Earlier this season, a Hummer Black Anemometer with mMFD was installed aboard Tupac Amaru, a 36-foot steel sailing vessel, currently preparing to continue sailing in the South Atlantic.
Tupac Amaru is not a showroom boat. It is a working, continuously evolving vessel, refitted and maintained while navigating long distances and exposed to real offshore conditions. This made it an ideal platform for a transparent, real-world installation and evaluation of the Hummer wind monitoring system.

A Real Installation

The crew documented the entire installation process in a detailed video: from receiving the equipment and planning the mast-top setup, to routing cables, mounting the sensor and electronics, and finally integrating the data into the boat’s existing electronics stack.
The system was integrated using Signal K, NMEA 2000 and a Raspberry Pi, reflecting a setup commonly found on owner-maintained sailing vessels.
There were no idealized steps, and no “clean” studio conditions. The video shows real decisions, adjustments, and constraints that arise when installing equipment on a boat that is actively sailed and lived aboard.

Honest Review, Not a Commercial Demo

This was not a commercial review or a scripted tutorial. The goal was to provide an honest look at how the Hummer system behaves during installation and early operation, highlighting both strengths and considerations that matter to sailors planning a similar setup.

Watch the Full Installation Video

[English and Portuguese subtitles available]

Ready for the South Atlantic

With the installation completed, Tupac Amaru is now equipped with a reliable wind monitoring system and is preparing to continue sailing with its crew through the South Atlantic.

We will have 2026 Hummer mast top wind sensors (and the 2026 mMFD) at the METS Amsterdam 2025 show. Contact us for a demo.

Special METS deals on 2024 equipment on MarketPlaats (EU customers only)

≥ Wallis&Gill MFD METS DEAL — Navigatiemiddelen en Scheepselektronica — Marktplaats

mMFD our Mini Multi-function NMEA2000 Display (MFD)Special November 2025 METS Trade Show DealNEW 2026 MODEL!!!Our 2026 mini multifunction display with

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Our new mMFD has an updated user interface. Minimalistic, sleek and functional. If you have any questions or need specific NMEA2000 PGN support please contact us.

The Argentine Navy  purchased a Wallis&Gill wind sensor and mMFD for the vessel A.R.A. King.

This active duty patrol boat is used in the Río de la Plata basin.

We will soon be releasing the new mini multifunction display (mMFD) and it is very different from the one referenced in a previous post about how to use.

Note the sensor base overhang (no metal underneath mast end) to allow for good WIFI signal to deck and salon.

Just delivered a second set of magnetic, pendulum mounted, rechargeable battery operated crane wind sensors. They went to a large lithium mine in South America. We made sure this shipment was well packed! Another example of a Wallis&Gill high value industrial wind sensor application.

This device also has it's own wifi network web app. The web app is used mostly for other backend functions like data conversion and routing. Here we will refer only to touch screen operations. A conscious minimalistic design was selected to take advantage of the small form factor while providing excellent readability and user experience.

Screens/widgets are accessed in different ways:

1. Boot screen configuration. You can select which widget to start at in the config screen. List is next to [Save] button.
2. Swipe left twice for next screen. Swipe right twice for previous screen.
3. Config screen from widget and back.
4. Automatic mode. You can select which widgets are automatically changed by selecting them from the lower list of config screen.

Touch wait and release functions. These functions change based on 5 screen areas: Left top, right top, middle center, left bottom and right bottom:

1. Left top enables/disables night mode.
2. Right top changes some widgets bar graph time resolution. New resolution appears bottom left.
3. Right bottom switches to and from configuration screen and starting widget.
4. Left bottom switch to and from automatic mode [A] appears top left.
5. Center middle reduces brightness and then increases brightness.

Screen 1. Knots and Wind Angle.

Screen 2. Knots with wind min/avg/max pointer dots.

Screen 3. Knots, wind angle and wind history bar graph.

Screen 4. Wind Speed Min/Avg/Max.

Configuration Screen

Spanish Translation

Notas iniciales sobre el funcionamiento de nuestra mini pantalla táctil multifunción mMFD

WebApp

Notar que este dispositivo también cuenta con su propia aplicación web que se accede vía su propia red wifi (Conectar a la red del MFD y luego via chrome a la web app, que esta en http://10.0.0.1)

Esta aplicación web se utiliza principalmente para otras funciones de backend, como la conversión y el enrutamiento de datos.

Pantalla Táctil

Aquí en este breve PDF nos referiremos únicamente al funcionamiento de la pantalla táctil.

Se seleccionó un diseño minimalista para aprovechar al máximo su pequeño tamaño, a la vez que ofrece una excelente legibilidad y una experiencia de usuario excepcional.

