I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning hard
towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?

--

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"just me" wrote in message
...
I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning
hard
towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?

--

just me wrote:
I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning hard
towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?

--As is with all gear selections, I considered my amp use, cruising area, boat size, equipment loads, and general cruising philosophy.

Personally, I have seen too many decks swept clean of even the most
securely fastened items and prefer to keep anything above the sheer
line as sparse as possible. The first thing to go when I got my boat
was that irritating dinner table in the cockpit. It kept breaking loose
and flapped around in seas over 15 feet. Next was that "gantry"
looking thing where the radar dome was attached aft of the cockpit.
That damn thing started to vibrate and wobble with winds over 30 knots.
Very annoying. Start adding up all that flopping, vibrating, movements,
and drag you got a receipt for problems or at least distractions on
deck when a person needs zero distractions for a fast decision that may
have serious consequences.

I looked for additional offshore amps and simply cringed at sticking
one of those wind mills on top of an 8' post. Did you ever see a
movie called Final Destination 2? If not watch it!

But for thoes who cruise a diffrent life a wind mill might be just
right.

Bob

"just me" wrote in message
...
I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning
hard towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?


I have an AirX, connected to 4 x 12v 135amp house batteries and 2 x 12v
90amp engine batteries (linked via a VSR). I've owned it for nearly 3 years
now. It hasn't been a resounding success but that isn't all the fault of the
AirX. I spent a year wondering why it wasn't charging as well as I thought
it should, checked and re checked my wiring, before finally taking it back
to my supplier. I'm base in the UK and my supplier tested it, decided all
wasn't well, and shipping it back to the US (I think) for repair. It came
back again several weeks later and now seems to work a lot better. The real
problem is that I really don't know what I should expect. When the wind
blows it charges very well, it quite noisey, although I don't know that it's
any louder than any other make of similiar output. My biggest complaint is
that it seems to run all the time, it seems to be determined that it will
keep the batteries 100% full, turn on a cabin light, the batttery voltage
drops a microvolt below it's cut in voltage, and off it goes again. The
voltage is adjustable and I'm planning on turning it down. As set from the
factory, it cuts out at 28.2v and back in at 25.4. I thought a 12v battery
was fully charged at 12.7v so I guess 25.4 is fully charged for a pair of
12v batteries. When all said and done. my boat is on kept on mooring piles
and has no shore supply. I sail mostly weekends and my batteries are fully
charged when I get there Friday evening, so I guess I shouldn't grumble to
much. Would I buy another one.? maybe

Save your money and buy solar panels instead. I had a wind generator
for 9 years on my boat it worked if you have wind in excess of 15kts.
But most people try to find the most protected place from the wind to
anchor. So you seldom have enough wind to produce power. I also had
two solar panel that worked well and had no moving parts and have a 20
year warranty. Wind generators will break! I had to replace bearings
and blades while cruising. The solar panels were flawless and make NO
noise and require no maintenance. I regret is buying the wind gen.
instead of two more solar panels. The solar panels that I had produced
about 70 amp/hour per day. If I had two more I could have doubled
that. That would have supported nearly all my house loads. Straight
solar is the way to go!

"just me" wrote:

I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning hard
towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?

Some people prefer solar panels, and we like them too, but we also
have a wind generator. It is true that the wind generator makes noise
and won't work when there's no wind, but the solar panels don't work
at night. So if you are in a place with a lot of sun (like the
tropics) and not too much wind, you get solar panels. If you are in a
cloudy rainy place where it is dark a lot (like in the north in the
winter), then a wind generator will help. Both of them increase
windage depending on how you have them mounted.

If we are at anchor or on a mooring and are going to be there for some
time, we have two extra solar panels to mount on the foredeck. We
also have two aft on the radar arch and dinghy davits. The wind
generator is on the other side of the radar arch. I don't think it
makes much if any more noise than the wind does (wind is very noisy),
and most of the noise and vibration are transmitted through the deck
to the aft cabin where we sleep. If we are at anchor somewhere and
the wind picks up during the night, we have an audible cue.

We have an Air Marine 403 and we have to shut if off because it will
overcharge the batteries - 20 knots will put in 10 amps, so if we have
20 knot winds (or over) for a long time (like a day or more) and
we are also running the engine to run the refrigeration twice a day,
and we also have the solar panels beaming their energy into the boat,
eventually we have to shut down the windgen. I guess we just don't
use that much power. In any case, we have the solar panels set to run
fans if the batteries are topped up, and when the fan noise gets
annoying, we shut off the wind gen.

