Any disadvantages to ultrasonic wind sensor?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by DotDun

I think the RM transducer can be had for ~$300.

RM? no let's not say nor write that word in full

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

RM? no let's not say nor write that word in full

I've just retired a 10 year old Raymarine network which never gave a moment's trouble in all of its life (other than the wind vane snapped off by a horny seagull; not Raymarine's fault). It was a great system, beautiful sturdy construction, like military hardware, extremely well thought out user interface, and I was generally very happy with it, and would not have changed it quite yet except that the radar was fading and I couldn't display AIS data.

[estarzinger]

You guys are so old school, and I am really surprised Jedi is so behind the times. The 'modern' wind sensor technology is LIDAR.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

You guys are so old school, and I am really surprised Jedi is so behind the times. The 'modern' wind sensor technology is LIDAR.

"Doppler LIDAR and Rayleigh Doppler LIDAR are used to measure temperature and/or wind speed along the beam by measuring the frequency of the backscattered light. The Doppler broadening of gases in motion allows the determination of properties via the resulting frequency shift.[17][18] Scanning LIDARs, such as NASA's HARLIE LIDAR, have been used to measure atmospheric wind velocity in a large three dimensional cone.[19] ESA's wind mission ADM-Aeolus will be equipped with a Doppler LIDAR system in order to provide global measurements of vertical wind profiles.[20] A doppler LIDAR system was used in the 2008 Summer Olympics to measure wind fields during the yacht competition.[21] Doppler LIDAR systems are also now beginning to be successfully applied in the renewable energy sector to acquire wind speed, turbulence, wind veer and wind shear data. Both pulsed and continuous wave systems are being used. Pulsed systems using signal timing to obtain vertical distance resolution, whereas continuous wave systems rely on detector focusing."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIDAR

It sounds extremely good! But not offered by Raymarine, Navico, Garmin, or Furuno, as far as I can tell . . . so far . . .

[estarzinger]

I actually ran across LIDAR when doing some technical work (adjustable pitch blades) on wind turbines.

In sailing . . . . well Oracle has a LIDAR unit. About the size of a large pair of binoculars. Can measure wind speed and direction to an accuracy of 1% at 2-3kms. I have tried it . . . very neat. Only about $250K.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

I actually ran across LIDAR when doing some technical work (adjustable pitch blades) on wind turbines.

In sailing . . . . well Oracle has a LIDAR unit. About the size of a large pair of binoculars. Can measure wind speed and direction to an accuracy of 1% at 2-3kms. I have tried it . . . very neat. Only about $250K.

Let's hope it trickles down to us mere mortal sailors before we're dead . . .

[CaptainDana]

I have heard and read that the ultrasonic transducer's accuracy in light air is far less than cups and feathers. I have no idea if this is true but I learned long ago to take that kind of stuff with the same grain of salt as I do with the OEM's reviews of their own gear. Has anyone got a goodly amount of experience with the maritron on a sailboat? If so, I'd love to read about it.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by CaptainDana

I have heard and read that the ultrasonic transducer's accuracy in light air is far less than cups and feathers. I have no idea if this is true but I learned long ago to take that kind of stuff with the same grain of salt as I do with the OEM's reviews of their own gear. Has anyone got a goodly amount of experience with the maritron on a sailboat? If so, I'd love to read about it.

When the cups stop spinning, my system says 1, 2 or 3 knots. I think that at 2 knots steady the cups keep spinning but they need a bit of >3 knots to start spinning from stand-stil.

But, we were discussing the accuracy of the ultrasonic units... I guess it takes a LIDAR to check that I would believe a B&G system would be more accurate than ultrasonic but that's about it I think. Replacing my $1,275.- B&G wind sensor was what made me throw the whole B&G system out as I don't think it's worth that kind of money for cruising. nI sold all other components, which were pretty old, and that paid for the new sensors!

[Paul Elliott]

I have heard that the ultrasonic units aren't so accurate in the rain. I have no idea if this is truly an issue, or how bad the inaccuracy (if any) might be.

[China Doll]

Hi,

I was reading the specs on the ultra sonic wind speed sensor and it appears to not work in the rain, in winds over a certain speed (seemed quite low), and various other issues. Or it may work in those conditions but the error was very high in rain, etc.

Have you had a chance to use the unit and see if it works in 'typical' conditions? I had thought about going the same direction during a mast repaint over the summer, and installing the ultra sonic unit...

