Cheap Wind Generator

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Thats a Dolphin Wind Charger on back end ... fixed to port 1/4 rail. I was not impressed by it ... bought it at a Boat Jumble ....... it put out charge ... but cable was in my opinion too thin and also charge was weak ...

Mine may have been a duff example ... I let it go with the boat as I didn't think it worth the hassle to take off and fit to next boat .....
 
From Sailing Today,
Not much use unless your boat is in a very windy place.






Ampair Dolphin


AMPAIR DOLPHIN 217.38
Performance ***** Functionality *****
Value *****
There's no doubt that the blades of a conventional horizontal-shaft wind turbine can be pretty intimidating when you get close to them. Nor can there be much doubt that many yachtsmen - possibly most - only want to use wind generators to keep batteries topped up between weekends, rather than to run a fridge, an autopilot, and a colour telly. That certainly seems to be the rationale behind the Ampair Dolphin: it's a user-friendly, non-threatening trickle-charger, that is perhaps better seen as an alternative to a solar panel than as comparable with the other wind generators in this group.

It works on the same principle as those rotating advertising signs that used to be a common signs on our pavements: three curved metal plates are mounted on a vertical shaft, so that they turn like the cups of an anemometer when the wind blows. It's delightfully easy to assemble, because there's no assembly involved! You just clamp the shaft to some convenient mounting point and connect the wires to a battery. You could fit a regulator, if you wanted to, but there really isn't much point.

The first drawback of the design became apparent as we started to increase the wind speed in the tunnel. At first, nothing happened. Then, the Dolphin started oscillating - swivelling backwards and forwards through about 60 degrees. Not until the wind speed reached 12.5 knots (a healthy Force 4, and slightly higher than the average wind speed in the English Channel) did it start to spin. At 22 knots (a Force 6) its output had risen to just under a quarter of an amp. At that rate, an hour or so's running would produce enough power to run a small bilge pump for five minutes.


Sailing Today Verdict
A nice, non-threatening, user-friendly product, but slow to start and with a very low output.
 
Have to say that the article does not fully agree with what I found ... my Dolphin would turn quite easily in a breeze .... and didn't need at least F4 .... but charge rate is too low ....

Even with a howling gale its rate is so low as to be more risk having it damage the mounting than charge ...
 
work it out 4w = 0.3 amps single nav light bulb = 2 amps, therefore for every hour of a single nav lt, your charger needs to work at full rate for 6 hours!

Its about as useful as an empty mars bar wrapper.

in this area, you get what you pay for.

Rutland 913 or airogen for reasonable use

KISS or Duogen D400 for heavy use

or consider a water driven system such as aqua4gen or duogen for downhill sailing + solarpanels.
 
It's what is technically known as a Savonious Rotor they are great high torque producers for mechanical pumps but not realy fast enough without gearing for production of electricity via an alternator without gearing. You see them in the 'third world' (is that PC?) usually made from an oil drum cutin half vertically and then strapped together to make the rotor for working well pumps.
 
As stated by others the output is too small to be considered as a serious charging device. It would however be an alternative to a small solar panel for maintaining the battery charge while the boat is not in use and over a period of several days it will top up a battery that is only slightly discharged.

re Nigel's comments about the wire being to thin. To carry that sort of current will only need a thin wire and voltage drop is not likely to be a problem either. It would be better to use a decent size of cable, though, just for physical strength. If you do buy one put a fuse in the wiring, rated to protect the wiring, as close as possible to the battery.

I can't find it on the website you have given the link to!
 
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