We also have to shut it off if we are motoring as it makes the
alternator crazy, and if we are sailing, the sails take most of the
wind (as they should).

wouldn't the output of the wind gen go to a voltage regulator to keep from
over charging the batteries?


"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
"just me" wrote:

I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning
hard
towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?

Some people prefer solar panels, and we like them too, but we also
have a wind generator. It is true that the wind generator makes noise
and won't work when there's no wind, but the solar panels don't work
at night. So if you are in a place with a lot of sun (like the
tropics) and not too much wind, you get solar panels. If you are in a
cloudy rainy place where it is dark a lot (like in the north in the
winter), then a wind generator will help. Both of them increase
windage depending on how you have them mounted.

If we are at anchor or on a mooring and are going to be there for some
time, we have two extra solar panels to mount on the foredeck. We
also have two aft on the radar arch and dinghy davits. The wind
generator is on the other side of the radar arch. I don't think it
makes much if any more noise than the wind does (wind is very noisy),
and most of the noise and vibration are transmitted through the deck
to the aft cabin where we sleep. If we are at anchor somewhere and
the wind picks up during the night, we have an audible cue.

We have an Air Marine 403 and we have to shut if off because it will
overcharge the batteries - 20 knots will put in 10 amps, so if we have
20 knot winds (or over) for a long time (like a day or more) and
we are also running the engine to run the refrigeration twice a day,
and we also have the solar panels beaming their energy into the boat,
eventually we have to shut down the windgen. I guess we just don't
use that much power. In any case, we have the solar panels set to run
fans if the batteries are topped up, and when the fan noise gets
annoying, we shut off the wind gen.

We also have to shut it off if we are motoring as it makes the
alternator crazy, and if we are sailing, the sails take most of the
wind (as they should).

"Rick" wrote:

wouldn't the output of the wind gen go to a voltage regulator to keep from
over charging the batteries?

Actually I think it shuts itself down. It is just that if the solar
panels are putting a lot of energy into the system so that there is an
excess which (for the solar panels), goes into fans, it is much easier
to shut off the wind gen than to shut off the solar panels. We have a
3 way switch inside the cabin for the wind gen - OFF, ON, and
freewheeling without charging.

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
.. .
"just me" wrote:

I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning
hard
towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?

Some people prefer solar panels, and we like them too, but we also
have a wind generator. It is true that the wind generator makes noise
and won't work when there's no wind, but the solar panels don't work
at night. So if you are in a place with a lot of sun (like the
tropics) and not too much wind, you get solar panels. If you are in a
cloudy rainy place where it is dark a lot (like in the north in the
winter), then a wind generator will help. Both of them increase
windage depending on how you have them mounted.

If we are at anchor or on a mooring and are going to be there for some
time, we have two extra solar panels to mount on the foredeck. We
also have two aft on the radar arch and dinghy davits. The wind
generator is on the other side of the radar arch. I don't think it
makes much if any more noise than the wind does (wind is very noisy),
and most of the noise and vibration are transmitted through the deck
to the aft cabin where we sleep. If we are at anchor somewhere and
the wind picks up during the night, we have an audible cue.

We have an Air Marine 403 and we have to shut if off because it will
overcharge the batteries - 20 knots will put in 10 amps, so if we have
20 knot winds (or over) for a long time (like a day or more) and
we are also running the engine to run the refrigeration twice a day,
and we also have the solar panels beaming their energy into the boat,
eventually we have to shut down the windgen. I guess we just don't
use that much power. In any case, we have the solar panels set to run
fans if the batteries are topped up, and when the fan noise gets
annoying, we shut off the wind gen.

We also have to shut it off if we are motoring as it makes the
alternator crazy, and if we are sailing, the sails take most of the
wind (as they should).

I was wondering ........... ??? most of the wind/sun generators add power
to the existing batteries.
Is it acceptable to have a battery that is just for the wind/sun generator
system? I was just wondering ??

========

"just me" wrote in message
...
I'm going to buy a wind generator at the Annapolis boat show. Leaning
hard towards an Air-X

Any thoughts? pros/cons? Who's using what?

--

"Benning Wentworth" wrote in message
news:jkbTg.23$Oh3.15@trnddc04...
I was wondering ........... ??? most of the wind/sun generators add
power to the existing batteries.
Is it acceptable to have a battery that is just for the wind/sun generator
system? I was just wondering ??

========

No. To do so violates International Law, not to mention the beliefs of
several major religions.