Air-X or Air Breeze

[mparent]

Which is better? Which is quieter?

[forsailbyowner]

Only have experience with air X. Its been problematic since year two. Ended up replacing circuit board twice, third time scrapped board and retrofit bridge rectifier in its place. Makes great power in big winds.oFten 40 amps. Nothing worth mentioning till 12 or so. After living with wind gen a while noise goes away.

[marc2012]

I have had both & prefer the breeze.Large size makes mast ,own impractical.Mine on mizzen & is restricted to forward 2/3 of arc,marc

[billangiep]

I cant comment on the breeze other than what I've read, there seems to be some problems with the internals?
I opted for the air x about a year ago and it has been problem free.
The Air X comes in land and sea versions and after extensive research the only difference I could find was the exterior outer powder coating.
Northern Tool had year end sale for the land model $569.00 and then a can of zinc chromate primer and a can of rustoleum white hammer paint you can't tell the difference.

[barnakiel]

The Breeze is supposed to be half the output of the X. It is about the same noisy as the X.

(OK - it IS marginally less noisy).

Since the noise factor is always there, I would go for the stronger unit (and switch it of whenever the noise might disturb other cruisers).

There are just as powerful units from other manufacturers that are NOT noisy.

BTW In 'our' marina windmills are banned, I gave up on the small talk (it was never efficient as the owner will always claim they cannot hear any noise) and anytime now I get someone with one of the Air-things as a neighbour I simply walk up to them and tell them to 'switch the damn thing off, or I am gonna sue you'.

The big thing about the Air-thing is how light and compact it is.And the price is great too.

b.

[cabo_sailor]

I have the Air-X and out of the box they are screaming banshees. I've since replaced the blades with those that were designed in Germany and built in Portugal. A world of difference. Now it is difficult to hear it at all. Of course it cost me an extra $280 or so but hey, that's cheaper than a new wind gen.
Silentwindgenerator

[barnakiel]

Makes one wonder why Air -thing company will not simply outsource the blades ???

b.

[gettinthere]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

)
There are just as powerful units from other manufacturers that are NOT noisy.

Please elaborate; hopefully with some comparisons of windspeed/output if you can.

[barnakiel]

Re: outsorcing the blades, this quote:

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

I have the Air-X and out of the box they are screaming banshees. I've since replaced the blades with those that were designed in Germany and built in Portugal. A world of difference. Now it is difficult to hear it at all. Of course it cost me an extra $280 or so but hey, that's cheaper than a new wind gen.
Silentwindgenerator

If the original parts are so noisy and the noise apparently bothers so many potential clients, then if I were at Air-X, I would just buy the less noisy blades from the Portuguese company. You buy in bulk, you get good price, you sell more own units. Simple (?).

There may be a good reason why they do not do this (efficiency,cost or something else).

b.

[cantxsailor]

I'm STILL trying to hear this horrible offensive noise you keep harping about and trying to figure out just what you might sue someone for. Personally I think you just post these bits so you have something to occupy your day. Of all the noises around our marina wind generators are probably one of the least offensive. Between the loose halyards banging about and the moaning of masts with in mast furling I can hardly hear the trainwhistle, the roller coaster or the rap music from the passing cars never mind the gentle whooshing of the 9 AirX machines around the marina. There used to be an old style home made looking generator that WAS actually noisy. It sounded like a Piper Cub taking off but he went south a few months ago...........m

[Bash]

Originally Posted by cantxsailor

I'm STILL trying to hear this horrible offensive noise you keep harping about and trying to figure out just what you might sue someone for. Personally I think you just post these bits so you have something to occupy your day.

The Air Breeze is rated at 200 watts while the Air X is rated at 400 watts. The Air Breeze is significantly more quiet.

In normal operating conditions the Air Breeze on my boat cannot be heard more than a boat length away. This was not the case when I first put it up on a temporary mast, but once I had a metal fabrication shop design an arch mount for it, the installation was appreciably more quiet.

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by cantxsailor

I'm STILL trying to hear this horrible offensive noise you keep harping about and trying to figure out just what you might sue someone for. Personally I think you just post these bits so you have something to occupy your day. Of all the noises around our marina wind generators are probably one of the least offensive. Between the loose halyards banging about and the moaning of masts with in mast furling I can hardly hear the trainwhistle, the roller coaster or the rap music from the passing cars never mind the gentle whooshing of the 9 AirX machines around the marina. There used to be an old style home made looking generator that WAS actually noisy. It sounded like a Piper Cub taking off but he went south a few months ago...........m

I've got the same attitude.. We've got a 4-winds.. I did tape the leading edge to stop the wistle but I've been in a good number of anchorages and the noise of the wind generator has come up little..
Besides that, I've always figured it as the sound of "Money"..........

[barnakiel]

I agree with cantx - AirX is not the only source of noise around and probably not the worst either - the halyards, the disco, the jet-ski ...

I am also probably more sesitive to noise than many people. Not over-sesitive, just coming from a place where an outboard was introduced long after I learned to row and where it was so nice and quiet (once the noisy summer visitors left ;-).

Still, if Germans can make silent blades in Portugal (Brazil?), why not? I would love a silent AirX even more than I like the AirX.

b.

[barnakiel]

Re output / noise etc levels - search the threads, I believe I have seen a link before in this forum.

The output of AirBreeze vs. AirX can be had from the manufacturer, also all other makers publish their curves, just google them out.

b.

[svTOTEM]

Southwest Windpower - maker of both X/Breeze, has terrible tech support. I started a thread two months ago about my experience. The unit is a good value unless your one of the unlucky ones that get a bum unit.

As for output, as already pointes out, X is twice that of Breeze. But Breese starts putting out at lower windspeed. So deciding between the two may depend on the typical wind speeds in your area. I haven't studies my output vs windspeed much, but loosley: the unit starts spinning at 6 knots, with insignificant output. At 10 knots it about 1.5 Amp. At 20 knots it maybe 12 Amps.

Breeze is notably quieter than X; although interestingly the Breeze unit makes more noise at 7 to 11 knots than at 12 to 25 knots. So unless I'm power starved I just keep the unit turned off in less than 10 knots.