Most Popular Wind Generators

[George DuBose]

When Skylark was looking for power generation and realized that in northern Europe there is more wind than sun, we decided to go with a wind generator. Also as Skylark was being renovated for sailing offshore, the idea of a bank of solar panels over the transom seemed a bit risky. One could imagine a boarding wave making quite a mess of a suspended solar array.

Once in Porto, Portugal, I wandered through a large marina on a windy day and listened to which wind generators sounded the loudest.

Then Practical Sailor published a comparison of all the wind generators on the market. At that time, the SuperWind 350 was rated by PS, the quietest, the most powerful and the most expensive. Being a firm believer of "buying cheap tools, one buys them twice" I was interested by the PS review. The "drawbacks" were the company was new, how long would they survive and the manufacturer was in Bruehl, Germany.

Turns out Bruehl was 15 minutes from my home in Cologne, Germany.

I went to the factory and met the chief designers, they explained to me that they were engineers working on the large wind generators sprouting up around the world and one of them is a sailor and was inspired to make a wind generator that was powerful, dependable and of the highest quality materials. I asked if I could buy a renovated or repaired unit and they said that the SW 350s so rarely are requiring any service that when they do get one back, they usually donate the used unit to exploration or research programs. I was given a small discount.

Since mounting the SW350 the only problem I had was when one of my crew accidentally put an wooden oar into the spinning blades (don't ask), but the company in Germany overnighted an new balanced set of blades.

I regularly go on six week tours around northern Europe and rarely need to connect to shorepower. I have a Dometic CF110 refrigerator that's always on and a suite of Raymarine electronics, but between any motoring I do and the SW 350, my power requirments are met. Skylark carries 5-Series 31 AGMs and they stay topped up.

I haven't taken a close look at the new models of wind generators, some appear to be direct copies of a SuperWind, but utilize plastic housings and rudders.

I just know that my SuperWind is SO quiet, that when I am in the cabin on anchor, I have to look at it to see if it is running or look at my volt meter.

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten". – Benjamin Franklin

[MIRELOS]

I'm using the Airdolphin Pro Zephyr. Very happy with it, generates about 1.8kWh at 9mph, sure there are days without wind (I have solar), it is self regulated (stops itself and controls its speed), it worked through two hurricanes, it's not excessively noisy, going on eight years now maintenance free.

[Scott Berg]

After 30 years doing this for a living and long time liveaboard here are my suggestions: 1) All the solar you can fit, then more solar. 2) IF you need more then Wind; the only units we recommend are the Superwind (Germany) and the D400 (UK). We've worked on others and the top of the line models are quieter and put out more power. However, 400w of wind costs 2KUS$+ for the windgen and more to properly mount it; 400w of Solar can, in some cases, cost under 500US$ and much easier, in most cases, to mount. Wind is great in the trades and we love ours, but only after the solar is maxed. Oh, and while solar doesn't work at night that's what batteries are for. We have 1.3kw of solar and wind; the wind just runs into the shunt to the water heater most of the time as Solar does it all...

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Locquatious

We have Kiss wind generators. They are fairly quiet and start producing power above 7 knots. With the Kiss Extractor™ they begin producing power down to 3 knot winds. The Extractor™ also automatically stops the wind generator when the batteries are charged. And the Extractor™ stops the wind generator before it overheats.

What he said, but (see below)...

Originally Posted by stormalong

I think the KISS is out of production.

It is, unfortunately, indeed, currently unobtainable.

We have one of the US (originally built in the ECarib, then bought out by John Gambill, the US distributor). Those are largely still around and sometimes you could score one. They are unique in that everything in them are user-serviceable, with commonly available parts. New blades (more below on design changes) can be retrofitted, and service and repair are still available from svhotwire.com.

Hotwire did many upgrades over several years, which increased sustainable output and made startup amps begin earlier. Blade and housing designs improved user friendliness and made any service easier as well as improved heat shedding allowing for higher outputs. Improvements in the rotor and stator improved outputs such that peak amps went from 30 to 50, with an accompanying earlier startup.

The KISS Extractor tweaked performance, and allowed electronic over-charge protection (vs previous shunts to either water heater or resistance strips) at a user-selectable 3 different points. Automatic shutdown, in advance of overheating, was accomplished via electronically sensing of incoming amp flow, and shutting down before overheat conditions arose.

Alas, John Gambill wanted to retire and sold the rights and gear to Rich Boren, of Technautics/Cool Blue fame. However, he found that John had been spending 40 hours of layup time in each housing. At the attractive pricing which make KISS a favorite, it simply wasn't sustainable; he hasn't produced any that I know of, even with all the improvements over the original, Trinidad-based, design.

If you want a business, and either are a design whiz (allowing some means of economic construction of the housing) or merely willing to do that at an economic rate, I expect Rich would entertain offers to buy the rights and gear. It's very low tech, nearly bulletproof (we've had ours for 14 years, with various abuses in that time), and, with anal attention to balancing, virtually silent.

But we also have 720W of Sunpower panels

On the other hand, said no windgen owner, ever, waking to full batteries and a zero degree freezer, "I hate my wind generator!"

