Maretron WSO100 Experiences?

[Pyxis156]

I am interested in a WSO100 to mount on the masthead of our sailboat. However, at the Seattle boat show last week I was warned that there are potential problems with the WSO100, specifically that units stop sending data for minutes to hours at a time and that there is no apparent cause. As the masthead wind sensor would be the primary wind sensor on our sailboat, this obviously concerns me and is a likely show stopper.

Does anyone with a WSO100 have any experiences to corroborate this? If you do have a WSO100, is it mounted at the masthead and if so, how close is it to the VHF antenna?

Thanks!

Steve

[GordMay]

Did those offering the warning elaborate?

See the manual, for mounting instructions ➥ http://www.maretron.com/support/manu...O100UM_1.0.pdf

See also ➥ Panbo: The Marine Electronics Weblog: Maretron Weather Station, first impressions

[Pyxis156]

Gord,

The folks I spoke with said the following (direct quote):

"The WSO100 has continued to have issues with interference from some outside energy. This is difficult to nail down but our customers continue to experience situations where the data just drops out and it may be minutes or hours before it comes back. We work very closely with Maretron and even units manufactured after the changes were made have experienced issues."

I had spoken with the Maretron reps at the boat show about some non-RFI concerns I had heard about and they informed me that changes were made to the manufacturing process a little over two years ago to address those concerns. Those are the changes the person I spoke with above refers to in the last sentence, and apparently the manufacturing changes have not impacted any RFI problems.

The mounting instructions in their product manual simply state that the mounting location should be a) level with the earth's horizontal plane; and, b) high enough to have a clear view of the sky to the horizon in all directions unblocked by sails or boat structures. There is nothing I can find about minimum distances from antennas or other RF sources.

So when they state there is an issue "with interference from some outside energy" it made me concerned that a masthead mount could be problematic. With the VHF antenna nearby and a recent report in Practical Sailor that the OGM anchor light that we are having installed emits RFI, it doesn't look like a promising environment for the WSO100. Please note that I am by no means saying the WSO100 doesn't work, just that there appear to be some issues with its performance in an environment that isn't RF "clean". I am very impressed with the unit and would like to use it if at all possible.

Does anyone have a masthead WSO100 setup with a VHF antenna that can share their experiences?

[Dockhead]

This is a pretty old thread -- but still interesting! Anyone have any reports about such problems?