D400 wind turbine

T

tobble

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Hi

I was looking at getting a wind turbine to supply part of my electricity needs, to save running the engine quite so often - no available power outlets on the marina!

In november's PBO, there's 9 on test, and it turns out there is one that should actually cover all my needs (!), even assuming a fairly conservative wind - the D400. In the test it blew all others out of the water (well...) outperforming it's nearest rival by almost double in low winds, and by a significant margin in higher winds.

does anyone have one, or any knowledge of them, and is there anything to bear in mind? I haven't had any wind turbines before, are there any other general points about intalling and running them?

Tobes
 
Re: Listen before you buy...

Indeed, others I ahve spoken to pointed this out. The PBO article rated it as 'quiet', but as an acoustic engineer this does not cut much ice... give me dBs, people! Wind turbines on other boats i've seen don't seem to be too noisy from outside, but I guess when they're bolted to the deck a fair amount of noise will pass streight into the interior. It should be possible to design some anti vibration mounting though (eee, stick it on rubber feet, chuck)
 
Re: Listen before you buy...

The reason they rate it as quiet (and is also true for the Duogen cause it uses the same blades) is that the D400 has much bigger blades than the opposition, thus it is set up to turn more slowly yet can achieve a higher amp input. The majority of the noise from a wind generator is due to the blade tip speed. With a bigger blade and slower turning, the actual blade tip speed on D400 is dramatically slower than the opposition, and thus quieter.
 
I\'d go for the D400 wind turbine

I have a DuoGen and the business end of the two units are the same. Eclectic are a good company to deal with and will always go out of their way to help overcome any problems. Provided you've got somewhere sturdy to take its not inconsiderable weight, then this is the unit to go for.

Cheers,

Jerry
 
Bigger blades...

[ QUOTE ]
the D400 has much bigger blades than the opposition

[/ QUOTE ]
Just had a look at the D400 specs - the blades are 1.1m diameter! Hope Tobes has got a big enough boat to keep that lot well away from anyone's head!
 
Re: Bigger blades...

My boat is a sabre 27. My plan was to build a simple ss triangular tower over the pushpit, as the turbine does not come with any fittings. this would have to be pretty big thou, say 8 ft above the seat which gets stood on, plus half the diameter... the unit would be in the region of 10 ft up. hmmm....

I note from the tests that the D400 outperforms the DuoGen, presumably you loose a lot of efficiency in that shaft mechanism.

T
 
mounting

another thought just struck me; the tower need not be verticle - it could come of the boat leang away from the cockpit, saving having to have it so damn high. Would have to be carefully designed to avoid fouling the blades.

another thing to bear in mind is that height is an advantage in terms of wind speed....

p.s. thanks for the tips so far!
 
Perhaps...

Perhaps you could do that. But I've a sneaking suspicion you wouldn't be happy with the final appearance. Reckon the D400's just too big for your boat.
 
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