Sailtimer Wind Gauge app updated

April 11, 2017

12:00 AM

SailTimer Wind Instrument

Boating Industry Canada

The wireless, solar-powered SailTimer Wind Instrument™ can transmit to a range of apps on iOS and Android. This gives you a choice of wind gauges, tacking functions and chartplotter interfaces in different apps. Among the many innovations, the Wind Instrument has a digital compass right in the wind direction arrow. That makes it is the first masthead anemometer to work with rotating masts. It is submersible, and small enough for dinghy sailboats. It is the only masthead anemometer designed to work equally well when sailing along heeled over, because of the unique wind cup design. There are even two mounting options for raising the Wind Instrument after your boat is in the water, without having to lower or climb the mast.

The Android apps for the SailTimer Wind Instrument have had an upgrade. Both the SailTimer Wind Gauge™ and the SailTimer API™ are free apps that you can find in the Google Play store. Version 2 of the SailTimer Wind Gauge™ app includes a traditional wind angle display (True and Apparent). Also wind direction on a compass, with both Magnetic-North and True-North reference.

Audio interfaces are becoming more accessible in cars and at home such as Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Bixby. Skipping the screen is also useful in sailing where your hands are busy and you may be watching the sails and the action up ahead. So a Voice Interface has been added to the SailTimer Wind Gauge™ app. Now you don’t have to squint to try to see your screen out in the bright sun; the Wind Gauge app can just tell you the wind conditions.

Faster Bluetooth connections with API update on Android

The SailTimer API™ is a free toolkit that receives Bluetooth transmissions from the SailTimer Wind Instrument, and hands off the data to different apps for viewing. One of the advantages of the wireless Wind Instrument is that there are a range of features and apps that can be used, depending on your preferences. There is a list of apps for both iOS and Android at www.SailTimerWind.com/OtherApps.html. Version 2.0 of the SailTimer API™ for Android is in the Google Play store now. The new version adds new Bluetooth technology for fast, reliable connections to the Wind Instrument across most Android devices.

Many controls have been automated in version 2, so the API uses a simple interface with most information on one panel. There is also a new advanced menu item for compass fine-tuning. The new version continues to transmit even if the screen is turned off to preserve battery power. If you lose the signal, the API will reconnect automatically if it is open. It also remembers your Wind Instrument and auto-connects when you come back to your boat.

Using a Wired Anemometer with Apps and The Cloud

As marine electronics continue to evolve, the SailTimer Wind Instrument is the first masthead anemometer with crowdsourcing, so that you can see wind conditions on your boat and from other boats around you on live wind maps. But what if you have a traditional wired anemometer? The SailTimer Mini-Server™ (www.SailTimerWind.com/Mini-Server) solves the problem of letting you get data from NMEA 0183 wiring into apps and online to cloud servers. Then you can also use the live wind maps to check live wind conditions on your boat from home or office. That has never been possible before.

Originally published here.

Comments (3)

Comment Feed

Would not purchase or recomend

Would be great if it worked as advertised. I have had mine at top of mast now for 4 months. (Catalina38) At best I get 2 hours of use in the morning before the batterie dies. So probable not a top of mast unit. Additionally and this is probably my issue, but it has no sense of direction. North and south are relative to which side of the bed it wakes up on. I also purchased the Link unit and bridged it to my B&G chart plotter this works great. For two hours in the morning as long as you are not concerned about actual wind direction. Tech support is fantastic as long as you are not in a hurry. Very knowledgable and courteous. Just be patient they will eventually get back to you. Now for the big question. Would I do this again? Hecks NO.

mooneyman more than 8 years ago

Bad warranty

I have had two of these devices; the 2015 and 2016 models. The 2015 model was so heavy it broke off my mast in confused seas. The company replaced it with the 2016 model at a discounted price. As per the documented recommendations for the 2015 model (and subsequent models) I mounted the new unit on my roof over the winter to maintain battery charge (unnecessary for the 2016 model due to an added switch) and provide wind information. Sometime during that period the unit failed. I contacted Sailtimer because the device was under warranty and requested an RMA. They refused to provide one, saying that the unit's battery had failed due either to excessive cold (not the case), or insufficient sunlight (other solar powered devices I have did not have issues) and they again volunteered to sell me a new unit at a discounted price. Thus, without looking at the device, they simply speculated regarding its failure.
In retrospect the unit is sealed and unserviceable so, regardless of the cause of a failure, they cannot troubleshoot a defective unit, nor repair or replace it under warranty, as it is unwarrantable.
So, regardless of the technical sophistication of the Sailtimer Wind Vane, the tenuous design and the company's warranty policy make it a fail for me.

J. S. more than 9 years ago

Good warranty + 2016 off-switch for winter storage

On behalf of the company, we have provided detailed explanations to the customer above already, and will summarize here. We don’t know how he broke his 2015 unit, but we did provide some warranty support even then. We have a good warranty, and prompt technical support. However, when he refers to “the documented recommendations for the 2015 model (and subsequent models)”, he is not correct that the procedures are the same for different model years.

J. S. lives in Devon, Alberta, outside of Edmonton — the most northerly city in North America, according to Wikipedia. Prairie winters can get pretty cold there. Not a good place to leave any battery outside for months without checking to see if it is holding a charge and still charging. Especially a battery in a solar-powered device, since he is far enough north that the days are very short in the winter. According to an Edmonton newspaper, the sun rises in December just before 9 a.m. and sets at 4:16 pm.

We explained this to J. S. when he emailed the following report (25/5/17): “My Sailtimer wind instrument has been on my roof for the winter thus is well charged”. That was clearly not a correct assumption, because he continued that “I had previously had connection to it but lately neither my iPhone or iPad can connect ”. Our Technical Support promptly replied to help him with recharging and referred him to page 8 of the Owner’s Manual, where it says: “For users in northern (or southern) latitudes, the off-switch is recommended for storage during the off-season.” Alhough it may have been fully charged in December when he put it on the roof, clearly that was not the case when he checked it again at the end of May.

We are sailors ourselves, and stand behind our products with a good warranty that covers any kind of manufacturing defect. We are also happy to go the extra mile and provide a warranty discount in situations like this where there is not a manufacturing fault. We also provide extensive documentation and guidance on solar charging and battery care in the owner’s manual, and in FAQs on the web site, and on a one-page summary page that comes in the box.

We are sorry we don’t have better news for J. S. and would like him to be out on the water using the amazing navigation features with this wireless Wind Instrument and the many apps and cloud services it works with. This wireless Wind Instrument can also be used on sailing dinghies that can flip, which is why it has a sealed design and is submersible. The warranty notes that battery charging is the customer’s responsibility, although unfortunately J. S. does not seem to accept this. On 30/5/17 he followed up that “I have carefully examined your warranty to see if I was in violation and can find nothing to indicate such: the Wind instrument was fully charged in December while on my roof and functioning; there was no winter temperature below -25C, and that only for a few days in December”.

Technical Support, SailTimer Inc. more than 9 years ago