I can't stand my wind gen...

[colemj]

Have you checked to make sure the blades are balanced and that there isn't any nick or protrusion or high spot (gelcoat drip, etc) on any of them?

Mark

[Dsanduril]

Our KISS is going on 15 years old and we have never found it particularly noisy. Certainly less so than anything else that was around then with a similar output. I have seen the D400 in operation since, and it is certainly much quieter, don't know about the others.

I will say that when we first installed we had a lot of noise that came from vibration. Blades were all balanced per directions, but still had a lot of vibration and noise. Took the thing apart and took the rotor to a racing shop and had them balance it. IIRC they had to take out 14g on one side in order to get balance. Big, huge improvement in both noise and vibration, well worth the 12-pack of (good) beer I spent.

[TJ D]

Yes, I took the blades down, inspected them, and confirmed they were balanced. I'm not sure what to think. Maybe I got a dud in Trinidad.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm getting a new set to try and we shall see how it goes...

TJ

[TJ D]

It does seem to me like the balancing spindle is a pretty rudimentary way to achieve any kind of accuracy.

The new blades are pre-balanced, so that should eliminate that problem.

Thanks, TJ

[Jim Cate]

TJ, thinking back a few (?) years to our days in Mexico... we had a home brew wind gen with a 5 foot blade, designed and hand made by an ex-Lockheed engineer in his trimaran in La Paz. That blade was pretty noisy too, but someone told us about a fix: it involved gluing a length of light (12 lb test or so) monofilament along the leading edge of the convex side of the blade. It was set around 1/4 of the way around the chord IIRC. this had a magical silencing effect at the cost of some blade efficiency... we thought it was worthwhile.

Jim

[TJ D]

Hi Jim,

Just to understand, it was actually glued on the convex side, 1/4 of the way in from the leading edge? (1/2" from the leading edge on a hypothetical 2" wide blade)?

Thanks, TJ

[captainsir]

There are only 2 options and both are similar in price: the Superwind 350 made in Germany (solidly built) and the D-400 (think it's made in England). Those are the quiet ones on the market. Well, nothing is quiet but let's say they are the best made and least noisy.

[Mirage Gecko]

You want quiet buy Rutland.

[Steadman Uhlich]

I did a quick search of Youtube in order to find a video that would feature the sound of a boat wind gen working. I could not find one.

My Suggestion: Those members of CF who have a boat with a Wind Gen working in breeze please upload a video to Youtube showing the sound, and your wind speed meter showing the wind speed, and the make/model/year of the unit, I think it would help threads like this.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

My Suggestion: Those members of CF who have a boat with a Wind Gen working in breeze please upload a video to Youtube showing the sound, and your wind speed meter showing the wind speed, and the make/model/year of the unit, I think it would help threads like this.

Did it a while ago:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1304328

[GILow]

Originally Posted by captainsir

There are only 2 options and both are similar in price: the Superwind 350 made in Germany (solidly built) and the D-400 (think it's made in England). Those are the quiet ones on the market. Well, nothing is quiet but let's say they are the best made and least noisy.

You know, it is actually possible that there are MORE than two options. You Know about two options, that's great, and thanks for listing them.

The only option I know about is the Aerogen. Ours is near silent and certainly a lot quieter than anything around us. I believe they are now sold under the LVM brand. I would not hesitate to replace it with the same again if it were to fail.


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[GILow]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

I did a quick search of Youtube in order to find a video that would feature the sound of a boat wind gen working. I could not find one.

My Suggestion: Those members of CF who have a boat with a Wind Gen working in breeze please upload a video to Youtube showing the sound, and your wind speed meter showing the wind speed, and the make/model/year of the unit, I think it would help threads like this.

Great idea. I will attempt this as soon as the opportunity arises. Not least because I get pretty tired of the blanket assertions made from time to time that all wind generators are noisey. I absolutely agree that some are appallingly noisey, but some are very quiet indeed.






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[GILow]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

I did a quick search of Youtube in order to find a video that would feature the sound of a boat wind gen working. I could not find one.

.

There used to be one on YouTube with a lady proudly displaying her new wind generator on her boat in the pen. The sad part was you could barely hear her over the noise it is making. I tried to find it but I had no luck at all. A pity, as it is kind of funny in an ironic way.


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[Steadman Uhlich]

I just listened to two videos (Mike was nice to post one some time back and to post a link to that here). From his video I went and listened to another on Youtube.

In both cases what I heard reminded me of a summer night sounds of a tree full of cicadas. Sort of a whistling sound, but really like cicadas….or the sound FX that some Hollywood horror movies use for aliens.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Mike posted a good video a few years ago that is just what I was asking for above. Thanks Mike!

I tried to copy the link to here to embed it in this thread, but could not. So here is the link which will take you to the earlier thread. Worth watching.

Mike's Video:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/....php?p=1304328
______________________

Air X wind turbine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gytDhrCef5E

________________________
This video really demonstrates the sound! Sounds like a quadcopter/drone or an electric lawnmower or the "alien" SoundFX. Noisy.

Then the same wind gen with the special blades that make it quieter. A big difference, but still some noise (hum, whirr).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ-5vwOMMOE