Illustration of the abuse at the hands of nearly two years sitting in accumulated rainwater, and the resolution and reinstallation of ours can be seen here:
Pictures: Flying Pig 2011-2012 Refit/Last Minute Stuff/Kiss Wind Generator Rebuild

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Gianluca

Hi,
In the constant quest to reduce the amount of fuel consumed, I'm considering adding a wind generator on a 50' monohull. I have a generator and 2x100 solar panels and I think that the wind (and/or hidro) generator will free me from the fuel consumption of the generator. In general, I consume around 20 amp/hr with autopilot and electronics on but, I have 12v fridge that needs to be on at least 2x1hr and consumes around 50amp/hr.

I'm wondering what are the brands and models that most of you are using. In addition, what maintenance issues I should consider.

Thanks,

Forget popular and cheap... go for quiet, at any cost!
Even if noise does not bother you, when anchored in a quiet cove, the incessant noise of the worst brands (by Southwest...), drive your neighbors up a wall.
If your fellow cruisers hate you, it really dampens the fun.

Having used 100% AE electricity on my boats since the 70s, and tried both solar and wind, I have found that solar is FAR more reliable, if you have TWICE the charging power you need in panels. This way, they still top off your batteries, even on overcast days.
It works best if you have a large enough battery bank, that you only cycle them from 100% daily to about 80% daily, or at sea... to a bit lower.
If you are making a passage, using wet batteries, you can crank the engine for 1 hr just before dawn, when the charge is the lowest, and they will accept it best.

My Trojan L14 wet batteries, with hydro caps, need water just 4 times a year, at the beginning of each season. With care, you can get 15 years out of them.

Go to OutRigMedia.com and check out my "conversation with Jim Brown" for more on the subject.

[sailr69]

Originally Posted by stormalong

I think the KISS is out of production.

kiss has been bought out, they are in Florida I think, I had mine for twenty years now

[Scubaseas]

I have a KISS for about 30 years. Only thing I replaced in that time is two sets of blades (one bird strike, one wore out from blowing sand) and one set of bearings.

They are no longer making new units but you can still buy parts and blades from SVHotwire.com . I mounted the pole and stays on live rubber mounts and it greatly reduced noise transmitted to the hull. The KISS makes power starting at about 4 amps at 7 kts wind. It self regulates and can easily make 30 amps in 25kts wind. Very quiet unit. In the fall I can come on the boat and have hot water in the heater due to the heat dump resistor.

[COOGOR]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

In our case, our cruising grounds for the next 10 years is the PNW, famous for cloudy skies, lots of rain, and not enough wind for much sailing.

Where/what is PNW?

[dannc]

Originally Posted by COOGOR

Where/what is PNW?

It is an area in the north west United States. Washington state, i.e., the Pacific north west(PNW).

Later,
Dan

[Narfi]

Originally Posted by COOGOR

Where/what is PNW?

Pacific North West
(Seattle, Vancouver, etc...)

[Adelie]

PNW - NW corner of US, SW corner of Canada.
Puget sound, strait of Juan de Fuca, straits of Georgia, Vancouver Island, perhaps a bit north of Vancouver Isl.

An abbreviation.
Others you might run into but not know
NZ - New Zealand
Aus - Australia
RTW - Round The World
The Med - the Mediterranean Sea, technically a diminutive not an abbreviation
Various states of the US and Australia use state name abbreviation. WA can mean Western Australia or Washington (US state), HA is Hawai’i, FL is Florida, CA is California, BC is British Columbia, QLD is Queensland. NSW is New South Wales, Tazz or Taz is Tasmania. SA is South Africa or South Australia.
The Gulf - the Gulf of Mexico
ICW - IntraCoastal Waterway, protected system of rivers canals and passages along most of the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

[sv_pelagia]

Ah, the Pacific (ocean) North East!... [emoji6]

[stormalong]

We are in the Pacific Northwest - Whidbey Island. Summers the boat in on the hook. 390 watts of solar keeps the batteries full and the refrigerator cold. Long summer days means a lot of solar power. My wind generator does almost nothing.

Winters are in marina's plugged in.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by sailr69

kiss has been bought out, they are in Florida I think, I had mine for twenty years now

Yes and no,

First part was correct until Hotwire sold the molds and rights to Technautics/Cool Blue just before he retired (see my expansion somewhere above). Rich (owner) tells me that new molds to allow more efficient assembly of the housing would cost 60-100K USD, and it's not economically feasible.

If you are willing to put in the 40 hours per assembly, it could be a good business opportunity for you, and I expect Rich (CoolBlue Technautics Marine Refrigeration) would entertain offers to sell...

John still makes blades and noise-cancelling mounts, and has parts/supplies for the prior designs, too. (svhotwire.com)

[shaneinseattle]

I see a LOT of people saying to max out solar, and I don't disagree -- I have 780 watts worth of panels -- but nobody has brought up the major limiting factor with solar, which is that once the batteries (any but li-on) are at 80+% SOC and current flow is choked back by the regulator to a much lower/slower absorption level -- all that excess solar is of no use. And then night falls and solar goes to zero. A wind generator has the ability to trickle (or more) charge throughout the night and in times of cloudiness and bring the batteries to 100%, something virtually impossible to do with any amount of solar, even during summer with 12 hours of sun. Of course, intelligent load management helps -- like running the water maker during the afternoon when batteries are on absorption and solar is kicking it.

Offshore in the N. Pacific a wind generator would be fantastic 24x7 most of the time.

Anyway, a wind generator has a use because of the charging profile of wet batteries and the limited amount of daylight available. There's a point where adding more solar doesn't make any sense and installing a wind generator does.