Silent blades for the Air X

[peterbringloe]

This will be of interest to those of us who have an Air X wind generator as well as to those who don't but have anchored next to us!

I met a cruiser recently who drew my attention to these replacement blades for the Air X. He had two Air Xs fitted to his catamaran (a F P Antigua 37'), each connected to 500amp hour battery bank. I went aboard on a windy day and the blades were very quiet. The wind generators were quite close to the cockpit and whilst obviously not completely silent the noise was a vast improvement on the standard blades. I think that with standard blades noise in the cockpit would be dreadful.

The blades are not cheap but not bad compared to a new set of standard blades. They are stiffer and have a very smooth blue finish. This guy was very much a wind generator devotee and had experimented with a variety of makes. He had even bought a new Air Breeze to compare but was not impressed (200 watts to the Air Xs 400). He is convinced that with these new blades the Air X is the best unit available - certainly for the Caribean.

Anyway, I was convinced also and plan to fit them next season. He was operating two fridges and two laptops and with the wind generators on all night the regulators had stopped the units by morning. We quite often have to switch ours off at night because the hatch in the forecabin acts like an ear trumpet. I'm hopeful that with the new blades we can leave it on all night.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned on the forum.

http://www.silentwindgenerator.com/index.php?language=en

 

[BrianH]

When I bought my Air-X some four years ago I followed a tip I had read somewhere and spent some time cleaning up the moulding edges and generally polishing the blades to a smooth finish. I consequently never experienced the noise that so many complain about, it always kept to an acceptable level and no more than rigging wind noise and certainly less than unfrapped halyards that seem always present on adjacent boats wherever I find myself.

Whilst a well-engineered piece of kit it does need 7-8 knots of wind to start to turn and a bit more to seriously push the amps through - not always available in the Med., which makes me wonder if a smaller output, less high rotational resistance unit would have been more suitable. But with a decent wind the output is phenomenal.

 

[Maurice55]

I have no experience whatsoever on these things, sticking to solar panels (we're in the med) but i saw a canadian bloke a couple of years ago who got so fed ud with the noise that he tried shortening the blades and by the time he'd cut about four inches off, was much happier about the noise( and so were we), and still seemed happy with the out put.

 

[BrianH]

I bought mine just after the manufacturer claimed to have improved the noise problem and, with my own work on the blades, found the noise level quite acceptable - and I am quite intolerant of noise generally, hence my comment about halyards.

From the research I did before installation I think the noise source comes from tip flutter, which your contact may have cured by shortening the blades. However, such drastic intervention must be accompanied by careful weight balance adjustment of the three blades - somewhat analogous to shortening the legs of a three-legged stool, which ends up much lower than intended.

In one area regarding having the unit I am extremely satisfied, viz., on passage I always have plenty of power; if I have enough wind to sail above 2 knots (below which I would start the engine) then I have enough wind to generate sufficient amps to keep up with my fridge and electronics. If not then the engine alternator fulfils that requirement. At anchor for any length of time the solar panel comes out - the best of all worlds, really.

The other satisfaction is the design - the aesthetic shape of the unit went a long way in subconsciously influencing my buying decision - trivial I know but I think that the product belongs in a museum of modern design.

 

[mixmaster]

Has anyone tried their new Air Breeze? Supposed to be very quiet and light. It does generate less power in high winds but is good in the lighter suff (so most of the time).

 

[BrianH]

I was not aware of this product (Air Breeze) - it appears similar to the original Air-X but has tried to address the general criticism of noise and my own particular one of start-up wind speed.

Start-up wind speed seems reduced by 30% (from 7 knots to 5 knots) for the compromise of a 50% output reduction (400W to 200W).

The body looks identical but the blades are different, lacking the finely tapered tips. This tends to support what I had heard that tip flutter contributed to the earlier model's noise levels, where the lack of thickness towards the tip resulted in too much flexibility there, despite the aerodynamic grounds for that shape.

However, I note from the on-line supplier e Marine from whom I bought my system four years ago, that the price is even more than what I paid ($879 against $750), which probably reflects normal inflationary costs and effectively shows little price difference.

I have no intention of changing but if I was buying new would seriously consider this unit.

 

[pmyatt]

I don't know anything about blade design, but have always wondered why wind instruments have cups and air turbines have blades. In these days of modern mouldings and CAD I would have thought that a cup design would have been more efficient at the lower wind speeds - not so aetheticaly pleasing of course.

 

[peterbringloe]

As I said above the guy, who introduced me to these alternative blades had bought an Air Breeze. but he decided not to install it - prefering the Air X. The Air X is 400 Watts to the Air Breeze's 200 and the Air Breeze blades are fixed with only one bolt instead of two. He had even fitted an Air X hub to the Air Breeze to try the new blades with it. I notice that one American company that sells Air Marine products sells a kit to convert the Air X to the Air Breeze. Why anyone would choose to do that I don't know.

