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#1
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
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 |
#2
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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(solar and) Wind Gen
"Gordon" wrote in message
... 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 Hi, y'all, This question (which included discussion on solar) came up in a list I'm on a while ago. This was my response to the poster who had reliable 15-30 knot winds, but was very far north (little solar time in the winter, and not great angles at any time): Hi, Bernie, and list, Just like in real estate, location is everything. The angle of the sun has a significant impact on the power generation possible from panels. If you can manually aim them all the time, they're very good. If you've got consistent 15-30 where you're located (most folks try to anchor in more protected areas so that many don't get the full benefit of wind), I highly recommend the KISS, sold in the US by svhotwire.com, John Gambill ). In 15-30, consistent, with it on our arch, we'd get 10-30A. The sweet spot is about 25knots, as it picks up rapidly over 15 knots. See the output curve on the manufacturer's site. http://www.kissenergy.com/OutputCurve.html I can't comment on the other units you cite, not having used them. I can say that our KISS has had no troubles, but there are commonly available repair parts (automotive bearings and rectifier, and perhaps other parts, too; I don't recall beyond those). They're much quieter at those wind levels, perhaps because it's a big blade footprint allowing slower revs, and will, unlike some we see shutting down at 15knots, keep going up to 30 before shutting down (heat protection). You can also set the rectifier for half-output which would allow it to operate higher, or, just use the leash to wrap it to be offset (keep the vane from pointing it directly into the wind) and keep it running effectively at much higher winds, as we did during Hanna. We have a relatively high electrical usage, including three computers, and our 370W solar, fixed (no aiming) and KISS keep us full enough to run the microwave here (about 24* sun angle at noon). In late August, in Charleston, we got 20A from the solar, for a frame of reference. HTH. L8R Skip, on wifi in Big Majors through Staniel Cay Yacht Club Going further, if you're sailing, both can generate power, but the wind will do it at night. Many of the non-KISS windgens top out at 4A, hardly enough to even think about for us. In the case of KISS, power generation doesn't really begin until 7-8 knots, at which point it's a very steep climb on the output curve - nearly straight line. They (others) also shut down in anything more than about 12 knots - it's really weird (for us, anyway) to see windgens merrily whirling and then suddenly stop for several minutes. So, you're correct about the anchorage issue. We've never been particularly concerned about that, especially if we're going to be in a tropical environment; wind is good :{)) - but if there were a lot of fetch, we would, indeed, try to get behind some breakwater geography... HTH L8R Skip, ashore, doing family duty, to return to Flying Pig June 9 for routine maintenance chores and thence back to the Bahamas -- Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog "Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in boats-or *with* boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not." |
#3
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
"Gordon" wrote in message
... 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 The only "job" wind generators do well is disturb the peace and quite of an otherwise peaceful anchorage. Look around at any and all sailboats using wind generators and you will see selfish, inconsiderate jerks who think their energy hog habits take precedence over the peace and quite of dozens of boaters who have sensible energy requirements. To put it bluntly, almost without exception, boats with noisy wind generators are inhabited by assholes. Wilbur Hubbard |
#4
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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(solar and) Wind Gen
"Flying Pig" wrote in news:gvek64$tl$1
@news.eternal-september.org: Skip, on wifi in Big Majors through Staniel Cay Yacht Club I've been aboard Flying Pig for many days as it passed through Charleston a while back. Otherpower.com has the wind genny to match Skip and Lydia's power hunger....(c;] http://www.otherpower.com/20page1.html Noise? What noise?? "It went up with no problems. So far so good. It starts to furl around 2KW output (a heavier tail would help with this). The alternator seems to stall the blades a bit (which we expected) in higher winds. The best output I've seen yet is just over 3KW in 'moderate winds' (we've not had any real winds here yet) and in low winds it seems excellent. In low winds its producing about twice the power that my 17' machine does. I attribute that to more swept area, a higher tower, and a better tower location. In higher winds they do about the same. The blades always turn pretty slowly and you cannot hear them ever - you can hear the alternator grumble though -but it's not annoying. I don't think I've seen over 200 rpm from it yet - though I've yet to check. I'll do a bit more testing at some point and update this page. Since putting this up I've moved my power system and unhooked my PV solar. It seems that even in the calm summer winds this machine is producing all the power we need, and between the two wind turbines I have surplus." Hell, with 3KW of power, just trash all the sails and mount it to the top of the mainmast. Remove the diesel and install an appropriate traction motor and transmission out of a Prius! She'll do hull speed all the time, not just when the wind's stiff....EVEN FASTER INTO THE WIND! 3KW'll even power Lydia's laptop!....(c;] -- ----- Larry If a man goes way out into the woods all alone and says something, is it still wrong, even though no woman hears him? |
#5
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
On Mon, 25 May 2009 13:47:17 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote: The only "job" wind generators do well is disturb the peace and quite of an otherwise peaceful anchorage. Some are quieter than others. |
#6
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
On Mon, 25 May 2009 22:05:21 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote: On Mon, 25 May 2009 13:47:17 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard" wrote: The only "job" wind generators do well is disturb the peace and quite of an otherwise peaceful anchorage. Some are quieter than others. Wilbur is not one of the quiet ones. |
#7
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
Wilbur should sign his Donor card. He is a perfect asshole.
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#8
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote
boats with noisy wind generators are inhabited by assholes. So what model are you using? |
#9
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
On Mon, 25 May 2009 13:47:17 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote: The only "job" wind generators do well is disturb the peace and quite of an otherwise peaceful anchorage. Look around at any and all sailboats using wind generators and you will see selfish, inconsiderate jerks who think their energy hog habits take precedence over the peace and quite of dozens of boaters who have sensible energy requirements. To put it bluntly, almost without exception, boats with noisy wind generators are inhabited by assholes. The ironic thing is the 2MW units the local power company owns are actually pretty quiet. Just a soft whoosh three times a second, and a little whine from the gears. Of course, if you put one of those high revving yacht jobs on a 200 foot mast, it might not be so loud. The high rev classic that pumped water on my uncles place wasn't super loud. I don't remember much noise from the actual turbine, but the rod to the pump clanked. I had a neighbor with a Rebel [first of the fiberglass sailboats, 16 ft, 700 lbs.], and the halyard beat on the mast day after day, year after year. Nobody cared. Casady Casady |
#10
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Wind Gen
On May 26, 10:18*am, Richard Casady
wrote: On Mon, 25 May 2009 13:47:17 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard" wrote: The only "job" wind generators do well is disturb the peace and quite of an otherwise peaceful anchorage. Look around at any and all sailboats using wind generators and you will see selfish, inconsiderate jerks who think their energy hog habits take precedence over the peace and quite of dozens of boaters who have sensible energy requirements. .. I had a neighbor with a Rebel [first of the fiberglass sailboats, 16 ft, 700 lbs.], and the halyard beat on the mast day after day, year after year. Nobody cared. We have a few wind gens here in the marina and they have never made any annoying noise until the winds hit 110-120 in gusts. Then they sounded like an indy car at full rev's until it came apart. Being it was upwind I had a few seconds warning to expect a strong gust. A few days later I found the field winding to it about 300 yards upwind from the boat. I love the sound of a marina full of lanyard slapping sailboats, better than wind chimes... it drives the power boaters mad ;0) Joe Casady Casady |
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