In my case I have the TackTick units from back in 2005 and they have worked fairly well over the last 8 years, but one problem is with the update speed of the 0183 is too slow for the newer AC42 Simrad Computer, when using the 'Sailing' function.

With the slower updates the old 0183 wind instruments causes too many alarms on the AP to make running in "Wind" mode not worth the effort.

[colemj]

We have a cup anemometer, a windex and the Maretron WSO ultrasonic.

The cup and ultrasonic read the same in all wind conditions until VERY light wind, when the anemometer stops and the WSO still reads.

The windex and ultrasonic seem to point in the same direction in all conditions with the exception of that when the winds are very light and the boat is rocking, the windex spins 360*, but the ultrasonic reads a steady direction.

We just yesterday used the WSO in a heavy rain squall and it worked just fine. We have used it in the rain countless times over the past 1.5 yrs with no noticed problems with accuracy or precision.

We have only seen 50kts with the WSO and it measured it perfectly, so I don't know what the upper speed is that you saw would not work. The manual states 100kts.

Of course, these comparisons above are not absolute, as both the cup and ultrasonic units may have the same amount of error in them.

We have been cruising with our WSO for 1.5 years now and it has worked just fine. We use it often in wind vane mode controlling the autopilot with no problems. In fact it works very well this way, but I think that has more to do with the AP than the wind indicator.

The WSO was half the cost of the B&G we replaced and the same cost as the Garmin and we considered (briefly). The $300 RM unit is the short arm unit without the mounting base or cable. You need to add another $150 to the price if you actually want to use it. The normal sailing unit is over $500. We paid $540 for our WSO.

We do now have a problem with our Maretron WSO. The humidity sensor has stopped working recently. Not a big issue since we don't actually use it for anything, but it still annoys me and the unit will be going back for replacement.

Mark

[CAELESTIS]

Impressive product. Too bad they don't make a 24v version.

How would you get this to talk to a B&G Triton 41 display?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by colemj

We do now have a problem with our Maretron WSO. The humidity sensor has stopped working recently. Not a big issue since we don't actually use it for anything, but it still annoys me and the unit will be going back for replacement.

Mark

I had that too which lead to the discovery that it was filled with water.... I should check the new one if it has any water inside, but it is working 100% so I think it's good.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by CAELESTIS

Impressive product. Too bad they don't make a 24v version.

How would you get this to talk to a B&G Triton 41 display?

Just plug both of them into the N2K backbone. We also have the Triton displays. No setup required.

Mark

[Saltyhog]

Originally Posted by colemj

We have a cup anemometer, a windex and the Maretron WSO ultrasonic.

The cup and ultrasonic read the same in all wind conditions until VERY light wind, when the anemometer stops and the WSO still reads.

The windex and ultrasonic seem to point in the same direction in all conditions with the exception of that when the winds are very light and the boat is rocking, the windex spins 360*, but the ultrasonic reads a steady direction.

We just yesterday used the WSO in a heavy rain squall and it worked just fine. We have used it in the rain countless times over the past 1.5 yrs with no noticed problems with accuracy or precision.

We have only seen 50kts with the WSO and it measured it perfectly, so I don't know what the upper speed is that you saw would not work. The manual states 100kts.

Of course, these comparisons above are not absolute, as both the cup and ultrasonic units may have the same amount of error in them.

We have been cruising with our WSO for 1.5 years now and it has worked just fine. We use it often in wind vane mode controlling the autopilot with no problems. In fact it works very well this way, but I think that has more to do with the AP than the wind indicator.

The WSO was half the cost of the B&G we replaced and the same cost as the Garmin and we considered (briefly). The $300 RM unit is the short arm unit without the mounting base or cable. You need to add another $150 to the price if you actually want to use it. The normal sailing unit is over $500. We paid $540 for our WSO.

We do now have a problem with our Maretron WSO. The humidity sensor has stopped working recently. Not a big issue since we don't actually use it for anything, but it still annoys me and the unit will be going back for replacement.

Mark

Thanks!!! That was exactly the kind of information what I was looking for. Maretron doesn't exactly come out promote the WSO-100 as a mast head wind sailing instrument. Perhaps they should. They call it a "weather" instrument. Terminology and semantics I know, but I wasn't sure. Looks like I'll be ordering one soon.