Navico 508 Wind Sensor - Mystery !!!

[timohara]

Hi All

I arrived at my yacht the other day and none of the instruments were working. The chart plotter was showing no input from any network or SIMNET / NMEA2000 devices.

I unplug all devices and managed to isolate the issue to the 508 wind sensor - the moment I unplugged it everything else worked - so fair to assume it was very ill. So, up the mast I go, removed the 508 – have a look at this... it looks like it has been burnt as the powder coating is blistered.

Any thoughts from anyone - what could have caused this?

Many thanks.

Tim

[mogulskibum]

My SCWAG*: Something random (ribbon, balloon, string, etc) got wrapped around it. There wasn't enough friction to keep it from spinning, but enough to generate heat when it did spin. Eventually whatever it was got so hot it melted through and blew away and you're left with the damage.



*SCWAG: Scientifically Calculated Wild Ass Guess

[Cormoran]

Could have been a "near lightning strike". I've lost 2 of these units in one season for this reason. They are notoriously susceptible & Simrad normally replace them free if less than 2 years old & at half price if under five years. I'm told now that if replaced under warranty they will keep replacing them indefinitely as they know they have a problem. I cannot vouch that this is in fact true.

[timohara]

Originally Posted by Cormoran

Could have been a "near lightning strike". I've lost 2 of these units in one season for this reason. They are notoriously susceptible & Simrad normally replace them free if less than 2 years old & at half price if under five years. I'm told now that if replaced under warranty they will keep replacing them indefinitely as they know they have a problem. I cannot vouch that this is in fact true.

Thanks for that - I wondered if it could be something like that - as it must have been exposed to extreme heat to blister the powder coating - and it appears to have burn marks higher up. Did you have any other issues ?

[Cormoran]

Yes plenty. Needed new wind, depth sensors, IS40 display & chart plotter. You were fortunate that things worked after disconnecting the 508. Normally you have to insert a terminator resistor to fool the Simnet in to thinking the 508 is still there. Same applies to the depth of that goes.

[DeepFrz]

I don't think a near lightening strike would do that without taking out the rest of or at least some of his other electronic devices. What changes did you make to the network before leaving the boat prior to you noticing this problem?

[lateral]

What is the component made of? That looks like Aluminium corrosion.
Poor quality Al powdercoated is prone to this .

I am holding off replacing my PB200 with a 508 for this reason. ( High failure rate)

[lateral]

Originally Posted by lateral

What is the component made of? That looks like Aluminium corrosion.
Poor quality Al powdercoated is prone to this .

I am holding off replacing my PB200 with a 508 for this reason. ( High failure rate)

The 608 ( new release) seems to have fixed the PCB problem with the 508.

Could you please re-post when you ascertain the problem.

[Erich Titl]

Hi Folks, new here


I was lured here by the same problem on my 508, not the only one though. The picture of the wind vane bearings look like, well corrosion. IMHO a bad choice for protecting aluminium from the saline environment. Why B&G has decided to go the cheap way just powdercoating it and not just simply black anodize the bloody thing is the real mistery.


I discovered my corrosion because the wind speed stopped working, not because of the external corrosion but because of a crack where the wand connects to the wind vane housing, letting water to the small pcb in there. As the wind speed sits below it got corroded first ad quit. The connection between the wand and the housing as just too weak, had the same symtptoms on a 213 MHU years back and the disign has hardly changed. I will reinforce mine with a bit of grp before I put it up again. I would suggest to do that even with new eaquipment.


cheers


ET

[Erich Titl]

The difference I saw was just embedding the whole pcb in urethane.

[urumate]

Hi all, I have the same issue with 508 aluminum corrosion. Does anybody know if 608 has the same Aluminum components and so will have the same issue ? Which will be the sensor I should buy in order to replace the 508 ? Thanks !