Air Breeze

[Teeto]

We replaced the blades on our Air Breeze. It still drove us up the wall. That was just before it died after less than 2 years of use. Now we have bought an excellent Ampair 300. It has self feathering blades which makes it heaps quieter. It produces more power than the Air Breeze for a given wind speed and is basically a far superior piece of equipment - not made in China! It just doesn't look quite as sexy as the AirBreeze which admittedly looks cool. But if you buy your equipment for its looks..........

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Teeto

... But, if you buy your equipment for it's looks ...

You'll have nice looking equipment.

[kismet424]

I have a pair of df400's and they're really quiet. You only hear them at all in the cockpit when it's really blowing, and them the wind itself is much louder.

I think a lot depends on how it's designed.

[Mark Johnson]

While AirBreeze is quieter than its predicessor, were talking 300' VS the old Air-X's quarter of a mile! These are verafied distances that Air-X and Air Breeze can be heard from. Even with the improvement, it is more the "nature" of the noise, rather than the volume. (Like chalk squeeking on a blackboard)... Air Breeze is still a high pitched, rapidly fluctuating "Wissss ch ch ch ch ssss"... rather than a simple medium frequency whiring "fan noise" like the KISS, (which can only be heard for about 50 - 75'). The Kiss is MUCH less annoying! I have lived next to both... buddyboated with friends using a KISS, and moved countless times to avoid the Air Breeze and it's cousins. Our cockpit is where we spend most of the day, and we didn't go cruising to listen to the constant drone of "weed whackers"! M.

[Bash]

a couple years ago we were anchored in Aquatic Park to watch the Blue Angels airshow. Some friends came by and we invited them to raft their boat to ours. Then, of course, we invited them to enjoy highballs in our cockpit. At one point, our Air Breeze shut itself off because the batteries were full. It makes a distinctive "thunk" when it shuts itself off. My friend asked, "What was that?" You can't see our Air Breeze from where he was sitting because of the bimini, so I told him that the wind generator had shut itself off. This surprised him, because he hadn't been aware that it was running. Here's the rest of our conversation:

Him: "Aren't those things supposed to make a lot of noise?"

Me: "The only real noise is on the internet."

[slowshoes]

So to the folks who have the Airbreeze with the replacement blades - would you still buy the Airbreeze with the new blades knowing what you know now? (considering the cost of the generator, the replacement blades, the output, and whatever noise level remains with the new blades).

We have a Pacific Seacraft in our marina with an Airbreeze and it seems pretty quiet to me - I don't know if he has the replacement blades or not (he's new to the marina and I haven't seen him aboard yet to chat him up about it).

I'm stlll trying to figure out whether to go all solar of a combo of wind/solar.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by slowshoes

So to the folks who have the Airbreeze with the replacement blades - would you still buy the Airbreeze with the new blades knowing what you know now? (considering the cost of the generator, the replacement blades, the output, and whatever noise level remains with the new blades).

It really depends on where I'm doing most of my sailing. The Air Breeze makes a lot of sense in SF Bay because it handles high winds better than the five-blade units. When I retire and head south, I'll probably have replaced it with some unit that hasn't yet been developed that will be optimized for lower wind speeds.

You don't need the replacement blades to end up with a quiet unit. As has been posted numerous times on this forum, a bit of sandpaper works wonders on the stock blades.

[Lowcountry]

I have had the Air Breeze on my boat for over two years now. I initially had an issue with the processing chip that caused the brake to kick in unnescessarily, resulting in lots of "thunking" noises and diminished charging ability. I pulled the unit and sent it back to the manufacturer, and they replaced both the chip-set and the blades, free of charge. It has worked like a charm since then. Yes, it does make a bit of noise, but to be honest, I ENJOY the noise that it makes. I've slept with a fan on in my bedroom for nearly 40 years now, and the white noise generated by the wind genny is music to my ears. I love it. When the wind is steady at 20kt+, this thing can put out 10-15+ amps all day long. Combined with 145W of solar panels on my boat, I can generate a pretty good amount of amp hours. As for other boaters being bothered by the sound, well, if it is loud enough to bother you on your boat, then you probably anchored too close to me to begin with ;-)

[JamuJoe]

I installed the latest Air-X model and have used it with full satisfaction for one season cruising Honduras, Belize and Mexico. I do not find the sound level bothersome at all - it's a sweet sound of wind charging my batteries and doesn't interfere with cockpit conversation. I picked an aft location on my Leopard 42 and used a 12 foot 1 1/2" SS Pole/Tower on a rubber mount to provide both height above wind shadows and vibration dampening mass. I suspect that those expressing disappointment had the older model blades and 9 foot aluminum towers. Location and installation are critical in reducing sound and vibration.

[Mark Johnson]

Smokers aren't annoyed by their own cigarette smoke either, nor are other smokers. They can't really "believe" that non smokers are almost made ill by the cigarette smell, when they're trying to eat in a resturant! People have different sensabilities. It doesn't mean that they are lying, to try to "control you". It is just that they want you to smoke or "get your amps" at YOUR expense, not theirs.

