Rutland 503 wind generator

mickywillis

mickywillis

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I've just acquired a secondhand Rutland 503 complete with a 7ft SS mounting pole and a charge regulator.

What I'm trying to find out is should the wind turbine swivel around the pole? The base of the 503 is attached to the pole with a couple of SS screws, but doesn't appear to turn? Which basically means it would face towards the bow of the boat when fitted and will happily face the wind when on the swinging mooring. But when on a pontoon, the turbine would be in a set position and not free to face the wind direction. Is this correct or should the turbine assembly be free to rotate to face the wind?
Ringing Marlec suggested that the 503 is set in a fixed position. But videos online show a 503 free to rotate to face wind when mounted on a pole.

I'm confused as to whether the unit I have has seized at some point and needs freeing off or it should be as is?
 
mickywillis said:
I've just acquired a secondhand Rutland 503 complete with a 7ft SS mounting pole and a charge regulator.

What I'm trying to find out is should the wind turbine swivel around the pole? The base of the 503 is attached to the pole with a couple of SS screws, but doesn't appear to turn? Which basically means it would face towards the bow of the boat when fitted and will happily face the wind when on the swinging mooring. But when on a pontoon, the turbine would be in a set position and not free to face the wind direction. Is this correct or should the turbine assembly be free to rotate to face the wind?
Ringing Marlec suggested that the 503 is set in a fixed position. But videos online show a 503 free to rotate to face wind when mounted on a pole.

I'm confused as to whether the unit I have has seized at some point and needs freeing off or it should be as is?
Click to expand...

Of course it should rotate to face the wind

The post adaptor assembly contains couple of bearings and slip rings for the brushes for the electrical connection

See last page here http://www.marlec.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/503-Fault-Finding-Manual.pdf?v=7516fd43adaa

But maybe someone has fixed yours so that it doesn't
 
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Don't expect much of a charge from a 503. I could work it out but expect you'd get similar output from a 10W solar panel for middle of the summer. It might just keep batteries topped up. Better during winter as it would probably keep them OK (assuming they don't have huge capacity).
 
I'm afraid this isn't of any help to you now, just a bit of background if you're into history.

The original ancestor of the Rutland wind charger was designed - and marketed by the famous early Harrier prototype ( P1127 ) Test Pilot Hugh Merewether, who got awards for his incredible ' dead stick ' engine out crash landing at Tangmere, his engine exploded above the clouds of West Sussex then he managed to put it down despite being a hairy handling aeroplane at very high speed.

He got recognition for saving the aircraft rather than ejecting, giving rise to the discovery of titanium fires - the pilot who went to collect him described circular blobs of molten metal along the runway !

He did much the same again a while later at Thorney Island, there's a famous voice tape of him calmly saying ' I'm going for the gap ( in the clouds ) now ". - This got a further OBE.

Hugh bought a Nicholson 38 and retired to blue water sailing inc a circumnavigation, leaving this other Test Pilot to deal with enquiries & orders for the wind charger.

This was all a very long time ago when boats counted themselves lucky to get any charger at all, long before the relatively vast electrical demands of modern yachts.

Hugh Merewether died in 2006.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1531511/Hugh-Merewether.html
 
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Some of us aren't graced with the huge intelligence levels that you obviously are smartarse!!

It's a genuine question because the unit is stuck fast in the forward position facing what would be the bows of the boat when mounted on a pole and boat on a swinging mooring.
I can't see any method of locking the swivel, so have to assume its seized.
Funny how when I spoke to Marlec, they also said it is fixed in position, so not an unreasonable question to ask if the manufacturers say it shouldn't rotate????
Sandyman said:
Is this a wind up :) hard to believe someone would ask such a question.
Click to expand...
 
mickywillis said:
..when I spoke to Marlec, they also said it is fixed in position
Click to expand...

I can only assume that you and Marlec were somehow speaking at cross-purposes. It most certainly should rotate.

This test (which includes the later but similar 504) will give you some idea of what you can expect from your 503. Not very much, I'm afraid.
http://windtechniek.nl/Yachting-Monthly.pdf
 
Mister E said:
I did and as this was written after the contact with the manufacturer it has absolutely no bearing on the original question. The OP asked it the information given was correct and did not expect such a curt reply.
Click to expand...
Point taken. Refer you to post 9.
 
Sandyman said:
Point taken. Refer you to post 9.
Click to expand...

Can you explain why one day I have seen Rutland wind Generators locked in position not facing the wind then a few days later it is facing the wind and the blades spinning like a good thing?
This I have seen on the same boat moored just below mine on more than one occasion.
 
Seajet said:
Maybe the owner is aboard and has tied the thing off to prevent the noise and vibration, which can be ferocious - especially when the bearings go !
Click to expand...

That would be my guess. A few, such as the Duogen, have a mechanism for locking them fore-and-aft, but I'm pretty sure the Rutland lacks such a facility.
I'd have thought there wouldn't be much point putting a vane on one if it was always locked in a fixed position.
 
The owner lives on the boat, I am not there to ask him at the moment.

I have noticed this on other boats and they are not always locked. So am wondering if it something that is added on by the owners?
 
Mister E,

were you able to see if the owner had tied it off to immobilse both the blades and the turning into wind ?

As I mentioned the vibration and noise can be awful, especially when the bearings are shot; a friend who went to live abroad had one on his boat left ashore and in a breeze I could hear and feel it in the ground from some distance - I thought it must be damaging the boat so tied it off !
 
I have one of these. It rotates. There's a bearing on the little stub mast attached to the unit, and this stubmast fits into the SS pole that the whole is mounted on on my pushpit.
As commented on above, its output is relatively low. For example it will just keep up with my nav, and lights when night sailing into the wind, but downwind. Its a trickle charger, not a unit to supply the whole boat always.
The manufacturers documentation is good, and my only criticism is on the tail fin. This is too small, such that with a 30 degree heel on, the whole unit struggles to stay pointing into the wind. Further, that fin has poor corrosion protection, being powdercoated steel. Wholly unsatisfactory in a marine situation. I've made a new aluminium one (also powdercoated) to fit, that will have a slightly longer torque to keep the blade to windward. Yet to be fitted, but next month when next sailing.
 
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