wind generator blades

[MIRELOS]

I have a Zephyr Airdolphin Pro mounted on my cat. I installed it 9 years ago and it has performed as per expectations. Sometime during the last two weeks one of the blades broke a tip and the generator became unbalanced, I shut it down. Looked at replacing the blade but apparently the importer only sells them as a kit; 3 blades and the rotator, they claim the unit is balanced. That's a tag of $1660, hefty for one blade......any thoughts?

[Bill O]

Is yours the high 1kw output model? If so, the their replacement blade cost is ~25% of the original unit cost. That seems terribly high charge for 3 blades (and hub).
Did a quick search and didn't see anyone offering replacement blades for your unit. It would probably be difficult to make a good balanced set on your own.

Having owned a wind gen for many years, I still question the worth of the unit in terms of power production and think solar is a better bang for the buck.
Just curious, do you get a lot of power out of your wind gen?

[Jim Cate]

I had a similar experience with an Air-X a few years back. I simply trimmed all three blades to the same length (after evening up the broken tip) and continued to use the wind gen until I was able to get a new set of blades.

Slightly more vibration, slightly less output, but better than nothing.

Jim

[MIRELOS]

not in a rush, the boat is on the hard until late spring, but thanks, just think the price is very high for the blades even though the unit costs over 4K

[MIRELOS]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I had a similar experience with an Air-X a few years back. I simply trimmed all three blades to the same length (after evening up the broken tip) and continued to use the wind gen until I was able to get a new set of blades.

Slightly more vibration, slightly less output, but better than nothing.

Jim

I'm very satisfied with its performance, it cranks the claimed power and usually except for August there is enough breeze to power it, it is the 1K generator. I also have 4 solar panels allowing the boat to stay charged for over a week in the NE,USA. My consumption includes a large freezer and a large refrigerator besides all the other "stuff"

[Bill O]

Jim's idea would work if they were solid blades, but since these are carbon, foam filled it maybe more difficult to cut off, then balance.
How much of the tip broke off and was it still solid?