jj1
New member
Hello, coulnd't find any info on this in the archives so I thought I'd post to see whether anyone had any experience making their own mount for a Rutland wind charger, particularly the 500 or newer 503 model, the one availible to purchase seems to be a metal tube that costs from 50-80 sterling.
I've a 1980 Leisure 23 I'm looking to fit a Rutland 503 wind charging unit, to supplement the solar cells, which have worked incredibly well this past week, but under normal english conditions don't seem to put out too much power. As deck space is limited, the size and location of the solar panels isn't that great when under sail as they tend to be covered up most of the time, Mother Nature, who I will not fault for my own protection, seems to prevent their full 30 Watt charging ability the rest of the time. Mother Nature seems to provide more wind than sun and the Rutland wind chargers in the marina seem to spin more often than other makes so I've narrowed down the choice to the 503.
To save money on installing a wind charger, does anyone have experience making their own mount for a Rutland 503 or similar wind generator, or does anyone have a Rutland 500-503 and think that the seemingly, on the surface, expensive mount consists of some pieces of kit which they just can't do without. As no pictures of the mounting hardware are shown on the web,,,I'm a little wary of shelling out that much money for something which would seem to be quite similar to a metal pole with a pipe fitting at one end. Please correct me if I'm wrong and if you've any plans drawn up for your own mount fitting, I would be more than willing to try them out and provide a full scale reliability test at no charge here in the solent.
Thanks for any replies.
jj1
I've a 1980 Leisure 23 I'm looking to fit a Rutland 503 wind charging unit, to supplement the solar cells, which have worked incredibly well this past week, but under normal english conditions don't seem to put out too much power. As deck space is limited, the size and location of the solar panels isn't that great when under sail as they tend to be covered up most of the time, Mother Nature, who I will not fault for my own protection, seems to prevent their full 30 Watt charging ability the rest of the time. Mother Nature seems to provide more wind than sun and the Rutland wind chargers in the marina seem to spin more often than other makes so I've narrowed down the choice to the 503.
To save money on installing a wind charger, does anyone have experience making their own mount for a Rutland 503 or similar wind generator, or does anyone have a Rutland 500-503 and think that the seemingly, on the surface, expensive mount consists of some pieces of kit which they just can't do without. As no pictures of the mounting hardware are shown on the web,,,I'm a little wary of shelling out that much money for something which would seem to be quite similar to a metal pole with a pipe fitting at one end. Please correct me if I'm wrong and if you've any plans drawn up for your own mount fitting, I would be more than willing to try them out and provide a full scale reliability test at no charge here in the solent.
Thanks for any replies.
jj1