 

[Adaero]

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone tried their new Air Breeze? Supposed to be very quiet and light. It does generate less power in high winds but is good in the lighter suff (so most of the time).

[/ QUOTE ]

We have an Air Breeze unit mounted on the top of our mast. We get no noise hardly at all and only a very slight resonance through the mast. The unit starts at about 6 knots and with 20 to 25 knots it's producing around 13A so we are quite happy with it.

I have been reading this post with interest as the only reason we didn't buy an Air X was the noise, if that can be reduced with these blades it starts to sound more interesting.

 

[emandvee44]

Hi folks,
As part of our extensive and ongoing refit programme I decided to install a wind generator, and therefore did some research. Looked at Rutlands, forgens, aerogens etc., then saw an article by Nigel Calder in YM Mar 09 (pp25), if you do not have it, I quote ..."Air beeeze: without question the most sophisticated wind generator currently available" (of course he has one on his boat). There are also some other positive technical reasons to choose this model.
Talked to Barden ,who were very helpful indeed. Air X is no longer available, Air breeze is the replacement model. We are going to buy one. (I like the idea of the brake to stop it turning!)

 

[mandlmaunder]

Would also recommend the KISS from Trinidad(we have 1) and the Superwind (we want 1) if you have the time to look around before you buy.

 

[rivonia]

We purchased our Air-X this month and it is the latest most advanced and quitest wind turbine in the world. It is the only one that is able to charge our bank of 7 x 110 amp hr batteries combined with a solar panel all from Bardens

 

[mixmaster]

I'm warming up to an Air Breeze after initially wanting the Rutland 913.
Fidelis, did you get an Air X or Air BREEZE?
The guys that sourced their Air breeze/X in the UK, were you able to buy a mounting kit or did you have to have one made?

Thanks.

 

[rivonia]

Hi Mixmaster,we have the ''air-x'' from Bardens UK, the mountung kit was supplied by the local yard using a second hand s/s pole.
I would advise the Air-X Marine as it is the very latest and made with NEW style blades especially for Yachts
Good Luck

 

[mixmaster]

thanks fidelis.

 

[anniebray]

Google "Lagun wind generator" & you will find a sexy alloy mast kit (ref 10624) made by the Swedish firm NOA. It is apparently a new product unknown to the British Importer with whom I am currently negotiating a price. It will fit the Air-X & Airbreeze but doubtfully the Rutland 913 without some mods. The dimensions of the Rutland are such that pole dia must not exceed 48mm otherwise under certain conditions the flexing blades can collide with the pole ! The Lagun pole is 50 dia.

 

[emandvee44]

Found all the posts a bit confusing, so called Barden. The air breeze is the latest model, and quietest apparently. The air x is being phased out, because it was too noisy. I was told the air breeze can produce up to 300 amps and if so its not far behind the air x.

Thanks for all the advice - we will continue our search!

 

[Liz_I]

This is an interesting post. On a subject that is very close to my heart /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Forget the published power curves and the promised output. Could you please tell me what AirX/Breeze/Whisper gives you and at what wind speed? You'll need an ammeter and not include the solar panel input.
Following with much interest...

 

[BrianH]

[ QUOTE ]
Could you please tell me what AirX/Breeze/Whisper gives you and at what wind speed? You'll need an ammeter and not include the solar panel input.

[/ QUOTE ]
Charge is both a combination of revs (wind speed) and battery condition. With a later model Air-X last year lying at anchor when a summer storm hit me and the dual battery bank needing replacement (first job this season) and well discharged, I was shocked to see 51 Amps flowing on the dedicated ammeter. The wind was registering 25 knots (Raymarine ST60) but clearly gusting to much higher - I am convinced that the unit under-reads at higher wind speeds and this was a case in point. I quickly threw the "Stop" switch (shorts the generator output so that it just slowly windmills) before the blades disintegrated or one of the components burned up.

The maximum I had seen before that was 41 Amps, but that was on my previous boat without wind speed meter.

I have this installation from e Marine here with the switch panel illustrated. The problem with the integrated ammeter is that it only displays integer Amps, so in lighter winds with charged batteries only "0" is displayed while the LED mounted on the generator is lit, showing that it is charging.

In typical conditions, for example when sailing in winds up to 20 knots and all equipment working, including fridge and Dell notebook PC, I see easily enough current flowing to replace my consumption, say between 5 to 10 Amps. This is the real advantage of having a wind generator on a sailing boat. At anchor in the Med, there is often too little wind to keep the batteries charged and that is when solar panels can complement the installation.

 

[anniebray]

I'm putting off wind generator installation until next years refit. Dont want to spoil my boat with a hasty job. Think I'll stick with the Rutland 913 & now I fancy the idea of using an aluminium scaffold pole for mounting, probably anodised. I fancy attaching to my transom using two fixing points adequately spaced so as to avoid using struts which are never enhancing.