Noise is a pollutant, just like smoke! It is not up to you to say weather your neighbor can hear it, or find it annoying, it is totally up to them. You couldn't possibly know! They would have no reason to lie...

What is important, (IF you care about your neighbors), is how "others" feel about the noise, NOT just you: screaming fights on deck, barking dogs, loud rap music, ski doos zipping round and round, or ANY generator that can be heard for hundreds of feet, (like the Air X & Air Breeze)... Is antisocial, and equivelant to flipping the bird to the guy who was their first, but is more than willing to share the anchorage, if you are as considerate as he is.

(90% of our cruising friends feel the same way about this, and given a large enough anchorage, we all just move in the above situation). This surrounds the Air X guys with the minority of cruisers who are partially deaf, or are not offended by noise, and gives the offender the impression that he's not one. Trust me... MOST cruisers, (as in over 51%), CAN hear that "weed whacker" racket, if sitting in their cockpit 100' away, and it is annoying as hell to them. Some anchorages don't allow anchoring frurther away than that.

This is why "when I had a wind generator" it was a totally silent AmpAir, and why I now use all Solar, which is a FAR more reliable sorce of power in the long run. We get our batteries to 100% charged with solar alone, 95% of the time, and rather than annoy our neighbors we invite them over for dinner. It is a lot more fun this way...

If one hasn't the room for enough solar panels, there are equally as powerful wind generators out there, (like the KISS), that have a much less annoying noise, that only travels a fraction of the distance of the "weed whacker" guys. IF you care about the guy anchored next to you, making no noise at all...

M.

[SvenG]

The Air-X noise is most definitely not white noise. You can recognize its annoying weed-wacker racket a mile away exactly because it is so distinctly different from the soothing white noise that often surrounds us.



-Sven

[slowshoes]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

Smokers aren't annoyed by their own cigarette smoke either, nor are other smokers. They can't really "believe" that non smokers are almost made ill by the cigarette smell, when they're trying to eat in a resturant! People have different sensabilities. It doesn't mean that they are lying, to try to "control you". It is just that they want you to smoke or "get your amps" at YOUR expense, not theirs.

Noise is a pollutant, just like smoke! It is not up to you to say weather your neighbor can hear it, or find it annoying, it is totally up to them. You couldn't possibly know! They would have no reason to lie...

What is important, (IF you care about your neighbors), is how "others" feel about the noise, NOT just you: screaming fights on deck, barking dogs, loud rap music, ski doos zipping round and round, or ANY generator that can be heard for hundreds of feet, (like the Air X & Air Breeze)... Is antisocial, and equivelant to flipping the bird to the guy who was their first, but is more than willing to share the anchorage, if you are as considerate as he is.

(90% of our cruising friends feel the same way about this, and given a large enough anchorage, we all just move in the above situation). This surrounds the Air X guys with the minority of cruisers who are partially deaf, or are not offended by noise, and gives the offender the impression that he's not one. Trust me... MOST cruisers, (as in over 51%), CAN hear that "weed whacker" racket, if sitting in their cockpit 100' away, and it is annoying as hell to them. Some anchorages don't allow anchoring frurther away than that.

This is why "when I had a wind generator" it was a totally silent AmpAir, and why I now use all Solar, which is a FAR more reliable sorce of power in the long run. We get our batteries to 100% charged with solar alone, 95% of the time, and rather than annoy our neighbors we invite them over for dinner. It is a lot more fun this way...

If one hasn't the room for enough solar panels, there are equally as powerful wind generators out there, (like the KISS), that have a much less annoying noise, that only travels a fraction of the distance of the "weed whacker" guys. IF you care about the guy anchored next to you, making no noise at all...

M.

All great points Mark - gives one alot to think about. I do try to be respectful of others anchored around me, whether it's swinging room, keeping an ear on any type noise levels I may be generating, not hanging my underware on the lifelines to dry, etc.

If i had a bigger boat, the decision to go all solar would be an easy one. I have seen other members here post pics of panels that swing out from the lifelines when generating power and then fold flat when not in use. That may be the way to go for those of us with smaller boats.

[Lowcountry]

I paid a lot of money for that wind generator, so you can bet that I'm going to use it. If we are ever in the same anchorage, you have my apologies in advance. I probably don't want to have to look at you walking around your boat in your speedo every day, either, but it's your right to wear it so I'll keep my mouth shut about it.

[Southern Star]

Since all models are similar in appearance, I think we have to be careful to distinguish the Airmarine 303, 403, AirX and Air Breeze models; furthermore, we have to consider the condition of the blades ( and whether they have been 'honed' with sandpaper, or replaced with the decidedly quiter after-market blades). Certainly Airmarine has made claims that their new blades reduce noise; furthermore, the link at the start of this thread claims greatly reduced noise from either an AirX or Air Breeze that has been installed with the aftermarket blades.

I wonder if those who are complaining generically about the noise of all Airmarine products are able to confirm that they are newer models with well-maintained blades; or better still, that they were equipped with the aftermarket blades that seem to dramatically reduce the ambient noise?

Brad

[SvenG]

'I paid a lot of money for that mega-boombox, so you can bet that I'm going to use it.'


-Sven