A Wind Generator Review

[Tim R.]

The Air series of wind generators improve(noise wise) greatly with the improved blue blades. I have an older Air 400 that is very quiet. I anchored about 150 yards from a boat last weekend that had an Air-x and I could hear it over mine. We have no problem holding conversations in the cockpit at normal voice levels and you cannot even hear it 100ft. away. And the sight of it keeps other boats from anchoring nearby!

[gettinthere]

Originally Posted by monte

Im using an Airbreeze with silent blades. At first it ran like crap, would build up speed then wobble and shake. Fortunately someone on here advised me to check the blade distances point to point to make sure they were equal. They were out by up to 20mm. After I adjusted them it works great, very quiet, currently putting out 8-10A in 15k wind.

Monte
Can you quantify how much quieter your air breeze became after switching to the blue blades?
Did you notice any gain in power output?

Thnx

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by gettinthere

Monte
Can you quantify how much quieter your air breeze became after switching to the blue blades?
Did you notice any gain in power output?

Thnx

Gettinthere, your PM mailbox is full and won't allow any more messages. You'll need to clear a few out.

[gettinthere]

Done, please retry.
Thnx

[monte]

I never tried the old blades, but someone mentioned yesterday how much quieter it is than the black blades.

[Tim R.]

Originally Posted by monte

I never tried the old blades, but someone mentioned yesterday how much quieter it is than the black blades.

Same here.

[good fortune]

Hello All
I have just purchased an old Hamiltonferris 300 watt wind gen. with the ss wind brake and mechanical stop brake. This unit dates back into the 1990's and I need parts and assembly diagram. Any help with the manual would be great. I believe the model is a "200".

Capt Ron Beaufort N.C.

[tristanmortimer]

I have owned 2 Air 403 turbines, and did 2 Atlantic crossings with them but in the end the lack of support from SWWP when requiring internal regulator parts in the UK caused me to look elsewhere. I have ended up with a Superwind and this machine puts the SWWP products to shame in almost every area except perhaps aesthetics and weight. The quality of the winding and rotor is a million miles apart and the noise output or lack of it is quite incredible in comparison. The yaw shaft is fitted with a damping mechanism internally and the slip ring/brush assembly of first class construction. In my opinion the fact that the regulator is not contained within the unit is a plus and the self pitching hub removes the need for aero elastic blades. They are not inexpensive but you definitely get what you pay for. As I am sure you can see I am very happy with the machine and in case any body was wondering have no vested interests in the company but must also add that the factory customer support is exceptional.

[good fortune]

I will check out the "superwind" but I would love to find a schematic of this old Hamilton Ferris unit. I have two windco units, if anyone is interested. The 200w unit mounts fixed to the front of my mizzen and the 400w has slip rings and a tail. Very heavy but not noisy. The small one came from a house in the Turks and Caicos and the big one came from "Stiltville" off of Key Biscayne in Miami. They are old but they work.
Capt. Ron

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by good fortune

I will check out the "superwind" but I would love to find a schematic of this old Hamilton Ferris unit. I have two windco units, if anyone is interested. The 200w unit mounts fixed to the front of my mizzen and the 400w has slip rings and a tail. Very heavy but not noisy. The small one came from a house in the Turks and Caicos and the big one came from "Stiltville" off of Key Biscayne in Miami. They are old but they work.
Capt. Ron

Capt. Ron,

This particular thread is a review covering different brands of wind generators, as the title clearly states. While you haven't broken any rules on this forum, you probably aren't going to get as many replies hijacking this thread as you would by starting your own thread with an appropriate title, like "looking for a schematic for a Hamilton Ferris wind genny" or something similar.

Good luck!

[goboatingnow]

MPPT is a regulator built for solar panels. You can use some MPPT controllers in conjunction with wind gens but generally you wouldn't want to. Use one of the ones with an internal regulator or get one specifically for the wind gen.

MPPT as a technique is appropriate for wind generators as they exhibit a non-linear Vi relationship. Of course that does not mean that MPPT solar regulators will work on a wind gen.


dave

[Neptune's Gear]

We have had wind gens on or boat for over 10 years and 40.000 miles. We have the Blue blades from Silent Wind Generator on our Air Breeze wind Generator. One of the most common comments we get is how quiet our wind Gen is compared to all the others. This is purely due to these blades. We had them on our Air-X Marine previously, and when that failed (after 8 years and 2 sets of blades, it's braking system failed and cooked the main circuit board) it was replaced with the Air Breeze. At that time, SilentWind did not make a Generator, just blades. Now, we'd buy their generator!!

The Blades are great. They are quiet, as mentioned, and start the generator in less wind, and produce more power than the standard Air Breeze blades (which we now carry as spares). Same for an Air-X. We've been a bit dissapointed with the Air Breeze, it's OK, but in a blow it does not produce the power we'd like, or that the Air X did.

If you want a quiet, efficient wind Generator, with a decent output (30amps+ @ Max) then SilientWind unit is for you!

Matt, Island Time

[RedFeather]

I may need to start a new thread for this, but after reading this thread, I looked up all the gadgets mentioned and came across Ampair's Aquair 100 (pages 16-17 of the PDF), which is both a wind and hydro turbine. Looks sweet. Anyone used it before?

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by RedFeather

I may need to start a new thread for this, but after reading this thread, I looked up all the gadgets mentioned and came across Ampair's Aquair 100 (pages 16-17 of the PDF), which is both a wind and hydro turbine. Looks sweet. Anyone used it before?

Looks cool. I like the halyard hoisted wind gen feature too.

[natew]

Had an air-x on the boat until the overspin brake stopped working in 40 knott winds... It then proceeded to depart the pole it was mounted on shortly there after and now sits in about 1000 feet of water somewhere off the coast. Wife and I were happy we were below deck when that happend and that the thing appeared to have departed off the stern of the boat without damaging anything else. It literally sounded like it exploded.

I've since replaced it with a fairly inexpensive sunforce air generator and am fairly happy with it. It is about 100x quieter and seems to put out about the same power, possibly more.