Wind and Solar

dolabriform

dolabriform

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freewheeling.world
Hi all,
I'm contemplating adding wind and solar power to my boat.

Looking at the Rutland 914i with a HRDI controller, it seems that this will give me a significant amount of power over the 160w of solar on a cloudy but windy day, especially as it will be in operation 24 / 7 unlike the solar.

Yes, I know the price of entry is a lot more than solar, but considering it works round the clock it seems reasonable value for money.

What do the learned folk think?

Thanks

David
 
Gave my wind gen away, though was an elderly areogen4, newer ones might be a bit better at low wind speeds. And usually further south. I reckon it lost much more power slightly shading a solar panel than it gave during it's life.

But generally as a liveaboard anyway you're either going downwind or tucked up in a nice secluded anchorage for a week or several. Another couple 100w of solar was a game changer :cool:
 
I had a Rutland 913 for many years but when I moved the boat south, the solar panels became more viable primarily due to solar technology advancements, and I removed the wind generator. Solar panel dont need just sun, will charge using light in a cloudy day too.

My present boat is in the Bristol channel where the sun shines much less than the south coast, the boat has an old wind generator which produces very little power,; however, I totally rely on my 100 w panels. to charge 4 big batteries. I don't intend to replace the wind generator.
 
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I have had a Rutland 914 with the HRDI controler and I found it to be a quality bit of kit. It did what it said on the can as they say. However it was my experience that the wind was rarely fast enough to generate High amps. I useally got 2 amps. Since I had three 25 watt Panels wired in parallel through a Spectra regulator on the deck of an Etap 22. The Mariner 5HP out board had a 5 amp out put but I never used it because it upset my Depth sounder. The three solar panels maintained the single 12 volt 100AH battery. I had all the usual LED lights and Plotter, Autopilot, depth sounder and wind instrument.
If I could only have one it would be the solar panels, but if you can find the cash I would have both.
 
I have a D400 and the only time I am thankful for it is in a windy anchorage at night and I have to keep the chart plotter on! Actually it is good if you spend weeks/months at anchor and you already have heaps of solar already or you have run out of space for solar but then most wind gens will shadow the solar anyways making it less efficient. Solar is King imho.
 
I had an Ampair on my previous boat for voyaging and it was next to useless. Later I sailed a boat across the Pacific and back with a, supposedly, more up-to-date model. Modest output and it felt and sounded like being chased across an ocean by a low flying aircraft. On our current boat(see avatar) we have 300w of solar and it has been a game changer; in three years we have never once run the engine to charge or rummaged the suitcase generator out of it's locker. We spend the entire summer on board in northern climes and are often for days or weeks off grid up some river or at anchor.
 
I have 160w solar and an aerogen4. In the uk during the winter the solar often sucks barely giving 0.5A on a wet and cloudy day, but the wind gives more as its often very widy during the winter and seen 15+ amps this winter a few times !
Come summer the solar rocks and the wind just plays along. The aerogens are very quite turbines compared to the others, but it was a very expensive in its day and very well engineered, to give at least 20-25 years of trouble free life. the body was a solid machined billet of aluminium, brushless motor... far from the plastic noisy rubish we see today.
I know 3 people who have all had their brand new rutlands fail within the first year, one internally melted because the "wind was to strong" ?? , one had charge controler failure and the other , the brushes stuck and no output.
So you should not tie it off as it relys on the spinning to keep it dry and to keep the bearings healthy, but according to rutland you cant let it run in 60 knt winds either because it overloads? contradictory instructions?
 
ryanroberts said:
Hydro seems to have similar issues to wind, there's a really sweet looking dual hydro / wind generator but it needs a high F4 on wind and sustained 6kts of boat speed before it starts generating decent amounts of power. No idea how much drag it generates. DuoGen 3 – Wind & Water Generator – Hybrid Generator
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We have a mk1 Duogen. 16years old and still going. Its great on passage if you are sailing over night as in water mode it will run the boat. In windy anchorages it keeps the boat batteries up over night when in wind mode. I installed a new power meter in October last year. The Duogen has contributed 39kw. My 720w of solar as contributed over 200kw in the same period but bear in mind that we are fully charged late morning so half the solar output is wasted. There is no comparison that solar is a cheap contributor but if you are sailing long distance the towed generator will make a difference when shading on panels will be an issue
 
Having had bad experiences with wind generators, I have given up with them, and now have 140W of solar, and may fit more.

The Rutland 913 disintegrated in a gale. Fortunately, we were at anchor in a remote sea loch, so no other boats were damaged. Part of the heavy permanent magnet struck the S/S bulwark rail, causing expensive damage. However it would have caused even more damage if it had hit the deck, or even worse - one of us.

Against my better judgement, I was persuaded to replace it with a 914i, which I was assured by Rutland, would be a direct fit. It wasn't, and the tail fin, being a different shape, and a couple of inches longer, fouled the mizzen mast, on which it was mounted. After resolving that, the brush gear failed, and Rutland admitted that although the 914i had a greater output than its predecessor, the 913, they had used the same brush gear. To be fair, they then gave me a new unit, with upgraded brush gear, but I had had enough, and sold it to a forumite.

I will never go back to a wind turbine, but if I did, it would not be mounted away up on the mizzen. At least if it's mounted on a pole, it can be stopped and tied off, which is much more difficult with something twenty feet up.

I now only sail in the "summer" six months, and for that, solar is excellent, especially further north, where there is very little darkness. Solar, no moving parts, no noise, dirt cheap. It's definitely the way to go.
 
geem said:
We have a mk1 Duogen. 16years old and still going. Its great on passage if you are sailing over night as in water mode it will run the boat. In windy anchorages it keeps the boat batteries up over night when in wind mode. I installed a new power meter in October last year. The Duogen has contributed 39kw. My 720w of solar as contributed over 200kw in the same period but bear in mind that we are fully charged late morning so half the solar output is wasted. There is no comparison that solar is a cheap contributor but if you are sailing long distance the towed generator will make a difference when shading on panels will be an issue
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Like the look of those hybrid Duogen - much more sturdy on passage than those Watt and Sea and less hassle than a tow one. Using as a wind generator will not be as efficient as a stand alone but something is better than nothing in a windy anchorage with no sun for 3 days! Not having to not worry about batteries on passage would be great. If I was going across the pond and further then I would swap the D400 for a DuoGen3
 
Star-Lord said:
Like the look of those hybrid Duogen - much more sturdy on passage than those Watt and Sea and less hassle than a tow one. Using as a wind generator will not be as efficient as a stand alone but something is better than nothing in a windy anchorage with no sun for 3 days! Not having to not worry about batteries on passage would be great. If I was going across the pond and further then I would swap the D400 for a DuoGen3
Click to expand...
The Duogen has come a long way since our mk1. A believe the mk3 is a serious bit of kit. Ours has been across the pond three times. I have replaced bearings three times in 16 years. Compared to the watt and sea the main advantage to the Duogen is the alternator is above the water. If the Watt and Sea get water in it needs a factory rebuild. The Duogen is pretty easy to work on. Its like a Land Rover. All big stuff and a bit more agricultural but that part of the attraction to me. I can fix it
 
I like making my own things to improve life at sea, whilst saving a lot of money. I raided a car breakers yard some 20 years ago and removed the heater matrix and fan from a car, connected it to the fresh water cooling side of my engine and that gives me free hot air every time the engine is running !
Another idea ,although ive never tried it yet, is when sailing for less drag you leave your prop spinning ? So the idea is to run a small alternator off the shaft inside the boat ?
 
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