Noisy Wind Generators

[funsailthekeys]

I have been trying to purchase a Fourwinds generator for several weeks but all the distributor's say the same thing, no parts support, no repairs and no new generators. Seems they have a bad batch of motors and the price went up $400.00 per motor.I have tried contacting the company directly since we are in the same city but no response. If I were you I'd look for something else. If it is like this before you buy it will only get worse.

[Vasco]

Try A KISS. I think you'll be happy with it. One of the knocks on the Four Winds was poor service. With the KISS all the parts are easily available and they tell you what they are not like on my old Windbugger where all identifying marks were taken off the generator.

[fastcat435]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Don't really know anything but, noise/vibration ignored I would think the forces on the unit would be too much over the long term. I imagine the arc of motion and the acceleration and deceleration along with the rotational forces to be too high.

We now have over 10000 NM of experience and about 18 months on top of the first FastCat and 4 months on the second boat and we are very happy with it , not only the fact that the noise is almost gone , vibrations are hardly noticeable on the first unit which is a AIR X and with the Air breeze that has better balanced bladed no more vibrations at all.
An added benefit is the extra output up there, about double in low wind conditions and it also acts as a big wind vane . if weight is not a big issue on top of your mast go for it.
We had carbon fibre tubes produced in 48 mm outer diameter to fit the Air breeze to reduce the weight even more. the total tube weights 1.4 kilo for 1.4 meters or 3.2 lbs for 4 ft 8 inches.
Even when the wind is from behind we still get amps out of it.

Greetings

Gideon

[watersedg1]

Good information. Service is such an intregal part of what you are purchasing. Better to know this upfront. Seems as though several others agree with you from the notes we have been getting. Tim and Beth on Kelleys Island

[Auspicious]

I put people with wind gen's in the same category as parents of screaming children in restaurants and dogs that bark all night. Some are louder than others, but all are intrusive on those around you.

[CSY Man]

[CSY Man]

The above machine has never been used. (long story)

Considering putting it on my boat, but will also take a quick sale..

Comes with charge controller and spare blade, etc.

$1,100.00

[highseas]

In this day and age,we should all be thinking of alternate power generation.I cant believe people can justify running a gasoline generator ,thinking they are doing their neighbors a favour.I sleep fine at night when its blowing 15 knots,all I hear is wind ,waves ,rattling rigging.It all blends in together,There is no smell,no oil,no pouring of fuel.No excess reliance on oil companies.We all know the results of burning fossil fuels.Isnt that why we own saiboats,to get away from the grid lifestyle.Anyone who complains about them needs their head examined.Cmon clean up your act!

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by highseas

In this day and age,we should all be thinking of alternate power generation.

Whilst I do agree with you in concept, the design of some of these wind generators is obviously not optimised for quiet - I would guess that the designer has never tried to sleep with one of his creations anywhere close to him. It is the frequency of the noise as much as the loudness. The frequency is easy to fix - different blade design for lower speed, but more torque

[watersedg1]

Mr CSY Man! Would you consider an offer? We keep our Catamaran in Islamorada and will be heading down from our little island in the Great Lakes soon.

[rebel heart]

Highseas does have a point; a genset should "bother" us more than a wind generator. Just because one of them produced gasses that we don't see, and the other makes a humm that we hear, doesn't really mean that the genset is "better for our environment".

I'll try to be a little more forgiving of noisy wind generators.

[vacendak]

windcharger noise level has inverse dependence
on number of blades (i.e. 3-blade unit is louder than 5-blade);
basing on that, LVM AeroGen (6-blade) should be the quietest
in it's class; still, up to me - D400 (5-blade) is quieter even in strong winds

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Whilst I do agree with you in concept, the design of some of these wind generators is obviously not optimised for quiet - I would guess that the designer has never tried to sleep with one of his creations anywhere close to him.

After a little while you can judge the wind speed quite accurately by the sound your wind generator makes. My KISS is fairly quiet compared to others but there's no doubt it does make noise. I sleep in the aft cabin under the unit and it is very helpful for getting me up to check the anchor once the wind reaches about 25 knots. On another noise issue, my wife complains more of the incessant sound of the wind in the rigging more than the noise the KISS makes. After a week or so of over 20 knots blowing all the time she wants to scream!

[scotty]

well as much as i would like a wind genny, for the price i will stick with my gas genny.

for a gallon of fuel i can run the genny for about 6 hours, with a good charger that 80 amps an hour or 480 amp hours of power per gallon. my charger is only 20 amps, so a gallon of gas at 4 bucks a gallon will give me 120 amp hours. for the price of the wind genny that csy man is selling thats 30000 amp hours. and my genny cost me 150 bucks. if i need to run my genny at all in real life its because i an running a 120 volt device that my 400 watt inverter cant or will draw my battery down too fast. but i am not a cruiser yet and i do want solar.

personally i would rather hear a genny for 2 hours in the middle of the day, the a hum when trying to sleep, as for the exhaust i wonder what the energy of making a wind genny totals, we know solar takes a lot of power input to make.

[GordMay]

An excellent article:

Noise from Small Wind Turbines ~ by Paul Gipe
Noise from Small Wind Turbines: An Unaddressed Issue : by Paul Gipe