Chinese wind generators

I had boat with Rurland and Aerogen wind generators, both of which were excellent. But I now have good solar panels which are capable of maintaining the battery bank to satisfy boats needs. I will not be adding a wind generator because the solar panels meet the needs. However, If your total battery capacity is small for your needs and your solar panel space are limited, then you should be considering wind turbines too. Personally, I would be spending my money on a good quality wind turbine capable of charging the batteries even at low wind speeds. The issue to whether Chinese turbines are good or not; most equipment nowadays are made in China of various specifications, you get what you pay for. If the question is whether I like the Chinese regime ideology, who does?
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
I had boat with Rurland and Aerogen wind generators, both of which were excellent. But I now have good solar panels which are capable of maintaining the battery bank to satisfy boats needs. I will not be adding a wind generator because the solar panels meet the needs. However, If your total battery capacity is small for your needs and your solar panel space are limited, then you should be considering wind turbines too. Personally, I would be spending my money on a good quality wind turbine capable of charging the batteries even at low wind speeds. The issue to whether Chinese turbines are good or not; most equipment nowadays are made in China of various specifications, you get what you pay for. If the question is whether I like the Chinese regime ideology, who does?
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In the best case you get what you pay for. In many cases rather less (applies to all vendors - not just Chinese).

As for ideology, is a regime which improves the standard of living of a minority of its citizens preferable to one which improves the standard of living for the majority of its citizens? (UK/China)

Or do you prefer a regime which is basically the administrative arm of a religious order?
 
westernman said:
As for ideology, is a regime which improves the standard of living of a minority of its citizens preferable to one which improves the standard of living for the majority of its citizens? (UK/China).
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The World Bank's figures show that China has a higher GINI coefficient than the UK. Higher GINI coefficient means more wealth inequality.
 
I am always interested to read what people have to say about wind turbines. Many people say they are noisy and don't produce much power. When I assess turbines offered on eBay I wonder if that criticism applies to all of them? Of course there are shonky sellers on eBay but they (mostly) have a lousy seller rating and you wouldn't buy from them anyway.

But then you see X5 bladed turbines which they claim are quite silent and produce good power. (But you won't buy one of those for £99)

Finally, when I walk around the marinas it is easy to spot the blue-water cruising yachts with their small windows, high stanchions, safety netting and signage in a foreign language and they all have at least one wind turbine (in addition to solar panels)

I haven't ruled out installing one turbine as my yacht is a ketch and I have limited room for panels.
 
I had a 913 generator on last 2 boats spanning 15yrs. Boat on a mooring. Never had a flat battery. I have around 90w of solar on present boat, with 3x 105Ah batteries. No space for more pv. I want to fit a genny atoo the mizzen mast. Can't go on a pole, the mizzen boom hangs off the end. And the boat will be back on mooring come spring.
 
coopec said:
I am always interested to read what people have to say about wind turbines. Many people say they are noisy and don't produce much power. When I assess turbines offered on eBay I wonder if that criticism applies to all of them? Of course there are shonky sellers on eBay but they (mostly) have a lousy seller rating and you wouldn't buy from them anyway.

But then you see X5 bladed turbines which they claim are quite silent and produce good power. (But you won't buy one of those for £99)

Finally, when I walk around the marinas it is easy to spot the blue-water cruising yachts with their small windows, high stanchions, safety netting and signage in a foreign language and they all have at least one wind turbine (in addition to solar panels)

I haven't ruled out installing one turbine as my yacht is a ketch and I have limited room for panels.
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Ardenfour said:
I had a 913 generator on last 2 boats spanning 15yrs. Boat on a mooring. Never had a flat battery. I have around 90w of solar on present boat, with 3x 105Ah batteries. No space for more pv. I want to fit a genny atoo the mizzen mast. Can't go on a pole, the mizzen boom hangs off the end. And the boat will be back on mooring come spring.
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Horses for courses.

It does not matter how you generate electricity - your need to use that power always exceeds the generation, a variation on Parkinson's Law.

