Rutland 913 question

[mgglasby]

Hi,

I am not a boat owner (not a big boat anyway) but I recently purchased a Rutland 913 wind generator for a land based application and noticed that they are used extensively by boat owners.

I have been happy enough with the performance so far but I am worried by a bit of a rumbling sound from the generator when the wind reaches a certain speed. It doen't do this at either very low speed or at very high speed but in a mid range speed (sorry I can't be more exact than that) the generator rumbles. I am not sure if this is just part of the normal operation for a 913 or if I should be concerned. I tried asking the manufacturer direct but predictably they couldn't be bothered sending a reply.

I have checked the mounting and there is nothing in that that causes the noise so I am positive it is in the generator itself.

If anyone is interested I have seen a maximum output from the wind gen (so far) of 9.3 amps. Working out the figures I have come to the conclusion that the 913 produces about the same power as we would get from 2 x 120w solar panels (in a windy area that is).

We use the Rutland to suppliment our solar system (we travel Australia in a caravan and camp out in remote places a lot) and apart fro the worrying rumble, the Rutland has been performing well to date. It is certainly much more quiet than other wind gens we have seen on our travels.

Regards,

Marc

 

[simonfraser]

it's supposed to be one of the quieter ones but you have it clamped to the ouside of a big metal sounding can !

 

[[10753]]

Can't say I've noticed a rumble even when boat is on dry land.

I use a regulator and am sure I've never got anywhere near 9.3 amps.

 

[Spars]

Mine does this on my boat but i assumed it was the regulator clicking in and out thereby altering the load and fan speed.
Never really followed it up as it works OK.

 

[baggypipes]

had one on boat for 4yrs no probs with noise poss as previous post it reflected through the camper. If you can ring the company they are responsive & helpful. They may be at the london boat show now so not able to get back to you via email

 

[jerryat]

Agree they're great bits of kit and with those saying they're quiet. That's been our experience too.

You don't say how old the unit is, but it sounds as if the bearings might need replacing. Not expensive and you'll get excellent service and installation advice from Martec, the UK manufacturers/distributers.

Unless there's a distributer in Assie though, you'd have to 'settle' somewhere for a week or so if getting the bearings sent from the UK.

If you don't have the manual, which includes full exploded isometrics of the unit, I'm sure Martec would include one in the bearing kit for you.

Good luck! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[jerryat]

Oh, should have said welcome to the Forums!! And Happy New Year too!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Try Angela Lovell at the following address. Very helpful for spares and price lists etc. Bearings are pretty bog standard and widely available. Even in Aus!
I stripped our 913 a couple of years ago and got the local power tool repair shop to press off the old bearings.
See no reason why you shouldn't have 9.3 amps if your system is big enough to take that sort of power. It must be big enough to draw it!

angela@marlec.co.uk

Good luck.

 

[mgglasby]

Thanks to everyone for the info.

The 913 we have is less than 12 months old and has only been used for about 2 months but we were at a spot called Bush Bay which is renound for stong winds (eastern edge of Shark Bay). The 9.3 amps we got was during some of the strongest winds we have ever been in and since we had lights, TV etc all on at the time the system was quite happy to take it.

We use 2 regulators, one for our 360w solar array and one for the 913 and have a 500 amp hour battery bank - we use lots of power via a 700w sine wave inverter and a bunch of 12 volt appliances. (We also have a Honda 2kva generator as backup so we are well set up for any eventuality).

The 913 is mounted on a pole well away from the caravan and is held up with 4 x 5mm cables, cable strainers and 4 star pickets driven well into the ground. It is all very solid once it is assembled. I have checked all the mountings and I am sure the noise isn't comming from that.

I emailed the manufacturer some months ago (about October I think) but never got a reply. As I'm only on the net very infrequently I don't have much of a chance to follow emails up. I will try again with the address you provided and cross my fingers.

I have noticed that the central spindal of the 913 has a little bit of 'play' in it and was wondering if this may be the cause of the noise. Has anyone else noticed any slight side to side movement in their 913s central spindle?

Anyway thanks for the quick response.

Regards,

Marc

 

[jerryat]

Hi Marc,

Just checked my 913 for axle play and there's absolutely nothing apparent. I have the unit here at home so am able to check very thoroughly. I should add that ours is about 6-7 years old now and still has the original bearings.

Having mentioned the bearings in my first post, and thought about your comments little more, and wonder (as did others I suspect) whether the 'rumble' you refer to is actually just the sound you get when the turbine is turning at low wind speed i.e. not fast enough to provide a charge.

When full time cruising and at anchor, we remember sometimes nipping up on deck last thing in the evening and tying off the blades IF the overnight winds were expected to be very low. This stopped the rumble and we obviously weren't going to lose any charging.

It's obviously difficult to judge without hearing your unit first hand though. Out of interest, our unit once put out about 11+ amps when we were at anchor during a full gale in Bilbao a few years ago!! It permanently damaged the controller we then had and we had to 'manually' watch the charging until we could replace it!!

 

[earlybird]

If, as is most likely, the shaft runs on normal journal ball races, then there should be virtually no detectable radial or axial play on the shaft. If the bearing has become slack, then the rumbling you describe could well be the result. If this is the case, the solution is to replace the faulty bearing(s).

 

[mgglasby]

Hi,

There is definite play in the axle of our Rutland, only a small amount but it is certainly there. It sounds like we might have a problem.

The rumble only starts in moderate winds, nothing at all in low wind and (somewhat oddly) none at all in high winds, just in nice moderate wind when the 913 is putting in 1-2 amps.

I don't have anything to measure wind speed with so I can't be any more accurate than that.

I have emailed marlec again so am hoping they wil be able to tell me something. Being in Western Australia it is often hard to get any sense out of local suppliers (even if you can find one).

Thanks again,

Marc

 

[jerryat]

Hi Marc,

Sounds like there might be a problem, but I still think it's worth following through with Martec. Have sent you a PM (Private Message) Just click on the little flashing emblem next to 'User options' in the top bar to read it.

Cheers Jerry

 

[seacrest]

Hi Everyone,
Purchased rutland 913 off e-bay, no instructions or user manual, any-one got spare one or how to set up turbine with charge controller and battery bank for max power. Cheers. Martin

 

[Jonny_H]

You can download the user manual from here:

www.produktinfo.conrad.com/datenblaetter/100000-124999/110639-an-01-en-Windgenerator_Modell_WG-913.pdf

In terms of wiring up the unit - the two output cables go to a controller - if you use a Marlec controller (HRDX etc) then they are fairly straight forward with +ve / -ve input terminals for the wind genny and +ve / -ve output terminals to the battery banks. I would strongly suggest you do use a regulator as we have seen 12 amps out of ours in really windy weather with bad batteries - and this would fry fully charged batteries very quickly. If you don't go with a Marlec regulator then you need to check the compatibility of the regulator to the wind genny - different units work in different ways (for instance a Marlec regulator won't work properly with an Air-X wind genny as I understand it, yet it would work ok with a Rutland or Aerogen).

Jonny