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Post by hoppy on Sept 25, 2015 7:13:14 GMT
I am once again considering a wind generator to supplement my 200w of solar, especially as a watermaker is planned for this winter. I have an arch for the solar and I am unsure whether I should use it to mount a wind generator. I've received different opinions from people who do the SS work as to whether I should mount it on the arch due to the vibrations.
Anyone have a WG mounted on a solar arch and regret not mounting it on a separate pole
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Post by sailbleu on Sept 25, 2015 7:58:07 GMT
I'm sure you know that yourself , but the problem of having a WG close to the solarpanels is the shadow it cast . You don' t need much shadow to lose the supply of a complete panel.
And indeed , there is some vibration , but a good damper will reduce that.
Infact , my WG is on a pole and a simple rubber joint ( 1/3 of an inch thick) between the foot of the pole and the stern plate does the job.
I'm happy with my air breeze , and a friend of mine here in Marina di Raguse is in the process of ordering the special silent (blue) rotor blades.
Not cheap , but he has high expectations.
I'm curious also.
Regards
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Post by vasko on Sept 25, 2015 11:19:50 GMT
Hoppy, My WG is mounted on the rach with carbon pole ( I really really like the carbon pole - BUT YOU NEED TO SPRAY IT WITH CAR VARNISH before mounting to prevent degradation from sun) The WG is is a good source of energy when wind goes over 20kt - lower then 20kt the charging is about 5amps The main issue that I have with the WG is that because of the small noise that it makes which is the same as the noise that a strong wind makes when sailing and this gives you the feeling that when the wind is actually 10-12kt that it is 25-30kt  based on this noise and it take some time to get brave enough to not believe your years but your eyes and the gauges  watermaker : if you plan to produce water not only for drinking but also for washing/showering etc. get a hi-output as your budget can afford - e.g. best option will be engine driven 60l-120l/h. if you plan only for drinking then Katadyn 40E is the the best possible as in case you need to abandon the boat you can take it with you and use it manually I have Katadyn 80E - it produces about 12l/h and together with my UV filter installed after the watermaker consume about 12ah in reality no matter it say 9ah. I usually endup running the watermaker for about 10h a day - e.g. I wish I had got at least the Katadyn 160E - reliability of Katadyn is great - no issues whatsoever so far - I will not touch any other brand if needs to run from electricity. when installing a watermaker make sure - you have a system of taps that you can drop the production the first 10-15 minutes ( you need this if you haven't run the watermaker for a day or if you plan to drink the water), you need to have system with taps that you can fill all available tanks on board - you need to have system with taps to be able to fill a separate tank for drinking water as once the water gets in the tanks it always has some not exceptional taste after 2-3 days... and last but not least important cover the place where you will install the pump with foam - same thing like a car bonnet on the under side BUT THE WHOLE SPACE including the floor, the sides and the root as if you miss one you will still hear the noise and after 10h it is annoying WG comparison: mantis.b2net.net/dw/wind_generators_comparison.pdf |
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Post by rxc on Sept 26, 2015 14:11:45 GMT
I have a windmill on my arch, and am very happy with it. I started with an Air marine 403, which came off of my old Catalina, but now I have an Air Breeze, which puts out less power. The biggest improvement regarding noise was the installation of the blue German blades, which have reduced noise to almost nothing. It is amazing. Vibration will only be an issue if the blades are not well balanced. And, I have two solar panels back on the arch which are not really shaded by the windmill. The windmill is on the starboard edge of the arch, with the solar in the middle. I think the backstay and the AIS antenna do more shading than the windmill ever has.  |
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Post by chuckr on Oct 9, 2015 16:07:31 GMT
We have not looked in a while but the last time we looked the cost of a wind gen and the amount of energy we got from it did not make sense vs diesel. Now we were in the carib when we did it but still the idea that when you anchor you kinda want a lot of protection from the wind so the wind gen does not give you a lot.
