Air X silent Wind Generator

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by dfelsent

I’ve got a set of the blue Spreco blades along with a new hub and nosecone on my quite old air breeze.
Very much quieter than the old blades.
I’ve had a few positive comments about the lack of noise.
I put them on three seasons ago.
The blade tips show a few marks. I suspect these are from the support pole when a 80+ mph microburst came through.

I was having some noise and low output this past season. I just replaced the bearings, electronics, and housing.
The bearings were definitely past due and causing some rumbling. The electronics had issues for sure.
The housing needed a repaint and the yaw bearing was corroded in place. Removing it was not easy. A machine shop could have done it but I replaced the housing instead.
I would not have done all that if I was not happy with the unit.
I do have a shutdown switch that I sometimes use at night.

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it sounds like you have replaced ALL the parts of the unit... is that right?

Jim

[dfelsent]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it sounds like you have replaced ALL the parts of the unit... is that right?



Jim

Close call. Good question.

First of all look up “ship of Theseus “. [emoji1]. I’m not quite there. Although Slocum’s Spray may have been.

And no not quite everything. The yaw shaft, slip rings, mounting, and associated wires are original. As are the rotor, shaft, and static windings. And one of the circlips.

This was the death of a thousand cuts over a few years.

I know the PO did work on the unit as well. But not bad, I think it’s over twenty years old now.

But the a overall cost for a fully rebuilt unit was still a lot less than new. And I now know the generator well.

Had I known three years ago that I would be in for all this I probably would have followed the same path. I enjoy the rebuilding.

[SaltyMetals]

To defelsent (#27),
From what i have learnt from Marlec who make the truly excellent (a v quiet) Rutland 1200 you may get corrosion of the front bearing if you close down yr unit by tying it down. The spinning of the blades and the protective cone reduce any risk of corrosion of the front bearing, even in SHUT-DOWN mode when it is only spinning slowly. So i conclude it is a mistake to tie the blades. Either let it run slowly in shut-down mode or take the blades off and put weather (and wind-proof) cover over the body.
The front cone on the Rutland is sufficiently wide to restrict entry of water onto the front bearing but i do not know about SilentWind nor Airbreeze.
My Rutland 1200 has been a great success, v quiet (i have to look up to see if it is running because i cannot hear it) and absolutely no need to shut it down overnight which defeats one of the advantages of a windgen.
Andrew

[dfelsent]

Thanks for that. The front bearings were okay, the yaw bearing was a mess. I always use the shutdown switch, and do not tie the blades. The generator is halfway up my mizzen so is a mild nuisance to get to .

[GRIT]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

I'll be happy to report when I can but don't hold your breath. The electrical system (among other things) is in pieces at the moment. At least all of the dismantling and removal is complete; next cleaning and painting, then assembling a lot of new components and wiring.

Greg

Hi Greg.

Have you had a chance to test out your system? I'd love to hear a report.

I was going to buy a Marine Kinetix unit, but I don't like their choice of voltages for Lithium. The Air units, and the D400 units have adjustable voltage regulators, so I can set them to whatever voltage makes me happy.

So... I'm still shopping.

Cheers.
Paul.

[CarinaPDX]

Sorry - not yet. It is moving up on a very long list. While the blades are the newest the generator is a very early model Air Marine (1995) which may or may not relate to the much newer models. I am confident that the blades will be much quieter than the old blades, and they are certainly more robust. My early Air did not have a great regulator in it so the recommendation was to use an external regulator, which I did. I think modern Air units are better regulated so that is not something I can help you with.

Greg

[GRIT]

Thanks for that Greg.

It would still be interesting to know how those blades work on an older turbine. If they're quiet on an older unit, they'll be very quiet on a newer one.

Good luck whittling down the list. I have that same problem.

Cheers.
Paul.

[GRIT]

Can anyone here report on the airsilentx? Any chance someone can compare the noise to a Marine Kinetix Mk4?

Thanks.
Paul.

[SVsunyata222]

I installed an air silent x a couple months ago. At low speeds I'm getting quite a bit of reverberation/vibration coming down through my solar/wind/radar arch. I was able to piece together a couple brackets and a small turnbuckle. I installed it as a strut which can preload the mounting pole. This helped quite a bit.

I'm still getting an annoying amount of low speed vibration (at and just above the kick on speed).
I feel like the vibration may related to the balance of blades on the turbibine. This really shouldn't be since I have the silent x with blue blades and new hub. My next move is to check the distance between blade tips and to weigh the blades to check for any mismatch.


Any other ideas?
Brandon

[GRIT]

Sorry Brandon, no advice here.

We couldn't find any airsilent-x turbines with the tri-colour blades to listen to in person. We did manage to listen to two marine kinetix turbines and were quite impressed with the lack of noise, and the generating power of these units. I don't know what it's like to live with one aboard, but I will know soon. We just ordered a Marine Kinetix Mk4, and will pick it up when we get back to the USA, in March.

So far, I'm happy with both the tech support, and the sales department. Both have been helpful, and attentive to my many questions.

Cheers, and good luck.
Paul.

[Jim Cate]

My next move is to check the distance between blade tips

IME, this is a likely suspect for the conditions you report. Life would have been better if the hubs were made so that the orientation of the blades was locked in and not dependent upon a kinda tricky measurement and adjustment. But it is well worth doing... cured some vibration issues we had long ago.

JIm

[SaltyMetals]

For Brandon at #39
I bought the Rutland 1200 which is fantastic and v quiet. At the same time i mounted it with brackets that i got from Silentwind which have a rubber bush all the way around the inside (do not clamp too tight during assembly) and a special rubber bushed foot on the deck at the bottom of the supporting pole. A great solution for what is already a v quiet windgen. (When i bought my Rutland 6 yrs ago, the manufacturers, Marlec UK, did not supply a set of bushed brackets.) Even in 20-25 kn of wind, at which point it is generating 60-200W) it makes less noise than leaves in the trees or nearby rigging. I need to look up to see if it is working.

Peace and quiet in the cabin directly below the windgen.
Andrew

[SVsunyata222]

Tell me more about not tightening the clamp with rubber bushing too tightly.

[SaltyMetals]

Sunsunyata (#43),

The rubber bushed clamp will work best if it is only clamped gently. If you clamp it too tight there is little thickness of rubber left to absorb the vibration.
Andrew

[PegasusIX]

When I installed my AirX wind generator I put a large stainless flange plates in the pole, with 7mm thick rubber Matt between the two, held together with four bolts. This stops vibration noise going does the pole or to the Bimini.