Rutland 913: is it any good?

TiggerToo

TiggerToo

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Does anyone one have anything to say about his wind genny? I am looking to install one, and I'd like comments from anyone who has had experience of it (performance, noise, durability, ease of finding spares for repairs etc)
 
We had one on our Seeker31, which we used for extended cruising.

The units a bit noisy and when at anchor seams to exaggerate the wind speed.

It used to give us between 1-2A at 12V in normal wind conditions but we watched this clime to 11A in 47 knots of wind. But just as we were enjoying the charge and impressed by the performance, charging cut out the thing started to spin like a airplane propeller at full throttle, causing me to have a very dangerous duelling match to get hold of the tail and stop it before we started taxiing up the anchorage!!!

I understand that the expensive charge regulator does have the facility to slow or stop the blades spinning but have no experience of this.

We have since removed this from our seeker and are still undecided at fitting it on our new boat.

Hope this helps, sorry to be negative but this thing went on to let us down again in violent storm causing loss of power when we really needed it (Long story)....

Darren
 
Yes, unlike a solar panel, leaving a wind gen 'open circuit' eg with no load is potentially dangerous, and can cause runaway speeds.....

You need a proper regulator with a dump resistor... this also prevents you overcharging your batteries... and also helps avoid having to tie the wind gen off when left for extended periods, which doesn't do their bearings any good....

I had an Aero4gen, which impressed me a lot.... very quiet in operation, good charging levels, and reliable.... it did have an electrical 'brake' which stopped it.... in reality, in strong winds it didn't stop it, but slowed it down enough to make it safe to secure it by hand...
 
Have had one on the last two boats and no complaints. But I do have the regulator. I also run the solar through the regulator too. (It has a dedicated input for it.)
 
I've had a 913 on my Albin Ballad for the past two years - controlled by a Marlec HRDX controller, which also controls a 28 watt solar panel. I would agree with dazautomatic's comments about noise, and output.

The 913 is currently in the workshop - rumbling bearings, and a chewed up slipring. The bearings I will do myself (£12 for parts). The slipring problem is going to have to go back to Marlec to be skimmed (estimated £20 for labour).

The HRDX controller is currently with Marlec. It blew its 20 amp fuse, and a fairly large diode - probably in highish winds we had recently. So, the 913 is capable of considerably more than 20 amps, given enough wind.

Marlec have been very helpful - their technical support is excellent.

Would I recommend the 913? Well, I think the combination of wind genny and solar panel is an ideal setup, and one that I am going to keep. For obvious reasons, I have reservations about the 913, but I'm not going to scrap it just yet.
 
Can't comment directly on the Rutland unit, but what do you wish to achieve? What loads do you have on your batteries, what size bank, how quickly do you wish to recharge, do you wish to charge at anchor, whilst under way or both? Once you have answered all these, then you can select a suitable machine. Naturally uour budhet will also have a bearing!

I recommend you have a look at DuoGen (http://www.duogen.co.uk) before making a final decision. We've had one since they first came out and its brilliant. The water mode is far more efficient for use whilst under way than a wind generator, but then at anchor just a couple of minutes and we're running in wind mode.

Eclectic Energy are also a very nice company to deal with.

Cheers,

Jerry
 
We got one with our HT and it was very noisy. Sent it to Marlec for recon and it's now almost inaudible. The output is great for passages and overnight stays at anchor and it gives a nice sense of self sufficiency. But they are heavy and need tethering properly. It would cost a lot more to put in solar panels of the same (real world) output and they would be very obtrusive.

Marlec offer the best customer service I have ever experienced. The whole recon of new bearings and new hub plates (they replaced all but the blades and tail fin) cost £120.

Most noisy installations are down to worn bearings (caused by the unit being tied off in the stop position for months on end) and by a poor installation.
 
Excuse my typing!

My fingers obviously missed the right keys...

"uour budhet" should have been "your budget", but then you probably worked that out!

Jerry /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
>>Marlec offer the best customer service I have ever experienced.<<

Absolutely agree - fantastic company! Highly recommend the 913 as we've used it while full time cruising and never (yet!) had a single problem. Agree with others that there is a 'hum' when the windspeed reaches circa 12-15 knots, but it is quiet below and above this. Harmonics??

