Air Breeze and my apology

mandlmaunder

mandlmaunder

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I have just helped a new friend fit a new style Air Breeze wind gen, and I am saddened to say that from the moment it was turned on it made noise not too different from the original noisy 'Black bladed' version.
It was my understanding that the 'New' 'White bladed' version was much quieter than previous models, not true!.
The owner is very happy with the output and will learn to live with the noise and vibration as when it's noisy it's making power.

Me I just APOLOGISE to any and all cruisers in the pacific who will have the pleasure of meeting sailing cat Wishful Thinking and her owners, Chris and Tuula, and listening to another noisy wind gen.
Mark
 
Looks like the holy grail, a wind genny with good output and low noise! I'll keep looking and waiting!
 
Hi Mark

People generally remark how quiet my Air Breeze is. It is very solidly mounted though and I believe that makes a significant difference.

Will you still be in Las Perlas end of January, beginning of Feb? We'll be passing through around then.
 
I've just fitted a new Air Breeze and it is noisy- certainly much noisier than the West Wind publicity suggests. Mine came with black blades, but they are the larger profile. Vibration thro the mounting pole is minimal - it's the blades that create the noise.
Output and other features are great, but quiet it ain't!
 
The noise from the new machine is nearly all blade related.
On the plus side Chris the proud owner celebratedhis new found power glut by buying a blender and microwave oven(600watt), so he has lost his power deficiency blues.

Jeannius, Not sure where we will be next year will let you know
 
I've been living aboard with the Air Breeze for the last 3 months. For a high output generator people have commented that it's quite quiet. I find it actually gets quieter as the wind pipes up. I guess that's relative to wind through rigging noise etc.. When sailing in 15kn apparent or more, I can't here it behind the wheel. Output starts at about 7-8kn and by 15kn it will give 4-8A. At 20, it will give 10A.
There is some noise of course, but a lot less than the old one. I don't have any vibration problems.
 
Am awaiting delivery of 'silent' blades from Portugal for my "Air X", as I can not get standard blades in UK without a long wait and have not had a reply from the manufacturer to my email order for replacements.
The silent blades have been given good write ups in the SSCA forum by people who have fitted them. Will report back once I have them fitted.
Web site may be of interest: http://www.silentwindgenerator.com/
 
Not seen the Air Breeze but have seen more than one Air X mast mounted - same body but twice the output at 400 w so potentially significantly more wind load when working.
 
oldvarnish said:
The wind loading is an interesting issue. Anyone seen any figures on this, or experiene to share?
Click to expand...

I've had an Air-X installed for five years now and noticed from the start that it had problems with the light winds we often get in the Med. The impression was that with winds under 7-8 knots it didn't turn and if slightly higher, with a relatively well-charged battery bank, as soon as the circuitry switches into charging, the load-resistance brakes it to a stop. I believe this is why the manufacturers brought out the Air-Breeze with half of the charging potential, just to reduce this effect. After all, 400W is a lot of power - I've seen 50 Amps on my panel in a gale.

In practice this is not too big a problem because I have a motor-sailor that needs a good breeze to sail effectively - when I am sailing there is always enough power from the Air-X flowing to compensate for auto-pilot, instruments, notebook PC and refrigerator. When not sailing I am motoring and the alternator does the job.
 
Sorry, didn't make myself quite clear. I was wondering how the trim of the boat was affected by having a 'fan' up the mizzen mast. I've heard that these can produce a considerable amount of sideways thrust, and given the length of a mizzen, a considerable amount of leverage could rest making the boat more tender (in strongish winds, of course).
Is this a real problem, or a hypothetical one?
 
oldvarnish said:
Sorry, didn't make myself quite clear. I was wondering how the trim of the boat was affected by having a 'fan' up the mizzen mast. I've heard that these can produce a considerable amount of sideways thrust, and given the length of a mizzen, a considerable amount of leverage could rest making the boat more tender (in strongish winds, of course).
Is this a real problem, or a hypothetical one?
Click to expand...
Ah, it is for me to apologise, I should have read your words more carefully as you did make yourself quite clear.

I cannot really comment as I have no mizzen mast. However, my Air-X is mounted on a 2.0m pole right aft - I certainly wouldn't think that any windage or offset thrust could be significant. Then again, WTF do I know? Perhaps there is for a more performance oriented type yacht.
 
Oldvarnish - I have installed the Air-X on my mizzen (Nicholson 38) without any adverse affect on trim. It has been tested in winds up to force 6. Must say I am delighted with it.
 
Have just fitted the 'silent' blades I mentioned in an earlier post.
First impression on openning the box was that they are beautifully polished, making the standard items look very rough and tatty. They are also a lot stiffer and have a slightly different shape.
Had the odd gust that set it spinning and the effect was immediately obvious, the familiar speed variable hum that is probably bearing noise was there plus a very slight swishing noise just before the regulator cut it off with battery volts up to 14.2 from a start of 13.4 (shorepower on). If anything it sounds like the old blades at a range of a quarter to half a mile when they were not screaming, and that was standing right under the turbine. So 400 watts output and no more noise than the old Ampair fan made while struggling to give 80 watts. Have not heard the Air Breeze running so can not make that comparison.
 
We have just fitted a new Airbreeze and are pretty impressed. the control unit works extremely well and the noise level whilst noticeable is quite acceptable and certainly less than older units near us in the marina. I can't see how any wind driven turbine can be totally quiet, by definition the wind has to blow through it and must therefore make some noise. The blade quality is very important and the new Airbreeze blades seem very well finished.
 
Does anyone know if the air breeze will fit the same mountings as the old air-x ? I am considering junking an air-x that has been a total failure, providing virtually no output but lots of noise, and is probably not worth attempting to fix. But it would make life easier if I did not have to change the mounting system.

Thanks
 
I think you will find Air X and Air Breeze use the same body. One firm in the US offers a conversion from Air X to Breeze, and it looks as if they just mount the new parts in your old shell.
 
Having earlier defended the Air Breeze, I now have to criticise them!

Yesterday, while preparing Jeannius for the approach of Tropical Storm Erika, I climbed up to tie down the blades of my 9 month old Air Breeze. As I did I noticed that the trailing edge of one blade was very rough and when I touched it my fingers ended up with glassfibre - or whatever the blades are made of - particles in my fingers. The whole trailing edge appears to be disintegrating.

I guess I'm about to find out what their customer service is like!
 
Best of luck, I am still awaiting a response to my email ordering a set of AirX blades and asking how they wanted me to make payment.
Since sending the order about 3 weeks ago I have had responses from most of the UK outlets I contacted saying 3 weeks or so for delivery, discovered the Portugese 'silent' blades while looking for US distributors to try, ordered, received, & fitted the silent blades.
SWWindpower were good though some 4 years ago when I had parts under warranty.
 
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