It could be that they are a lot more efficient now but -- we run our E80 watermaker from our solar panels - when we need it we run it about 1-2 hours a day or if motoring we run it when underway. No issues. In the Carib we did run it 1-2 hours a day and no issues with power or water.
Do a cost benefit analysis and see what you come up with. This is a business decision after all not a heart decision.
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Post by vasko on Oct 9, 2015 16:44:18 GMT
I got my Windmill for about £350 which is incredibility reasonable price for me... ( there was a tread that I explained in details the case) thinking to upgrade to the silent blades... but will wait for reasonable price the normal offer for 300EUR is crazy for 3 peace of plastic .. I will definitely put more solars if I have space where ... I run my E80 about 10h a day - our daily consumption is about 120l fresh water ...
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Post by rxc on Oct 9, 2015 17:33:40 GMT
The first non-traditional generating capacity I installed on my old boat was a solar panel (One of those on my current arch, to be exact). But then we spent 3 days in a hurricane hole on the Chesapeake and had to run the main engine for 3 hours each day to recharge batteries, and my wife insisted that I install some diversity of generating capability. So then I added the windmill, and between the solar panels and the windmill we are pretty much set for our normal electrical loads. Can't run the AC/heat, but our watermaker (Spectra Ventura) seems to do fine, running about 6 hrs/day. It could be that we were mostly in the NE Atlantic (Spain up to Scotland), so the fridge was not taxed very much, and we did make water whenever we ran the main engine, as well. It will be interesting to see what the loads are like down here in Florida.
I have a TO-DO list item to move the solar panels, to shade the bimini a bit more and to reduce the overhang, and I might just replace them, now that one is about 15 years old.
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Post by vasko on Oct 9, 2015 17:56:40 GMT
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Post by saxofon on Oct 11, 2015 6:35:27 GMT
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Post by vasko on Oct 11, 2015 8:56:38 GMT
yep exactly! ... although my feeling is that to be effective on the main/genoa sail should be quite a large space as the angle to the sun is not very good and some how the bimini and top of the spayhood/dodgers material may be easy to be produced on a lot more reasonable price - my feeling is that the sails in the picture will cost a fortune and most likely will be addressing the super rich yacht owners who want to show that they care about the environment...
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Post by saxofon on Oct 11, 2015 13:15:38 GMT
Not nescessarily... here's a non-super-yacht example, just some finnish guy caring about environment I guess ;-) oceanvolt.com/arcona-380-z |
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Post by Tafika II on Oct 30, 2015 14:54:49 GMT
We installed a new AirBreeze wind generator with an e10a controller. The controller allows it to be shut off in high winds, it stops the blades when the batteries are fully charged and prevents overcharging. The installation was done on our arch with a new reinforced stainless steel mounting plate welded to the arch tubes, a gusseted mounting base was bolted to the new mounting plate. A removable vertical mounting pole slips into the base on a 3:1 ratio. The vertical pole is supported by three removable supports and locked into the base with a “T” handle those threads into the mounting base. The wires from the a AirBreeze are #8AWG and were connected to a quick disconnect that is pushed up into the bottom of the base opening for access so they would not have to be cut when the unit needs to be removed. The installation was easy following the instructions. It’s a two-person job to make it easier. In 15knots we are getting about 4-5A and at 25knots 8A+, so I am very happy with this installation. It is extremely quiet with very little vibration.  |
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Post by sailbleu on Oct 31, 2015 5:07:29 GMT
Brent , have you tried posting a picture via Tinypic ? tinypic.com/Regards |
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Post by Tafika II on Oct 31, 2015 16:16:51 GMT
Worked...thanks...I'll keep that site in mind for the future posting....thanks!
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Post by vasko on Oct 31, 2015 19:21:54 GMT
Ah you have the new "silent"blades I still prefer my carbon pole absorbs a lot better the vibrations then the SS.... I get the same performance in amps from mine windgen - the solar is has better performance when sunny but 240W for teh solar is OK for the fridge but not much for anything else |
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based on this noise 