Se puede acceder a las pantallas/widgets de diferentes maneras:

Configuración de la pantalla de inicio (cuando se prende inicialmente). Puede seleccionar el widget (pantalla es igual a un widget en general) que desea iniciar en la pantalla de configuración. La lista se encuentra junto al botón [Save] guardar en ingles.

Deslice el dedo dos veces a la izquierda para ir a la siguiente pantalla. Deslice el dedo dos veces a la derecha para ir a la pantalla anterior.

Pantalla de configuración desde el widget y viceversa (apretar región inferior derecho por unos segundos para ir y volver).

Modo automático. Puede seleccionar qué widgets se cambian automáticamente (rotar) seleccionandolos en la lista inferior de la pantalla de configuración. Para que roten solos, entrar en modo A (automático) debe apretar región izquierdo inferior por unos segundos.

Más sobre regiones de control

Hay 5 áreas para apretar y largar de la pantalla: superior izquierda, superior derecha, central, inferior izquierda e inferior derecha. Al apretar y recién a largar el dedo actúa el comando.

La parte superior izquierda activa o desactiva el modo nocturno.

La parte superior derecha cambia la resolución del tiempo del gráfico de barras de algunos widgets. La nueva resolución (en segundos o minutos) aparece en la parte inferior izquierda.

La parte inferior derecha cambia entre la pantalla de configuración y el widget de donde se inicio el comando.

La parte inferior izquierda cambia entre el modo automático [A] en la parte superior izquierda.

La parte central reduce y luego aumenta el brillo.

Servicing the EU and surrounding areas we have setup a small workshop for warranty replacements and to get replacement parts like anemometer cup rotor assemblies.

Call Dylan Wallis at +31 6 1440 9663

Gary Wallis will be at the METS 2024 in Amsterdam starting November 19th. If you will be attending please reach out so we can meet you!

Was on the backburner for awhile but finally got around to updating the browser based web admin that runs on all our microprocessor products.

A very well equipped 40 meter offshore south atlantic fishing vessel has a new Hummer mast top wind sensor. Our high value ceramic bearing sensors, with no questions asked warranty, and excellent South Atlantic sea trial results, has helped create demand for our wind sensors in the commercial fishing market.

This January 2024, the 66 meter fishing boat
HUYU 907 (MMSI 701006733) left the port of Mar del Plata Argentina, and headed out into the infamous southern atlantic for a full season, about 5 months, of calamari fishing under Captain J. L. Gabbin.  Gabbin recently got back to us and reports:

Hola... bueno el equipo funcionó bien, estos 5 meses, se banco vientos por arriba de los 45ns, lluvia, Frío y todas las inclemencias del mar, en alguna oportunidad se tildaba el software, que reseteando el sistema salió funcionando de inmediato, habrá pasado 10 veces en 5 meses, como sugerencia, en el campo que figura la velocidad del viento tendría que estar en un color más llamativo, por los demás todo bien, saludos.

(Translation from spanish)

Hello... the equipment worked well. During these 5 months it endured winds over 45 knots, rain, cold and all the inclement weather conditions of the ocean. The software sometimes froze up and we had reboot. This happened about 10 times in 5 months. As a recomendacion the wind speed velocity in the virtual instrument we were using should be more prominently displayed. Everything else is fine. Cheers.

Years of Testing Paid Off

We had previously fully tested for extreme marine environments and had broken many early R&D models and even production units. We really expected to have to replace the anemometer cups and/or wind vane for sure. And even felt that the conformally coated external electronics or the less exposed WiFI electronics package might fail during a whole fishing season in the South Atlantic. Of course any failure, mechanical or otherwise provides very valuable product improvement data. But, as far as physical environmental resiliency goes, the years of prior testing and prolonged exposure to the elements, starting out with humble full submersion tests in salt water buckets has paid off. And the Hummer mast top wind sensor has passed the sea trials!

Work Needed

As reported by Capt. Gabbin, we need to work on making the microcontroller software/firmware more reliable and reduce the 10 reboots in 5 months to much less (like 0, if possible). We already have started a software quality assurance process review and unit testing design so we can also stress test this part of a wind data sensor package. Most of the issues at this time seem to be limited to the WiFi and built in virtual Websocket instruments. The NMEA2000 (Marine version of CANBUS) subsystem may well be much more stable.

Near Future

We will provide Capt. Gabbin with a NMEA2000 multi function display (MFD) and a complete Openplotter OpenCPN/Kip instrument and navigation system if he so chooses for future trials.

Fair winds and following seas!