Today I went up the mast to replace my FI5001 wind sensor with a spare unit I have on board.
The original was installed in 2018/19 and has worked flawlessly since then until last month when the cups froze. At the time, I purchased a spare because I was planning to head offshore on an extended cruise (which ended up being delayed until 2023) and I wanted to be prepared for this exact situation, having experienced a wind sensor failure in the past (with non-Furuno gear).
SO, after I plugged in the new/spare unit I found that it did not work - the cups move, but no data.
I took the original unit and removed the screw holding the cups in place and lubed it with dry-lube (McLube) and then re-attached the cups.
I went back up the mast and swapped the original sensor for the new one I had just installed and that is when I noticed that my new/spare FI5001 has only TWO (2) pins in the plug where the original has 6. The new/spare unit has 6 holes in the plug, but only 2 of them have actual pins. I'm going out on a limb (or up a mast) and assuming that this is not right, 2 pins is not right. See photo attached.
Note: the original unit having been lubricated is now working again, which is great.
Why are there only 2 pins in my spare wind sensor? I have no idea. Manufacturing defect is all I can think of. Of course, being that the spare FI5001 is 7 years old, I do not expect a warranty replacement, but I want to ask two questions about this.
1. how could this happen? Why are there only 2 pins?
2. Is it possible to splice a new plug onto the spare with all the pins present, and if so, how could I get a new plug?
Thanks in advance.
The original was installed in 2018/19 and has worked flawlessly since then until last month when the cups froze. At the time, I purchased a spare because I was planning to head offshore on an extended cruise (which ended up being delayed until 2023) and I wanted to be prepared for this exact situation, having experienced a wind sensor failure in the past (with non-Furuno gear).
SO, after I plugged in the new/spare unit I found that it did not work - the cups move, but no data.
I took the original unit and removed the screw holding the cups in place and lubed it with dry-lube (McLube) and then re-attached the cups.
I went back up the mast and swapped the original sensor for the new one I had just installed and that is when I noticed that my new/spare FI5001 has only TWO (2) pins in the plug where the original has 6. The new/spare unit has 6 holes in the plug, but only 2 of them have actual pins. I'm going out on a limb (or up a mast) and assuming that this is not right, 2 pins is not right. See photo attached.
Note: the original unit having been lubricated is now working again, which is great.
Why are there only 2 pins in my spare wind sensor? I have no idea. Manufacturing defect is all I can think of. Of course, being that the spare FI5001 is 7 years old, I do not expect a warranty replacement, but I want to ask two questions about this.
1. how could this happen? Why are there only 2 pins?
2. Is it possible to splice a new plug onto the spare with all the pins present, and if so, how could I get a new plug?
Thanks in advance.
