Is my Rutland 503 charging?

[2nd_apprentice]

How do you replace a diode? Doesn't sound like a DIY job.

Edit:

. Check Rectifier.
• It is first necessary to remove the generator and it’s nacelle cover as in Note 3.
• Un-solder the 3 stator output leads from the rectifier.
• Using a multimeter on Ohms range, the rectifier can be tested as follows.

(...)

• If the rectifier does not check out as above it should be replaced.
• Re-solder the 3 stator output leads to the rectifier


I gave up soldering long ago and tbh I don't see why I should have to tear down and reassemble electronic components before installing new kit. I gave up on British cars for the same reason I guess.

 

[LadyInBed]

I gave up soldering long ago and tbh I don't see why I should have to tear down and reassemble electronic components before installing new kit. I gave up on British cars for the same reason I guess.

Fix / replace WG or live with flat batteries!
If you are going to replace, Solar would be a cheaper option.

 

[2nd_apprentice]

Sorry, not that I don't appreciate the help, I certainly do, it's just been an immensely frustrating experience. And costly at that: investing hundreds into somthing that I now need to take to a specialist just to get it to work. Unfortunately I am hopeless when it comes to soldering.
The damn thing was practically new when I finally installed it last year!

 

[2nd_apprentice]

If you are going to replace, Solar would be a cheaper option.

Btw: I was told a s/s cockpit mounting frame for solar panels alone would cost me around £700. Not what I'd call "cheap".

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

I'm not surprised at poor charge from Rutlands.

At best over a period of months you'll get no better than a trickle charge.

I've had a 913 and now a 914i and really wish I'd bought a D-400
see http://www.duogen.co.uk/page21.html although bigger, heavier and pricey, it is more likely to' do what it says on the tin'!!

I've just replaced my 3 solar panels, which give 12A charge to my 5 110AH batteries in the middle of a summers sunny day and with the improvement in solar overtaking wind generators I would think that is the way to go...... unless of course you sail at night a lot, in F3 and F3+ winds, then a wind generator will definitely help keep instruments and nav lights lit, without starting the wretched engine.

if you have a small boat and need it for keeping the battery healthy then a single small solar will suffice.
There is a size above which a regulator is definitely required, (probably by your insurance company too) as a boiled battery is not good news.

S

S.

 

[garvellachs]

Sorry, not that I don't appreciate the help, I certainly do, it's just been an immensely frustrating experience. And costly at that: investing hundreds into somthing that I now need to take to a specialist just to get it to work. Unfortunately I am hopeless when it comes to soldering.
The damn thing was practically new when I finally installed it last year!

Was it actually new when you installed it, or secondhand, or what? I had to change the bearings on ours after 3 years or so, which I thought was disappointing. You have to take it to bits drastically to do so, including unsoldering the input wires from the rectifying pcb. Afterwards output had dropped and I had to resolder one of the joints. Foolishly I used high speed bearings which were too slack and had to change them again within a year. Also, the aluminium joints in the stainless poles corroded solid quickly in the weather and I can't get them apart now, so I have to carry the thing around as a whole on and off the boat. Overall, in the longer term, I'm not impressed.

 

[2nd_apprentice]

Was it actually new when you installed it, or secondhand, or what?

New, bought several years ago but never fitted it. The 504 was voted "best buy" in its class by PBO some time ago, so thought I should give it a try. Had to cough up some more money for a custom mounting pole first (which of course won't fit a 9xx series generator).
Given the almost unanimously negative verdict I probably won't bother with further repairs/investments.

So: what's the deal with solar panels then? My Rutland regulator (simple egg-shaped type) is good for up to 100W panels according to the manual, any reason why I shouldn't use it?
Is shading still a problem? We're talking about a sailing boat after all. Plenty of space on the deck but probably unsuitable?
Only need to keep LED nav lights, depth sounder, GPS/AIS running. No radio, plotter, fridge, telly etc. Heck, even the engine is manual start only so pretty frugal requirements.

 

[VicS]

New, bought several years ago but never fitted it. The 504 was voted "best buy" in its class by PBO some time ago, so thought I should give it a try. Had to cough up some more money for a custom mounting pole first (which of course won't fit a 9xx series generator).
Given the almost unanimously negative verdict I probably won't bother with further repairs/investments.

So: what's the deal with solar panels then? My Rutland regulator (simple egg-shaped type) is good for up to 100W panels according to the manual, any reason why I shouldn't use it?
Is shading still a problem? We're talking about a sailing boat after all. Plenty of space on the deck but probably unsuitable?
Only need to keep LED nav lights, depth sounder, GPS/AIS running. No radio, plotter, fridge, telly etc. Heck, even the engine is manual start only so pretty frugal requirements.

No reason why not but but if you intend fitting a large amount of a solar an MPPT controller might be worth considering in order to get the most out of it.

However you needs seem quite modest. There does not seem to be any need to fit more than a few 10 of watts and little to be gained from a MPPT controller.


A thought in passing ......... When you originally fitted the Wind gen is there any chance that you connected it with the polarity reversed .... even fleetingly ....... If you did then you will probably have toasted the rectifier.

 

[2nd_apprentice]

Not to my knowledge I didn't. Wouldn't that fry ALL the rectifiers?
It occured to me yesterday that you mentioned the 503 had three of them and since I do seem to get around 8 volts out of it most of the time, could it be that only two of them are working (assuming each one of the contributes 4.x volts)?

 

[2nd_apprentice]

Had the Rutland checked today and spoke to Marlec, turns out there's nothing wrong with it at all. Actually it's what they'd expect in a marina. Apparently they're designed for windy high latitude anchorages.

