wind generators

[paradox]

I have a 40 foot monohull on Long Island Sound in New York. Considering adding a wind generator to our existing solar panels to maintain batteries and allow refrig to run.
Any thougths on which wind generator to install?
I need low level charging
average wind speed in my area <10kts but can get blustery to 25kts
thoughts on internal vs. external rectifier/controller?
What is your experience?
Thank you

[GordMay]

For a wind turbine to produce much energy, you need an annual average wind speed of close to 5 m/s (11 mph, or 9.7 knots), blowing at turbine hub height. It may not sound like much, but that is a reasonably windy place. Much of North America does not have that much wind, at 100 ft. or below.
In fact, the relationship between wind speed, and the energy it contains, is cubic, so power decreases exponentially, with wind speed.

The ‘Silentwind’ and ‘Rutland 1200' claim lower cut-in wind speeds [4.2 & 4.0 kts respectively], than most others [generally range from 6 to 7 kts]. I can’t speak to the accuracy of their claimed specifications.

[Mike OReilly]

I can't give you a direct recommendation on what to buy, but I'd suggest focusing on the 5-blade versions. I own a Silentwind, and have owned an Air-X. These both work well, but don't generate much power at the lower end of windspeeds.

Gord is correct for the Silentwind. It does start moving at around 8knots (mine is old now... the newer ones claim earlier start up). But even so, useful power does not start to flow until about 12 knots, and by that I mean like 0.5 to 1.0 amps. The power curve climbs steeply after about 16 knots, but below that it's not contributing much.

I've read (but not confirmed) that generators like the D400 are better at low wind speeds.

[GordMay]

The D400 claims a cut-in speed of 2.5 m/s (5.8 mph, or 5 knots), and output of 235W at 11m/s (22kts),
or 420W at 14m/s (28kts)
➥ https://eclectic-energy.co.uk/wp-con...17/02/D400.pdf

[deltaten]

How many good, smaller gas generators can you buy for the cost of a decent, midline wind gen?. How many watts of solar w/accessories?
Read through above stats, figger yer actual avail amps and Calc over X time yer cost per power unit.
Very spendy power, IMHO

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by paradox

I have a 40 foot monohull on Long Island Sound in New York. Considering adding a wind generator to our existing solar panels to maintain batteries and allow refrig to run.
Any thougths on which wind generator to install?
I need low level charging
average wind speed in my area <10kts but can get blustery to 25kts
thoughts on internal vs. external rectifier/controller?
What is your experience?
Thank you

Would suggest you may be better off purchasing more solar than investing a relatively large amount of $$ for a wind gen. The Silentwind and D400 are examples of some of the more expensive wind gens currently in the marketplace and IMO would be hard to justify the $$/kw for the wind speeds in your area.

We've had a wind gen for a while and the solar out produces the wind gen hands down. Don't know how much solar you have now, but expanding this resource will be the easiest way to add more power to your boat (especially if you only need add more to run a refrigerator).