We used to have the old type (with a large heat sink) Marlec regulator, but switched to the latest, egg-shaped one, about a year ago. This one 'brakes' the rotor once the batteries have reached full charge or when the wind speed becomes excessive.

We've haven't needed to 'tie-off' the rotor yet as the regulator always very successfully does this for us.

I agree about worn bearings as a likely source of noise, this was certainly the case with the 913 on a friends boat. New bearings - problem solved.

I have also used the Aquair on a Pond circuit and found it perfectly ok, though frankly the hassle of setting it up (from the towing position) to windgen was a real time-consuming PITA. So weve got an Aqua4gen as well our boat - excellent.
 
I have operated (and am still operating) a Rutland 913 which has not been stopped since installation in April 2000 (except for 2 weeks while waiting for replacement blades after damage - a flying outboard went through it - do not ask..!) I use the Rutland in conjunction with 3 X 30watt solar panels and 3X110a/h batteries while living aboard/cruising for up 10 months a year. While the batteries are good I rarely run the engine for charging purposes alone and extremely rarely connect to shore supplies. This supports an efficient fridge, lights (mostly LED), computer and HF radio.
I am extremely pleased with my Rutland and with advice etc from Marlec altho in this time it has had no maintenance but I do have spare brushes (provided free!) ready. The key to its longevity is that it is never stopped. Marlec advised right from the outset that it should NEVER be stopped otherwise the normal process of expelling moisture from the bearings will not occur. I have usually found that those with bearing problems have stopped their generators for long periods. This advice is likely to be pertinent to other similar style generators. I get very little noise or vibration (it is one of the quietest generators out there, but I have heard that those who mount it atop a mizzen mast get a lot of induced vibration.)
I originally used Marlec's controller which combines the input from this and solar panels. I have since learnt from experts that it is possible that this controller does not make full use of each input. I later wired the solar panels through an independent solar controller which has a function to condition the batteries by pulsing the voltage when fully charged. This improved the overall performance of the system tremendously.
The Rutland does have one alarming feature (but it seems this may be overcome by modern controllers) in that in high winds, say F8 (I do not have a windspeed indication) when it is generating about 10 amps - at this point the thermal relay (not mentioned in the manual) operates and the generator is overloaded and speeds up to sound like a jet engine. At this point it can be very intimidating, not to mention what else happens in stronger winds! Do not expect to get any output when going downwind eg Transat but it is great at anchor and starts to produce an output (albeit small initially) at lower windspeeds than most. This is what you need most as one normally tries to find the most sheltered anchorage & least wind. A generator that only has a big output in high winds does not help much then!
Finally, I have also learnt to keep ALL my batteries in the charge circuit simultaneously and in use because as one set of batteries start to fail these weaker batteries start to take all the output, but as they do not hold/accept charge so well the overall capacity becomes less and the, initially, better second battery(ies) starts to degrade soon after as a result of not being adequately charged. You must monitor the charge state carefully if you do this!
 
When I bought a wind genny, I first rejected Air-X family (powerful but should be delivered with ear protectors), and hesitated between Aerogen4 and Rutland 913. The techie told me Aerogen maintainance (bearings) was easier, and I am quite happy with that choice: no noise and enough juice, and didn't have to assess maintainability...
 
Having consulted with 7 boat owners of Rutland 913 before making a decision I have purchased the 913 with the HRDX controller.

This is being fitted as I speak (by me) and I will report back on completion having been convinced by the above that this was the best buy for convenience/cost/amps.
 
Regarding the high wind, blown fuse, spinning out of control scenario described by dazautomatics, an electrical brake can be made very cheaply and simply by fitting a high-ampage switch before any regulator, which in the normal position connect straight thru to the regulator, and when thrown disconnects the regulator and shorts the positive to the negative. This might sound a bit dodgey but is exactly how those brakes work. just make sure you over-spec the switch by plenty!

It won't stop the turbine dead, but will about halve the speed. only a mechanical brake will actually stop the rotor...
 
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