Rubbish Air Breeze genny........

[clyst]

.......has been back to the importers several times over he years and has been replaced once but still it's performance is rubbish ,not ou put but due to its complicated make up the controller goes haywire making it break on and off violently . Talking to other owners this is a common problem and have not yet met anyone who is happy with the product .
Now it has to be said that my knowledge of electronics is limited but I guess the guts of the air breeze consists of an alternator ,regulator etc .....so my question is to you electronic wizzkids is do you think it's possible to throw away the controller circuit board and just run the genny alternator via a separate controller similar as solar panels .....or am I talking b*llocks ?? Seems a shame just to bin it .

 

[Sailingsaves]

.......has been back to the importers several times over he years and has been replaced once but still it's performance is rubbish ,not ou put but due to its complicated make up the controller goes haywire making it break on and off violently . Talking to other owners this is a common problem and have not yet met anyone who is happy with the product .
Now it has to be said that my knowledge of electronics is limited but I guess the guts of the air breeze consists of an alternator ,regulator etc .....so my question is to you electronic wizzkids is do you think it's possible to throw away the controller circuit board and just run the genny alternator via a separate controller similar as solar panels .....or am I talking b*llocks ?? Seems a shame just to bin it .

I have recently experienced one that required very high rpm to generate electricity with one type of controller and at 13.5 volts braking was extreme, but when I made my own controller, the turbine worked much better at lower rpm and no hard braking. pm me if want to talk more.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have recently experienced one that required very high rpm to generate electricity with one type of controller and at 13.5 volts braking was extreme, but when I made my own controller, the turbine worked much better at lower rpm and no hard braking. pm me if want to talk more.

I also have a simular wind generator where the regulator does not work correctly so i would also be interested in a replacement regulator or info to build one.

 

[NornaBiron]

.......has been back to the importers several times over he years and has been replaced once but still it's performance is rubbish ,not ou put but due to its complicated make up the controller goes haywire making it break on and off violently . Talking to other owners this is a common problem and have not yet met anyone who is happy with the product .

Ours has been back three times and replaced once too.

We videoed the horrendous breaking and sent it to everyone concerned at Southwest Windpower (before they folded), and several UK agents, including Barden. They all said (without exception) that they had never heard an AirBreeze make that noise before, 'very unusual' was the response from most. It's been back again, the bearings have been changed (although they never wear out, apparently) and it still makes the horrendous breaking noise. We try to live with it but we do cringe every time it does it, before we go to reset it as it trips every time too.

We're only tolerating it because it does put in useful amps when the wind is blowing and we can't afford to replace it yet, but it is slowly creeping up to the top of the wish list!

 

[Birdseye]

So far mine is working fine after 3 years. So far!

So add me to the list of posters interested in the self build controller

 

[Sailingsaves]

After looking at the inside of one of these turbines it is clear that they have shoved the rectifier and controller altogether at the back of the housing.

The 3 AC wires are attached to the board and the board attaches to the slip rings (so the turbine can rotate without twisting wires)

IF the 3 AC wires can be attached directly to the slip rings (or brushes although I am assuming it uses slip rings instead of carbon brushes) and be isolated from the board then all one has to so is use a bridge rectifier to convert the AC to DC and then use a decent controller to charge, monitor batteries, dump and or brake the turbine.

From my initial (but brief) look inside the turbine it seems it may be possible to bypass the poor controller and take AC out of the turbine (and obviously one can have a long run of wire carrying AC efficiently - thanks to Mr Tesla).

I am working on two turbines at the moment and will post pics as and when. An old Aerogen that is not performing well (it has a built in rectifier and brushes alas) and outputs DC and a cheapo Turkish made job (that looks remarkably good - simple too - although I have modified it slightly to prevent known breakdowns - why the manufacturer doesn't do it at source is daft). It outputs plain AC that I can rectify and by choosing my method of doing that I can get the turbine to produce 12.7 volts at lower rpm than with a hybrid contoller (that also applied the brake at 13.7V) costing well over £100 and by making my own hybrid controller for a fraction of the £100 I can adjust all sorts of variables; voltages for vented and sealed batteries and so on with manual overrides and braking.

Firstly I have to repair a blade on the aerogen that broke last night (and if I succeed and keep everything balanced well I have an idea for improving those old rectangular blades) - there are some great blades on the market using clever science to achieve start up at low wind speeds.

Turbine and solar together should produce enough electricity for many people (and at a reasonable cost if I have say in it). Trouble with turbines as I see it (after tinkering with this old aerogen) is that turbines may need a bit more maintenance than solar panels, but then again one can generate electricity at night with turbines.

Work in progress

 

[Pagetslady]

.......has been back to the importers several times over he years and has been replaced once but still it's performance is rubbish ,not ou put but due to its complicated make up the controller goes haywire making it break on and off violently . Talking to other owners this is a common problem and have not yet met anyone who is happy with the product .
Now it has to be said that my knowledge of electronics is limited but I guess the guts of the air breeze consists of an alternator ,regulator etc .....so my question is to you electronic wizzkids is do you think it's possible to throw away the controller circuit board and just run the genny alternator via a separate controller similar as solar panels .....or am I talking b*llocks ?? Seems a shame just to bin it .

Hi I have the older version the Air X which I have had around 6 years, it has been back under warranty once and since back to Bardon for new regulator parts, and today I had it running for a few minutes and it was charging at 15.5 volts so the regulator needs winding back, so I would be very interested in running it through an external regulator. I have to say I have now installed two 60 watt solar panels and they keep my batteries well charged more so than the wind geny it makes so much noise I don't like using it in the marina. I believe the Air breeze is much quieter.
Mike