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Geoff Schultz

Gordon wrote in news:-
:

Do wind gens do the job? If you anchor, you tend to anchor out of the
wind. To be effective, you need 10+ knots of wind. If you are motoring,
the alternator will put out a lot more than a wind gen.
Wind gens are expensive and in some cases, quite noisy.
They need to be mounted high enough to be out of the way and be able
to catch the wind which makes them more difficult to service.
It all makes one wonder.
The one good thing is they work at night when solar doesn't.
G

Personally I think that a wind generator gives you a lot more bang for
the buck than do solar panels. At least that's true in the Caribbean
when you regularly get at 15 kt trade wind. Of course if you're anchored
in a sheltered spot, it's useless.

I can't agree with Skip on the KISS generator. I've had one for many
years and there are many short-comings. Their output curve looks
impressive, but the unit can't generate sustained power above about 18-
20kts. The issue is that there are internal thermal breakers which open
when the unit gets too hot. This leads to all kinds of other issues such
as the blades free-wheeling and the "stop" switch doesn't work anymore.

If I were buying a new unit today, I'd definately look at the Superwind
350, which has feathering blades and can sustain about 30A in any wind
above 12 m/s. It's more expensive and complex, which limits on-site
repairs, so you need to balance this with your needs.

I will also say that both the KISS and the Superwind are very quiet, with
the Superwind being the quietist of all. I can't stand the Air-Marine
generators, especially the ones with the older blades. I've re-anchored
after discovering that I was behind one.

Here are a set of links regarding these generators:

http://www.naviclub.com/Test_compara...nes_marine.pdf
http://www.superwind.de/download/manual.pdf

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org