Rutland 914

[sailalibi]

If as you said, your 914i is mounted only 3m above the water then 4-5 amps in 15-20 measured wind seems pretty good!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by sailalibi

If as you said, your 914i is mounted only 3m above the water then 4-5 amps in 15-20 measured wind seems pretty good!

4 or 5 amps Would be great, but I don't get that. The best I have ever seen over several hours is 1 amp/hour per hour or average 1 amp. And that was in a big storm. In 15 -20 indicated, I get 1 amp/hours only in 3 or 4 hours. What do others get?

[Pete7]

Take two photos, one of the wind speed and one of the amps being generated and then send the lot back as "not fit for purpose". The good news is the UKs consumer laws are all in your favour rather than the vendor.

Desperately trying to avoid sounding smug, but despite the recent downpour over the last week when I popped down the boat the batteries on solar were sitting at 14v and the PWM widget was bored and asking if I had anything else for it to charge.


Pete

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Take two photos, one of the wind speed and one of the amps being generated and then send the lot back as "not fit for purpose". The good news is the UKs consumer laws are all in your favour rather than the vendor.

Desperately trying to avoid sounding smug, but despite the recent downpour over the last week when I popped down the boat the batteries on solar were sitting at 14v and the PWM widget was bored and asking if I had anything else for it to charge.


Pete

Your smugness is well earned! And I would be just as smug if I had not ignored your - as it turns out - excellent advice to go solar!

Yes, I have already made the photos and have already accused Marlec of having sold me out of spec goods. We shall see how it turns out.

[sailalibi]

I am standing by with bated breath as I am interested in aquiring a 914i here in the states.

[savoir]

I had the same issue with a 913 a few years ago. It was fabulous in every apect, low noise in particular, BUT it put out exactly half the claimed output in all wind strengths. My max output was 9 amps.

[first.contact]

I installed a 914i in November last year and this month is really the first time I have been out of a marina for an extended period, so subject to the full force of the weather. My 914i has been putting in 2 to 3 amps in 10 to 15 knots - and quietly, which is a huge bonus for me as I'm a 33 foot yacht. In the forepeak, we can't hear it, which is great for sleeping. Whilst in Cooktown during a blow, we had 20 knots constantly; and 4 amps. At 25 knots, we had close to 6 amps constantly. At 30 knots constantly, we had 10 to 15 amps. In the gusts over 30 knots, we had 18 to 20 amps. In the gusts around 40 we had more than that, but the amp meter only reads to 20 amps. It was great to have that power and it kept all our stuff going, and the batteries healthy.

After the first night of strong winds, we awoke to find the regulator dead. We have a HRSi. Both lights were out. We pulled it and replaced it with a spare HRSi we had onboard, and bingo, we were back in business. We have sent the regulator back under warranty. Two days later, and after a night of constant 30 knot winds, we woke to find the wind generator itself braked (turning slowly) even though it was blowing a stink. It was not the thermal cut out, as it's stayed that way. No output.

We're now working with the manufacturer to troubleshoot and remedy the problem. For their part, Marlec's representative has been very helpful and I feel I'm being looked after. It's unfortunate that these breakdowns have happened, because I was happy with the product, but as an offshore cruiser, now I'm worried about the long term reliability of the product.

Let's hope I'm just being precious!

[Jon Neely]

just installed a 914 last night, I hope that i have zero issues (knock on wood)

First contact: how did you measure output with the HRSI?


Jon

[first.contact]

Hi Jon,

We have an amp meter in line so we can see amps outputted against wind speed. However, we have just installed an HRDi regulator, which keeps a count of stored amps over time. I'm going to be watching that closely.

[Candoo]

Dockhead did you get your 914i sorted, I have 914i verage output .2 amp even in winds up to 20 kt.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Candoo

Dockhead did you get your 914i sorted, I have 914i verage output .2 amp even in winds up to 20 kt.

Nope; I gave up on it. Interesting someone else is having the same problem.

[Candoo]

Do you have a copy of the output record for your 914i, below is a copy of what was sent to me,
(I have attached the output record for your machine telling us that output characteristics were perfect. There are no reasons to doubt that it will not perform in the field.)

Ya and I can see pigs fly on fool moon?

[Jon Neely]

I have since sold our boat with the 914i but at best mine show 8 amps at around 25knts but it would only spike that high. It would go from .4 to 3 to 6 then sometimes to 8 but never got consistent charge.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Candoo

Do you have a copy of the output record for your 914i, below is a copy of what was sent to me,
(I have attached the output record for your machine telling us that output characteristics were perfect. There are no reasons to doubt that it will not perform in the field.)

Ya and I can see pigs fly on fool moon?

Yes, they test every one and retain the output curves. They dug up mine and sent it to me.

But it still doesn't work!

I suspect that there is something electrical which prevents it from developing full output. Perhaps if the battery bank is too large, or there is too much resistance in the connections, or something.

But I got tired of screwing with it and gave up. I will put it up for sale when I get back from my Baltic cruise.

[Candoo]

A cynic would say that if I was bench testing 100 WG you would use the same geney for about half of them picked at random and just change the number on the test rig.
A large battery bank is not the problem because the last test I carried out was with a separate car battery without the regulator and never produced enough amps to light a festoon.