The propeller on Touche's Nexus Classic masthead wind sensor stopped turning. Why it stopped I don't know. It has worked for 20+ years, surviving Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and, recently, Sally, and worked fine in October on the trip from Pensacola to Mandeville, LA.
Anyway, I went aloft, retrieved it, disassembled it, cleaned and lubed it. It's working fine again. I thought I would share a picture of the sensor disassembled for anyone interested. It's fairly simple. Why does it cost $600? The propeller assembly has a shaft with two bearings and a yin/yang looking ball on the end. The hub has two pickups which apparently sense magnetic pulses from the yin/yang ball. It somehow determines wind direction and speed from the ball's rotation and orientation. I'm not inclined to try to figure out how. https://drive.google.com/file/d/14xvIqqJsK_9rwXApWfiJyiGdDhIUVd9P/view?usp=sharing Disassembly was straightforward. Cleaning and lubrication was also. I cleaned the bearings with an STP cleaner/lubricant (I don't like WD40) then sprayed it with Sailkote McLube. I did NOT remove the propeller from the shaft. It appears to be pressed on. Just a note on re-assembly. Although not necessary, I considered it best if the propeller faced aft when the propeller assembly was re-installed due to the location of the forward pickup. -- Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
