Rutland 913 wind generator. Quiet?

C

ColinR

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www.victoriashadow.co.uk
thinking about one of these but could anyone who has one let me know how quiet it is and any other comments. I currently have an Aerogen 2 which is excellent and runs very quietly even in high winds but I could do with a bit more output. Last year I was anchored near some poor bugger who had a very flash looking wind generator that made such a din that it drove me potty so I dread to think what it was like for him.
Cheers

Colin
 
I have spent the winter moored within 30 yards of ayacht with a Rutland 913, I never once heard a sound.
The owner had nothing but praise for it.
We will be getting one also, possible two eventually.
If you have or can get a copy of YM April p98. very good article on them.

Doug
 
I've got a 913 and it's not caused any problems noise wise and I live-a-board. Unless it's really blowing hard you can hardly hear it turning just a slight whistle from the blades that's all. Speaking of blades, make sure you rig it high enough for safety, it's a stitches job if it catches you at speed. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
I've fitted a Ruland 913 last month; it is very quiet and it produces a lot of power; charged my 4 x 100 amps batteries with no problem at all. Need to be sited high so to avoid accidents and need to be fitted with stays as it is fairly heavy
 
Also just installed one - and would agree with others - can hardly hear it.

I was told the noisy ones are often when the beraings are going - often caused by tying them off - apparently the spinning is designed to throw water out of the bearings - and thus prolong life
 
Sorry to disagree with the post so far.
I bought one 2 years ago, always say its the worst 700 squids i have spent on the boat.
The genny is quiet but the rumble in the aft cabin when it gets going is ridiculous. i have even rubber mounted the damned thing.
I get 3-4 amps in 20 knots a little more when it blows harder but then its so noisy it needs to go off at night.
In 2 years it has had 2 sets of brushes, the first melted in the gales in cherbourg in 2006, the second lot here in mallorca in 20 mins of 120 kph winds.
I also bought the HDRX controller, which has so far fried 3 sets of transistors and is now in a cupboard somewhere. i recently bought the HRSi controller which does seem to behave better.
I will comment that Marlec offered superb service during the warranty period and they think it strange i have had so much trouble, perhaps mine was made on a monday morning. Dunno but can't really recomend them.
I anchored close to a yacht with an air-x late last year, and while they produce a lot of power the noise is horrendous. i'd like to know what its like in the cabins, or if it is just wind noise on the blades.
Regards
Roy
 
[ QUOTE ]
I anchored close to a yacht with an air-x late last year, and while they produce a lot of power the noise is horrendous. i'd like to know what its like in the cabins, or if it is just wind noise on the blades.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have one of the later Air-X models and am very happy - although the blade whistle at full speed is noticeable below, but no rumbling whatsoever as they seem beautifully made and balanced. I followed a tip I read somewhere and lightly sanded and polished the carbon fibre blades as I had heard that the main causes of the whistle are slight protuberances from the molding on edges and tips of the blades.

Because of the potential output (I have seen 41 amps on the charge meter in a strong wind) the rotational resistance is quite high and it needs a wind above 6-8 knots to start rotating and charging, unless the output is shorted to not charge, whereupon the blades slowly windmill noiselessly.
 
My experience wrt noise is the same as Ropy's. Very quiet when you're stood next to them but there is quite a loud rumble/vibration that passes right through the boat such that you have to turn them off to get to sleep. Either I also got a bad one or the people who say they're quiet must have them mounted very differently. Ours was on a 2.5m stainless pole with two diagonal supports and the whole thing mounted on the port quarter. I was also disappointed with the power output. In 20 knots it might have touched 4 Amps momentarily but for the most part it was in the 1-2 Amp range (as shown on a HRDX box). I sold it on after less than 12 months and bought a D400 which is much quieter down below and delivers the power that I expected the 913 to do - 6 to 8 Amps in 20 knots. I shied away from an Air-X even though they're currently selling quite cheaply because of the racket they make. There are 2 within half a mile of my boat and when it's blowing there's no mistaking them.

