Grounding Wind Generator

[seandepagnier]

Hi, I have an air-x marine generator which I am getting very close to actually mounting. There is a red, black and green wire. I know what to do with red and black, but for the green wire.. should I just tie it to negatiive?

I noticed my boat has a metal contact to the water with a wire on the inside, I suppose I could connect to that, it is fairly heavy gauge, but I'm afraid if there is a lightning strike it might do more harm than good (blow a hole in the hull) Is the green wire to discharge static electricity? Maybe I could just trail a thin wire (28 awg) from the tower to the water on the outside of the hull?

Any other suggestions? Thanks.

[senormechanico]

The green wire is connected to the generator's case. Best to connect it to your bonding system if you have one.

Steve B.

[GordMay]

Red to Stop Switch then Fuse then DC Positive
Black (or Yellow) to DC Negative
Green to Ship’s Ground (may be engine block)

The green is internally connected to the turbine body (case & tower), and provides static and lightning grounding.
All wiring, including green gnd, should be robust.
#28 AWG isn't suitable for ANY use on a boat!!!

[Nirvava]

Per the instruction manuel, page 11, p3.1.3 the green can be joined to the black ground.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Nirvava

Per the instruction manuel, page 11, p3.1.3 the green can be joined to the black ground.

See the Grounding Bus & DC Main Negative Bus
➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/gallery...r&imageuser=79

And the Air-X Instruction Manual
➥ http://www.wholesalesolar.com/pdf.fo...ine_Manual.pdf

[Redcoat]

Twist the green and black wire together solder them in a step down butt connector.Then run Red to Positive Black to Negitive.The Green wire only needs earth ground on systems larger than 50 volts

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Redcoat

Twist the green and black wire together solder them in a step down butt connector...

I'd recommend* you not do that.
I'd also recommend you get qualified installation help, if the manual doesn't provide adequate instruction for DIY.

*Don't ask me why - I'm not up to writing a book on electrical theory & practice, and wouldn't know how else to explain.

[forsailbyowner]

I have mine grounded to tower and tower grounded to bonding system.

[Redcoat]

Well I spoke with southwest and thats the way they told me to do mine.Wired right to the house bank.The green wire is for Land base units or for a boat with a earth ground. The instructions are clear and in the installation manuel.Green is ground for voltage higher than 50 volts.Mine 12 volts works fine this way and rocks.

[neilpride]

I have the green wire in my airx conected to a grounding plate in the bottom, if you dont have grounding plate , the engine block is enough! warning!! no green wire conected , no warranty!! Cheers.

[seandepagnier]

Thanks for all the advice.

I had an extension cord which used 10 gauge wire and had 3 strands, so I just connected the 3 wires up so I can do what I like later, or change the ground.

I think I will tie green to black for now, but eventually may change it to a better "ground" I don't have an engine, but I have a plate with a wire which I believe contacts the water.

The total run is < 20 feet from the generator to batteries, so I think I can get away with 10 gauge wire.


I can see how static electricity could cause problems on a wind generator.

Originally Posted by GordMay

#28 AWG isn't suitable for ANY use on a boat!!!

Well, it would be enough to dissipate static electricity.

28 awg wire is suitable for some uses. For example, I have led running lights which consume something like 150 milliamps. 28 gauge wire should be fine, but I'm using the existing 16 gauge wire since it is in place already.

[forsailbyowner]

Another cheap way out of wiring is to use discarded shorepower cord. See them around all the time with an end gone bad. Did you get ammeter and switch with airx? Mine failed after a short time. Ammeter actually melted into the panel on a hard upwind sail with main directing wind into it. Switch just fell apart. If you didn't get ammeter pm me and Ill tell you where to get shunt ammeter for way cheap.

[seandepagnier]

doesn't shunt waste power because it is a resistor?

I would prefer a hall-effect sensor or magnetic sensor (available on digikey) For now I don't really care to have a meter, all I know is the battery is getting charged when the wind gusts because the voltage increases, so I'm calling it a success.

I hope my mount doesn't break, it is all junkyard. Too bad I don't have a digital camera yet.

[osirissail]

Post # 8 is the correct answer. You need to positively connect the Air-X casing, which is metal to the tower and the tower to the bonding system which is connected to a grounding plate underneath the boat in sea water.
- - For the power leads - red and black - use Calder's or another 12VDC amps versus distance between the Air-X and the connection to you batteries to get the proper size cable. Both red and black need to be the same size cable. Remember the required cable size is determined by the footage from the Air-X to the battery system connection point and back again to the Air-X. Or 2 times the footage one way.

[Redcoat]

I hope you just read the directions. By the way Ground is Ground.Unless you run aground.Call Southwest if you can't figure it out.