'Your ability to produce and store electricity is always exceeded by your ability to use it'

Jonathan
 
I have had wind turbines on 3 yachts in long distance, ocean cruising and liveaboard situations. First off in harbour they are quite useless, which makes sense, since a port is supposed to provide a sheltered environment.
Unless you are going to windward, they are near useless at sea and even then output is modest at best. I knew some boats that had relatively large and expensive varieties and their verdict was the same. Much under 20 kn, output might be charitably described as modest; how often do you have wind speeds of 20 kn or more? Having been chased across the Pacific by what sounded like a low flying aircraft, I can also confidently state that they are rather noisy as well (That particular model looked suspiciously similar to the cheapo posted by the OP.)
As a power generating source and of the size suitable for a yacht they are not their money's worth or the space they occupy.
 
If those above are contemplating installing wind generators on mizzen masts, please don't.
For your own and others' safety, it is essential that in fierce wind conditions, you have a means of physically tying off the generator. This is relatively easy if the genny is mounted on a pole. The common method is having a short line attached to the tail fin, which can be reached, and be used to swing the genny across the wind to stop it rotating, when it can then by tied off. Wind generators mounted up on mizzen masts are much more difficult to control. I have mast steps, but in a gale of wind, there was no way that I was going up there to try to tame a wildly rotating generator. A mast mounted wind generator cannot be fitted with the aforementioned line on the tail fin, because it would foul the mast. Beware.
 
NormanS said:
If those above are contemplating installing wind generators on mizzen masts, please don't.
For your own and others' safety, it is essential that in fierce wind conditions, you have a means of physically tying off the generator. This is relatively easy if the genny is mounted on a pole. The common method is having a short line attached to the tail fin, which can be reached, and be used to swing the genny across the wind to stop it rotating, when it can then by tied off. Wind generators mounted up on mizzen masts are much more difficult to control. I have mast steps, but in a gale of wind, there was no way that I was going up there to try to tame a wildly rotating generator. A mast mounted wind generator cannot be fitted with the aforementioned line on the tail fin, because it would foul the mast. Beware.
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If that were the only argument against them I wouldn't worry about it. On the more up to date models you flip a switch to engage an electric brake. I would be more concerned about the weight. The old Ampair ones, at least, were ridiculously heavy.
 
Well, almost 2 yrs to the day after fitting, I went down to the boat to check how she fared in last night's breeze. Boat was fine. I couldn't check the wind generator because it had GONE. On the plus side, I never had a flat battery in the two years, it was reasonably quiet, and I frequently saw 8 or 9 amps in a decent wind. Granted, mounting it atop the mizzen mast puts it out of reach, meaning, as pointed out in previous posts, I couldn't tie it off during gales. That would have saved it last night. It appears to have sheared off at the direction bearing - the clamp is still attached to the pole. For interest, my anemometer showed a max gust of 99knots this morning. Which is as high as the display goes. Anyway, at £99 that works out at £1.03 per week for charged batteries. I might just order another one :sneaky:
 

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I have been considering a wind genny to mount at bottom of garden next to river bank for charging boat batts on my 'fleet' .... I have space to install solar - but prefer to have the grass uncluttered !! Plus in winter - its dark from before 4pm - round to after 9am ... Not much use and I'm not of mind to go down there to sweep 20 - 30cms of snow of solar
 
They don't generate wind, that is left to their owners. They are turbines or if you must wind driven electricity generators.
 
Stemar said:
Is there a reason you want wind rather than solar? A friend who's a bit of an anorak did a comparison between the amount of power available from his Rutland wind gen and his 100W of solar panels. For the S coast of England, the expected output from solar was several times the output of the wind gen.
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All through the night also.
 
Alex_Blackwood said:
Yes but in the profession an alternator is an alternator and a generator is a generator 😵‍💫 Enough! One just has to be silly sometimes:oops:
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English language is a fluid thing. Now in my day a generator was found on a car with commutator and brushes. I think in UK known as a dynamo. An alternator was a device that generated alternating current. ie 250v AC with IC engine. Then came alternators on cars which generate AC but is immediately rectified to DC.
Now it seems a "generator" produces 250v AC from an engine power. Strictly speaking of course any device that produces electricity by rotating coils through a magnetic field can only produce alternating current. (which may be rectified by diodes or commutator and brushes. I guess we just have to go with name changes as we get older. ol'will
 
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