Installing the B&G WS320 Bluetooth Receiver

[Peel]

I just purchased the B&G combo kit including 2 Triton screens, speed/depth/temp triducer, and wireless wind gauge. Everything seems pretty straight forward to install, except for the Bluetooth receiver for the wind gauge. The instructions that came with the wing unit barely mention the receiver in the install documents, but the illustrations all show it installed horizontally. I was hoping to install it vertically on a bulkhead, but wonder if that’s advised, especially since the housing has an arrow on it that says “forward”. I can’t see why it would make any difference which way it faced, unless there are other sensors in the BT unit that deal with heading or some other data regarding the orientation of the boat.
Has anyone installed this BT unit, and how is it oriented?

Thanks.

[Peel]

I’ve done a little more digging on the B&G website, and it appears that they use the same housing for several instruments, including their GPS antenna. In the GPS installation instructions it is very specific about the arrow pointing forward, and the unit being horizontal. Since they didn’t specifically call those two out on the BT install, I’m guessing it’s not critical, and just what happens when you reuse housings and illustrations for different products with different needs.

[DanielI]

I just installed one of these, and I agree with your assessment that there doesn’t seem to be any reason why it needs a specific orientation. I oriented it as marked, because for my configuration there was no reason not to.

The only thing I could think of is whether the Bluetooth antenna might be directional. Might be worth pairing and holding it a mast-length away to see if it stays paired, before climbing.

You could call B&G. We had a lot of trouble pairing and they were very helpful. The documentation that comes in the box, OTOH, is not.

[Peel]

Originally Posted by DanielI

I just installed one of these, and I agree with your assessment that there doesn’t seem to be any reason why it needs a specific orientation. I oriented it as marked, because for my configuration there was no reason not to.

Where did you end up installing it that you had a horizontal surface? It seems (at least on my boat) that horizontal surfaces that aren't already used for another purpose are rare.

[Qismat]

It doesnt need to be pointed any way. Ours is under the nav station in a locker not mounted to anything specifically and works just fine.

[DanielI]

Originally Posted by Peel

Where did you end up installing it that you had a horizontal surface? It seems (at least on my boat) that horizontal surfaces that aren't already used for another purpose are rare.

We just pulled out a cabin heater, which had a vent through the top of the cabin, so I mounted it on the deck above the cabin, at the base of the mast, covering that hole. The downside is a short length of wire visible in the cabin, but the nice thing is having it mounted right at the base of the mast.

It sounds like you are planning on mounting it inside; for some reason that never occurred to me, but I can’t see any reason not to.