I am attempting to troubleshoot my wind instrument/transducer and have followed the troubleshooting steps you have for the wind transducer. My systems in all SeatalkNG with the exception of Wind which utilized an ITC-5 (move to the NMEA2000 speed, depth, temp transducer last year and removed those functions from the ITC-5 - only Wind wires connected to ITC-5).
The behaviour experienced has been very inconsistent wind angle and speed readings. I have seen the wind speed read in the high 30-40s when in calm winds and zero when in 15 knots of wind (transducer seems to be in good shape, cups turning and angle pointing correctly). About 50-60% of the time, wind speed and angle are accurate.
Here is what I have found thus far through my troubleshooting
1) Tested the voltage at the base of the mast, all voltage levels read within spec on both the ITC-5 and transducer side). Again, this was done at the base of the mast where I thought I would be able isolate a cable issue on the ITC-5 or transducer side, but readings were normal.
2) During the testing, I utilized the ITC-5 to power the transducer which was reading 7.8x or 7.9x on my voltmeter. I expect this is acceptable.
3) Re-calibration from the I70 made no difference (system has 2 I70s, tried both with same/normal/successful calibration results)
4) When out sailing yesterday, I noticed the Wind speed was dropping to 0 in about 15 knots of breeze. During this time, the apparent wind angle seemed to be functioning normally which I believe may indicate a potential fault in the yellow wire.
Couple of quick questions:
1) Can you verify wind speed is carried on the yellow wire?
2) Can you let me know the size of the connectors that slide onto the ITC-5 spades? I would like to cut and re-crimp the ITC-5 side of the cable. Also, I am considering installing a temporary cable from the mast base to the ITC-5 to determine if that half of the cable run has any issues. It is probably 35 feet from mast base to ITC-5, would CAT5 cable work for a test like this? I do not have enough of the transducer cable (actually, may only need to do the yellow wire for this test since it seems to be a speed issue).
3) While my ITC-5 is connected to the SeatalkNG backbone, it also terminates the backbone (blue cable on one side, blue plug on other). I do not expect this to be an issue since it has worked fine for 3+ years, but just wanted to double check.
4) I would like to remove the ITC-5 from my network if I find a fault in the transducer or ITC5. Does Raymarine have any new options besides the ITC-5 or I60 to get wind to the NG network?