Tell Us About your Wind Generator

[Dexterbase]

After spending a few hours sifting through the various threads here, I thought it would be helpful for me if you gave me some of your wisdom about your wind generator. I'd love to know:

*What model do you have?
*What do you use it to power?
*What do you like about it?
*What don't you like about it?
*Would you buy it again?
*ADDED: About what did you pay for it?

I'm trying to decide on what unit to buy, but it's really hard to get objective data. I'm going to just rely on the collective experience and wisdom here.

Thank you!

Chad

[Bash]

*What model do you have?

AirBreeze

*What do you use it to power?

Everything from radar to electric flushes to ice cubes

*What do you like about it?

It works after sundown

*What don't you like about it?

Doesn't produce as much power as heavier, more expensive units

[neilpride]

I have a Airx, is 7 years old, i use it to charge my bateries Lol.
I like it because is light, and the design.

I dont like the noise, but i solve that with the new blue blades, and also the circuit board is prone to fail if is not properly wired or things like leave it in open circuit with the blades spining for long time.

I dont know if i buy again, other brands have pros and cons to, the d400 is heavy and expensive, Aerogens dont produce to much , probably 5 or 6 amps at 20 knts and are heavy to, mine the same 5 probably at 20 to 25 .

One tip for Airx owners with corrosion problems at the case body, i take all the paint off, leave it in bare aluminium, i sand the alu with fine sand paper until is smooth and later polish the alu , now looks like stainless steel, no more bubles in the paint or recoating the dam thing..

Bearings are easy to get in many places, standar sizes, brushes to.
Cheers...

[Redcoat]

I have the Airx 400 and I WOULD NOT BUY IT AGAIN AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT BUY ONE EITHER.

[Dexterbase]

Originally Posted by Redcoat

I have the Airx 400 and I WOULD NOT BUY IT AGAIN AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT BUY ONE EITHER.

What is the reason behind this recommendation?

[Dockhead]

I have a Rutland 914i.

I bought with a very modest goal in mind -- just to keep my batteries up when I'm off the boat -- didn't expect it to add much to the power budget.

Well, it doesn't even do that. The long term average output is about 0.05 amp/hours per hour, which is less than the self-discharge rate of my batteries. And I am in a windy place.

I think it can't possibly be performing right, otherwise why would anyone buy them? But I have not yet located any fault. The factory is not very sympathetic, which puts me off. This weekend I will take it off and send it back to them for diagnosis. If it is performing as it should, then it is rubbish.

Should have taken Pete's advice and jammed on a solar panel somewhere. My dad has two modest sized solar panels on his boat, and it supplies virtually 100% of his power consumption on the hook.

[donradcliffe]

I had a Ferris for 15 years, but would probably buy a Kiss today. The generator on the Ferris is an old tape drive motor, and they have become way too expensive to replace, as well as having commutators and brushes that wear out and cause radio interference. I had an Air Marine for 6 months but gave it back because it made more noise than power.

[annk]

We have a KISS. It's now 13 years old and we have just done our first overhaul. Not that it needed it but we had the parts, were about to cross the Atlantic and felt it was a wise thing to do.

It provides all our power on the boat. We only have to top up very rarely by running the engine, by rare I mean 1-2 days a month when we are at anchor and there has been little wind.We have lived aboard fulltime for all of those 13 years.

It cost $700 fitted 13 years ago

I would have another one again without question. There is nothing I dislike about the unit. It is simple, efficient and quiet,

[forsailbyowner]

I have a dead airx with burnt stator and missing blade assembly. Good for scrap metal as new stator is $187 and rest of assembly too costly to justify replacement. Going with one made with 10si alternator next time. Rewound stators available for $30. Have a particular beef with companies that charge such an inflated price for parts that require constant replacement. Before I gave up on it I replaced 2 control boards at a large expense. So after 5 years would have spent purchase price again to keep it working.

[Hudson Force]

My difficult choice ten years ago was between the KISS and the AmpAir. I would have definitely selected the KISS if I planned to be more dependant on it's output, but my need was only to support an anchor light for times away from the boat. I have a 7KW diesel generator, large battery bank and a large solar panel too. I like the AmpAir because it is quiet and can be left unattended in hurricane force winds. The weakness is the lower output, but that's part of the choice.

[sy_gilana]

We have had an Aero6Gen 24v and we were very happy with it. It is now for sale, as we have installed 2 235w solar panels where it used to be. We cant put it back up there because of shade. I was given an older Airmarine, 300 watt I think 24v, I have made a bracket and put it up on the Mizzen. I also bought the blue quiet blades from Portugal, it is performing well and have seen 300 watts on occasions. (its only been up a month)

I have worked on many wind generators on other boats, fixing, rewinding etc. The Best (IMHO) by far is the D400. It is expensive relatively, but will pay you back from day one. You will have no regrets if you get one. They were very clever designing two stators sandwiched around a big speaker magnet.

[nigel1]

*What model do you have?
D400 from Eclectric Energy

*What do you use it to power?
Charging the house bank, so I guess thats everything, but mainly AP and fridge when underway

*What do you like about it?
Its quiet and produces lots of amps (when its windy)

*What don't you like about it?
The cost

*Would you buy it again?
Yes,

*ADDED: About what did you pay for it?
About £1000 (In the UK), plus another £100 for the pole and bracing etc

[symagellan]

*What model do you have?
airx
*What do you use it to power?
chartplotter, running lights
*What do you like about it?
reliable
*What don't you like about it?
very noisy
*Would you buy it again?
don't think so - would look for a less nosy device

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Redcoat

I have the Airx 400 and I WOULD NOT BUY IT AGAIN AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT BUY ONE EITHER.

A word or two as to why would be useful.

[mbianka]

*What model do you have?

48 Volt Marine AirX

*What do you use it to power?

Primarily for recharging my 48 volt electric propulsion bank. Though I also have a 48 volt to 12 volt converter that I sometimes use to power the laptop when at anchor. I do this so my 12 volt house system just needs to provide power for refrigeration while at anchor.

*What do you like about it?

I like that the built in charge controller stops the blades when the battery bank is fully charged. Also it is shutdown for most of the day as solar panels keep the battery charged up most days.

*What don't you like about it?

It is a little noisy at slower wind speeds but, with the new blades I installed it goes silent as the wind picks up.

*Would you buy it again?

Yes, it has a three year warranty and the customer service experience I had with Southwest was very pleasant.

*ADDED: About what did you pay for it?

I think it was around $600-700 five years ago.