed.

 

[Bolo]

Ideally, in an NMEA2000 system, each device will automatically figure out what data it needs to receive from the network, but it doesn't always work perfectly. Sometimes, issues can be fixed by going into device setup and selecting "find sources automatically", or something to that effect. Other times, issues were fixed by going into the device setup and reviewing the data "Sources", and making changes manually as needed.

Peaman,
I owe you a big thank you!! So, on my Raymarine Axiom 7 chart plotter after the chart came up, I selected the “home” button in the upper left corner (the little house).


On the home page select “settings” lower right.


On the settings page selected “network” (upper right)


The network page shows all devices connected and here you select “data sources” which is the center button on the right hand between diagnostics and refresh.


On the Data Source page I clicked on the “wind” button but there are also buttons for other sources that the software will find automatically but it may take about five seconds or so to find it.


It found the i60 wind instrument and so I click on it to establish the preferred source for wind information.


Then I went back to the chart page, turned on the autopilot and selected it to steer by the wind vane. Although I was at the dock the wheel did “jiggle” a bit, like it was actually working, and I had no messages about no wind data being found. Sailing out of Annapolis tomorrow morning and will try it underway but I think the issue has been solved.

So basically it’s the old story about how computer are actually stupid and so you need to tell them where to get the data and what to do with it. Thanks again for the great tip!

 

[peaman]

So glad I could help. Yes, now you know that the best policy with instruments is "trust, but verify." I have dealt with "data sources" a few times. Be careful about choosing "find sources automatically", because a device will not find what is not powered on. Once, after some "fooling around" (I guess), my B&G chart plotter reported that it had no position data (!). I checked sources, and found that it expected position to be provided by my Raymarine autopilot controller, which of course has no idea where it is. It is great that we have literal magic at our fingertips, but don't be fooled by the apparent simplicity of it all. Trust, but verify (and yet, still don't trust too much).

 

[Vtonian]

Appreciate y'all having this discussion, I have some of this gear and all I know about it technically is, the PO had some trouble with marrying SeaTalk, CAN bus, Yannar CP, cable/converters/whatnot, and that much I only know from stumbling on his old posts in another forum. Being able to eavesdrop on a plain english conversation about it makes it all a little less spooky.
You may recall my pics of the quarterberth cabin wall that looks like Christian's bad hair day wiring met a semi truck's windshield.