Their 48W solar panel OTOH would recharge my battery in 8 days, costing £499.
I payed £46 (incl delivery) for my last battery so it would take at least ten years to break even.

 

[KAL]

Ours has been pretty good, bought second hand from a forumite. However, it was getting noisy so sent back to Marlec for bearing service this year. They returned it in just a few days, fully serviced and had even replaced the nacelle with a new one foc. Much quieter when remounted and has been putting in a good 0.5 - 1.2 amps depending on the wind, when I've been on board to measure.

One way to tell whether it's charging is to unplug the deck joint. Normally, there's a faint whine when it's working. If you disconnect the leads, the whine should go, as the genny spins without a load. I found that when I remounted it after service, there was no whine. That was because on of the leads had become undone when I remounted it. Once reconnected, the whine returned, which tells me there's a load on the genny.

 

[luchocono]

I've just installed an Rutland HRS503 to replace the old regulator that burnt while I was sailing with wind speeds of over 35 knots. The regulator stops working with a windspeed of more than 20 knots. Is this normal? As I understand it should "regulate" block the speed of the wind turbine. Any ideas what can be wrong? Thank you

 

[VicS]

I've just installed an Rutland HRS503 to replace the old regulator that burnt while I was sailing with wind speeds of over 35 knots. The regulator stops working with a windspeed of more than 20 knots. Is this normal? As I understand it should "regulate" block the speed of the wind turbine. Any ideas what can be wrong? Thank you

The regulator monitors the battery volts and cuts in when the preset value (12.8v unless another value specified when ordered) is reached. The charging current should then be tapered down until it is reduced to zero at approx 0.5 volts above the cut in value. It does this by shunting the excess current and slowing the generator.

What is yours doing and what voltage has the battery reached when it "stops working"

 

[KRG]

I had a 503 for use on a swinging mooring, it needed a good wind to get anything out of it, not much use really. It did help a bit when out sailing but struggled to recharge batteries fully across a week. I switched to couple of 20w solar panels which produced much more energy.

 

[luchocono]

VicS thank you for your answer and sorry for my late reply. The battery was more than 12.8 volts. The regulator ¨regulated¨ with winds less than 20 knots and stopped regulating above 20 knots of wind speed. I understand that if the battery is over 12.8v the regulator should be slowing down the generator no matter what the wind speed is, right? Do you have any idea what could be wrong? Thanks

 

[Dockhead]

As AntarcticPilot says, it takes a half gale to get anything worthwhile out of the 503 (that I also have). So much so, that mine is coming off this winter and am fitting 2 x 20watt solar panels to go in parallel with the 60watt panel I already have.

This summer with all the sunshine and no wind, the 60watt panel almost kept up with the 24hr usage of fridge and lights on the boat when anchored. It almost kept up with the occasional use of the TV. So 100watts next year, without the 503 should be capable of supplying all I need. I have 3 x 105amp batteries, plus an 80amp bow thruster battery, that is mostly isolated from the main bank, and only paralleled when required.

I do sail and also motor-sail, so that brings my batteries up to start with - that and the solar panel charging when I am not there.

I have the older egg-shaped regulator, that both 503 and solar are connected into. The 503 on its own when sailing does/did not produce a lot of power.

I had the 914i, with the digital regulator, and it produced no useful power at all. It would output one ampere in half a gale, but average output on my mooring was less than the self discharge of the batteries -- that is, it couldn't keep the batteries charged even with the whole electrical system shut down.

I sold it on EBay and got almost nothing for it. It was a huge waste of time, labour, and money.

 

[Mistroma]

I had the 914i, with the digital regulator, and it produced no useful power at all. It would output one ampere in half a gale, but average output on my mooring was less than the self discharge of the batteries -- that is, it couldn't keep the batteries charged even with the whole electrical system shut down.

I sold it on EBay and got almost nothing for it. It was a huge waste of time, labour, and money.

Interesting that performance of the 914i was so poor. I have had a 913 for several years and it averaged about 10Ah per day during the sailing season in Scotland. Pretty much the same in France, Galicia and Portugal but tapering to more like 7Ah each day. I get the odd day, once a season, when it pushes out 100-140Ah in 24 hours and lots and lots with almost zero output. However, it would keep up with the self-discharge on my batteries on a mooring. Not enough to recharge them if discharged.

I wouldn't sell mine but equally, wouldn't replace it if it was stolen. Solar produces so much more for your money but I haven't heard of a 914i with such spectacularly low output.

 

[VicS]

VicS thank you for your answer and sorry for my late reply. The battery was more than 12.8 volts. The regulator ¨regulated¨ with winds less than 20 knots and stopped regulating above 20 knots of wind speed. I understand that if the battery is over 12.8v the regulator should be slowing down the generator no matter what the wind speed is, right? Do you have any idea what could be wrong? Thanks

If the battery is above 12.8 then you should see the both amber lights on initially then as the battery charges the green battery voltage LED should come on and the red regulating LEd also,

The speed should decrease as the battery charges to a minimum when the red regulating LED comes on.

If you partly discharge the battery you should be able to get to a point where the green charging Led comes on the the generator speeds up again.

If this does not happen id suggest you consult the manufacturer...

 

[gregcope]

Had the Rutland checked today and spoke to Marlec, turns out there's nothing wrong with it at all. Actually it's what they'd expect in a marina. Apparently they're designed for windy high latitude anchorages.

Their 48W solar panel OTOH would recharge my battery in 8 days, costing £499.
I payed £46 (incl delivery) for my last battery so it would take at least ten years to break even.

There are other solar panel suppliers. Many are reaching £1/w. Which would make you payback around a year.