Hilton Head Island: winded

Above is GANNET’s new wind instrument.  Actually only the part at the top is the wind instrument which is attached to a GoPro mount.  It is made by a Spanish company, Calypso Instruments, which have an office in Florida.  

https://www.calypsoinstruments.com/

They make three different models.  Mine is the Portable Ultrasonic Solar Wind Meter.  It has no moving parts and calculates wind speed and direction by using four transducers that send ultrasonic sound waves back and forth.  The instrument continuously measures the time for these wave to travel between pairs of transducers.  By calculating the differences in these travel times, it instantly figures out both the speed and angle of the wind.

Or so Google tells me.

This model has a small solar panel on the top and requires no external power.

It displays information on a free phone or tablet app.

This is a screen shot I made this morning of the app on my iPhone.

Being stationary in the slip Apparent Wind Angle and Speed were the same as True.  The readings of angle and speed were accurate with my estimates.

I also bought a masthead mount and may have it installed there in time, but for a while I am going to leave it where it is.

I was curious about how far I could receive transmissions and found that I was still getting readings five boats slips away.

If this keeps on working it will be great.

Not so great is that I have been unable to bring the depth sounder back to life.  I have checked the wiring and power is getting to the unit, but it won’t turn on.  It is an inexpensive Raymarine I40 unit, so I have ordered a new one.