FI-50 Wind Speed has gone silent

pcottrell59

New member
Hello all

I am a relative newby with a boat that has 2 Furuno FI50 displays, and a Furuno wind device top of mast. Last season (when I bought the boat) the wind direction and speed were displayed fine on both panels. This season, the wind direction is fine, but the wind speed is no longer working.

My question is: how do I diagnose whether the issue is top of mast - i.e. the wind paddles? Is there a testing device that I could use at the connection at the base of the mast in order to see if there is signal?

My problem is that when the mast is removed in the off season, I don't have a way of testing the connections. Or certainly not an easy way.

Is there a Furuno testing device that the connector can be connected to?

Any and all suggestions welcome!

Thank you..

Philip
 
It is a pulsed signal and not something you can test. Being directly into the FI501/502, it is most definitely the mast sensor especially since you have direction but not wind speed. The FI-5001 would unfortunately need to be replaced. It is not a repairable it.
 
Thanks for the help Johnny - much appreciated..

Would I need to replace more than the FI-5001? I guess that is the part that is most likely to wear..
 
Philip, I hope Furuno wont get angry with me for spoiling some turn-over but it is possible to bring the unit back to live. There is another thread oney year old "5001 failing". If you have some "skills" you can dismantle the unit piece by piece until you get to the shaft for the paddle with the two ball bearings. I am not sure but when I remember right the dimensions are 8-22-7, just check by yourself. It might be even possible to "reanimate" the stuck bearing with some oil, but I assume it will fail again quite soon
 
I bought my boat in December 2018. In January 2021 the FI-5001 wind sender failed. I tried to disassemble it and repair/reanimate the bearings, without success. It is not designed to be repaired. So I replaced the entire sender for $394. Now it is August 2022 and the FI-5001 sender has just failed again. I understand that it is a wear item, but $394 every 17 months is a little silly, for a $0.20 bearing that can't be refurbished/replaced. I also did a 100% nav electronics refit on my boat a year ago, all new Furuno equipment in place of 2009 vintage Furuno equipment. I had two major infant mortalities - the DRS4D-NXT radar died in a few days, and the FAP-7002 Autopilot Processor died in a few weeks. Vendor/Furuno were good about the radar, they were NOT GOOD about the autopilot, and now I own two.....

So the whole point of buying Furuno kit is not the whizzy equipment or fabulous software - it's the reputation for rock solid reliability, which is now completely busted for me. Next boat, I think I'll try B&G - can't be worse.
 
Wind instruments get hit pretty good by the elements. The comments I have received is the Furuno sensors tend told hold up better than the other you mentioned. I am sorry to hear about the problems you have encountered. You might discuss that with your dealer. Furuno products have a two year (24 month) warranty so if yours failed at 17 months, I recommend exercising that.
 
Johnny Electron - The problem with warranties for active cruising boats is shipping costs. I'm in the Caribbean right now - round trip shipping on a wind sensor is likely to be at least $300+ and at least two weeks. Wait until I'm in French Polynesia!!

The other problem is elapsed time. For example from my post above, the FAP-7002 failed in September '21 just as we were actively heading south to position for the trip to the Caribbean. What I needed was a replacement unit sent to me same day, which I can swap in and then ship back the failed unit. Dealer/Furuno did that for the radar, but they refused for the FAP-7002, not clear to me why. They wanted to receive the failed unit and fix it - at least 4-6 weeks elapsed time. That just doesn't work at all on a short-handed cruising boat that is traveling. So I just bought another one, overnight shipping, installed it - and sent back the failed unit for repair which I eventually got back.....so now I own two. Unhappily.
 
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