Recommendations for wind generator

NornaBiron said:
+1 and then the company/agents have the cheek to say that they've 'never heard of that problem before'! Ours has been back for repair/replacement three times in the last three years too.
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A quote of "unfit for purpose" to the "agent" seems to make 'em listen . I have made a point of talking to other air breeze owners in the marina and they all have the same opinion . The bloody thing cost me the best part of £1000with the mounting pole An less than £300 for 300w of solar panels . !!! No comparison .
 
NornaBiron said:
+1 and then the company/agents have the cheek to say that they've 'never heard of that problem before'!

Its a standard reply in the marine industry, my firm belief is that its the very first thing new entrants are taught to say to customers - it worked well before the internet, but its looking very tired now.

Sorry for showing my cynicism and allowing thread drift:)

Jonathan

Edit: But in defense of wind and water gens - and keeping to the OP's thread focus - he wants something to produce power when he sails at night. I sail at night, and it might be daytime then where most of you are, but I can assure you solar does not work in the dark, nor is it much use if its raining! But if your yacht is on passage, rain or shine, dark or sunny - then a water gen works (though it can spoil the trawling).
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clyst said:
A quote of "unfit for purpose" to the "agent" seems to make 'em listen . I have made a point of talking to other air breeze owners in the marina and they all have the same opinion . The bloody thing cost me the best part of £1000with the mounting pole An less than £300 for 300w of solar panels . !!! No comparison .
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We mentioned Trading Standards last time. We asked for a partial refund after the second return. Despite telling them that we would actively and publicly discourage people from buying the product they were not forthcoming. Every time it has to go back it costs us a fair bit to courier from Greece. The next repair trip will be to the bin!
 
J Neeves said:
I had heard that ITT had taken over LVM, or had taken over the Aero/Aqua Gen side of the business. We contacted them some 2 years ago, did not match the LVM service, nor personal touch, but eventually did advise how to get spares. The next bit of news was they had transferred production to China (no problem with this as long as some of the benefits flow through to the consumer:)) and then that they had shut down the Aqua gen part of the business (which seemed daft as the Aquagen (in our opinion is magic) - but there again we suspect a really niche bit of activity).

So James - if you now have a towed Aquagen where and when did you get it - can you add to the less than encouraging history.

Jonathan
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Apologies it was an Aquair, not an Aquagen, but basically the same thing from Ampair. I got it here: (http://www.jgtech.com/wind.htm) Oddly they also list the LVM products.
 
J Neeves said:
Edit: But in defense of wind and water gens - and keeping to the OP's thread focus - he wants something to produce power when he sails at night. I sail at night, and it might be daytime then where most of you are, but I can assure you solar does not work in the dark, nor is it much use if its raining!
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But solar is fine for daytime charging a bank large enough to last for night passages, they do work in rain although reduced output and are far cheaper than wind or water gens.
 
Having build a low windage windgen and modified a Aerogen 4 for better performance I am astonished by the price of wind generators.
A windgen is a super simple thing, much less complicated than say a kitchen mixer.
For sale strategy most commercial wind generators for yachts are just a little to small to be of any use.

One more thing puzzling me is that all sailors feel ok with the windage that a windgen creates.
If I am correct, one needs approx 4 m² of sail to drag that windgen upwind.
A propeller with furling blades or simply an easy removable propeller would help a lot in sailing efficiency. Most sailors need the windgen only at night at anchor.
 
Not sure that I ever knew how to accurately quantify the drag of a heeled, rotating wind genny at 10, 15, 25kn apparent
The 4m sq of effective sail area is interesting..
Less than that required for a bowthrusters disturbances I wonder? I have a love/hate relationship with the mast moi ted radar for same reason, hmm.

We used to remove the Ampair blades ( quite easy) if pretending to race seriously...

Of course once the sheets are freed a bit , it is less of an issue I suppose.

Where the things are useful noise wise I find, is as the definitive indicator, ( for better or worse haha) of 'deal with it' changes in wind speed..
 
We've got an Aquair 100 which does a brilliant job when towed, keeping pace with the autopilot and fridge when we're doing over about five knots. We also have the wind conversion kit but it's not worth the work of hoisting it most of the time as it needs about 15 knots before it makes any worthwhile contribution.
Friends have a D400 which is the only wind gen I've come across which is worth fitting. It seems to produce a worthwhile output even in the lightest of winds.
 
OldBawley said:
Having build a low windage windgen and modified a Aerogen 4 for better performance I am astonished by the price of wind generators.
A windgen is a super simple thing, much less complicated than say a kitchen mixer.
For sale strategy most commercial wind generators for yachts are just a little to small to be of any use.

One more thing puzzling me is that all sailors feel ok with the windage that a windgen creates.
If I am correct, one needs approx 4 m² of sail to drag that windgen upwind.
A propeller with furling blades or simply an easy removable propeller would help a lot in sailing efficiency. Most sailors need the windgen only at night at anchor.
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I don't feel ok with the windage. or especially, the weight aloft. Yes they are simple but they need to be well made, cheapy chinky ones don't have good reviews, maybe a bit like comparing a Tohatsu or Yam outboard to a chinese one?
I would be very interested to read the original scientific experiments which said 4 sq metres of sail to pull them along, it sounds nearly as bad as a yawl's mizzen! (JOKE)
Because a windmill is about 1 sq metre. So for every 1 sq metre of topsides, sprayhood, fat helmsman etc, do I need 4 sq metres of sail to overcome their drag? Seems a bit OTT?
 
jimi said:
Think I need one of these to keep batteries topped up and fridge running whilst sailing overnight. Any recommendations? Are they easy to fit and wire up oneself or best to get someone to fit?
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I never found any great benefit from my wind generator. Never seemed to live up to its theoretical potential, even cruising in the trades. Bit like wind farms on land, really.
 
Sorry, can´t remember where I read that.
I do remember reading that Tim Carr sailing his famous Curlew on occasional races even removed thin pennant lines. ( And won races against modern yachts )
The curlew had no engine, the Carrs ware depending only on sail to do their extraordinary sailing.
Tim also changed the boat to flush deck, doing just the opposite of how modern yachts are build.
I believe those two sailors knew what they ware doing and am proud to sail a very similar boat.

Seen latest America´s cup ? Drag is important for efficient sailing.

Someone here with some theoretical knowledge of drag ?
 
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