In defence of the 913, Marlec are a very good company to deal with and it is obviously one of the cheaper units on the market. If you want a low to medium output genny to charge your batteries during the week AND you're not going to mount it directly above your cabin then I think they are good value for money. If you want something that'll supply enough power to make a difference on a daily basis then you need something more powerful.
 
Very pleased with the D400. The only caveat would be you need a boat of around 40ft to 'wear' it as it's a reasonably big unit.

Been very pleased with the power output. When sailing to windward with 22-25Kts of apparent wind, our power gauge will be showing that it's all but keeping up with instruments, plotter, PC and fridge. Very impressive the first time I saw that.
 
I agree with most of the posters here. We've used a 913 for seven of the almost ten years we spent cruising and have nothing but praise for them. Ok, there appears to be (at least on ours) a sort of 'rumble point' which noticable in the aft berth and which occurs within a very tight windspeed band. Below and above this speed, it's difficult to hear it against the ambient nnoise.

On ours this windspeed is around 4 - 8 knots (TWS) so when the turbiine is turning relatively slowly. Fitting rubber mounts under the support pole reduced this greatly but didn't eliminate it. But then I've never come across ANY make that doesn't make some noise somewhere in it's speed range.

I'm puzzled at those who question the output since this, as with any charging source, is dependant on the state of the battery bank it is charging, whatever the wind speed. So if your batteries are virtually fully charged, the input from the (controlled) charging source will of course be less.

FWIW, we've had over 13 amps from our 913 in high winds, but that dropped significantly, as one would expect, once the (410 amp) service bank was fully charged, as the controller cut in to prevent over-charging.

In our opinion the 913 is the perfect 'middle of the road' and trouble-free windgen and, as others have mentioned, is backed by one of the very best marine companies we've ever dealt with. No connection etc, but a highly satisfied customer.
 
How does the controller operate?

I ask the question because I had a Rutland back in 1999. We could never get the outpout of the controller correct - it either ran the batteries at over 15V or when reset by Rutlan, only acheived around 13V which of course will not give a full charge. We gave up in the end. Rutland was very helpful.

I take it that these should be rated to charge at around 14.5-8 volts. What happens once the batteries are fully charged? Does it dump to a heat sink? I seem to remember that the Rutlands circuits were mounted on the heat sinkl itself, and got very hot - which might have caused the problems.....

Anyway - I am now thinking of buying another wind generator, or Solar Pannels to feed the fridge and cold beers in the Med next year... Hopefully!
 
We have a 913 with a HRDX controller (it also controls 85W of Kyocera solar panels).

We have ours mounted on the gantry with neoprene between the bracket and the gantry. In the aft cabin you do get a hum between 10 and 15 knots of wind - but it isn't too bad and certainly doesn't stop sleep - also useful for determining wind speed without removing the duvet!

The charge controller seems to kick in at around 14volts on ours. We've just been away for 2 weeks and the wind and solar were putting in around 10 amps between them in 12 knots of breexe during the day. The usually get between 2 and 5 amps out of the 913 in winds below 20 knots. We have seen upto 9 amps in 35 knots of breeze though.

The HRDX does not use a heat dump - as far as I understand it effectively shorts out the wind genny when the batteries are full (like switching the 'off switch' to stop the blades spinning).

Very pleased with ours so far - much quieter than the Aero4gen it replaced (although the bearings were shot in this which was probably most of the noise!).

Infact, the biggest problem we have had is too much power! We have a VSR for battery charging when running the engine which only shuts off once the engine battery drops below 12.8 volts - this rarely happens with the 913 and the solar, so after running the engine we have to run all the domestics off the engine battery for a few hours to get the voltage down so the VSR shuts off!

Chris - solar and wind will more than keep the beers cool - our fridge was running 24/7 for the last two weeks along with a host of other stuff and we never saw the batteries below 12.7 volts (we don't use shore power).

Jonny
 
thanks to all for your feedback. This is an extremely useful feature of this forum, being able to find out how equipment has actually performed when contemplating buying it. It sounds like on the whole the Rutland gets a thumbs up. Colin
 
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