Wind Generator

[petes]

I have been considering purchasing an Air X Marine 12V wind generator. From some of the responses I have read on the CD Board this appears to be one of the better ones, if not the best one to purchase.

However, in reading the only review listed on the West Marine web site the owner of his Air X Marine 12V generator described it as "JUNK" noting: poor quality stainless mounts and poles, cracks near the "roots" of the blades between the screws due to corrosion, & poor coating gone after 3 yrs.

Has anyone experienced these types of quality problems with their Air X or knows of any one who has ?

Practical Sailor has not reviewed the latest version of the Air X Marine 12V. Any comments ?

Finally, by searching the web, the cost of this unit varies from a low of approx. $570 (from a non-boating supply house) to a high of approx. $1100 (from a boating supply house). Has any one purchased this unit from a "non-boating supply house" ? If so what kind of experience have you had. After all a difference of $530 must give you something, right ?

[Shanna Paxton]

I have airair x that we installed last year. I have had absolutely no issues with it at all and it works great. I purchased mine through a solar power supplier in AZ whose name is mystifing me at this hour and the tower through West because it ended up being cheaper. It was the exact same unit as West had for significantly less than I could even buy it through port supply. I believe it was around$700.

The company has great tech support and the hardest thing about the install was figuring out where to mount it.

[Russell]

I have had an Air-X for over a year now and am happy with my wind generater choice and would not choose a different one. However it is one of the noisiest ones, so if your noise sensitive choose another one. As for mounting I did not buy the aluminium pole thats sold as a kit for it, I had a stainless pole made that also included an outboad lifting arm.

As for where to buy it, it does not matter where, so long as you make sure you buy the Marine version, they make and Air-X and Air-X Marine, so long as its the Marine version buy it from whereever is cheapest.

[L.DeMers]

We have had the Air-X Marine for nearly three seasons now, and we like it a lot. It took the first season for the bearings to loosen up a bit and allow the generator to turn properly, in wind shifts, but otherwise it is a great generator. We see 5-10 Amps in 10-15k winds, under sail, and have seen as much as 35 amps during a storm with 30k of wind.
Russell, you say it is the "noisiest"? How so? We cannot hear ours operating unless there is absolutely no noise. Mostly, we hear a whisper like sound, and of course it gets a bit richer as the speed increases.
We sail with a friend on a DuFour 36 and he has the Kiss generator. It has a little higher pitched whisper, but at about the same level. Their blade starts turning sooner than the Air-X Marine but it isn't outputting a significant amount until 5 kts or more of wind, same as the Air-X Marine. (I keep repeating the whole name of the unit, as there IS an Air-X turbine as well. It has a not so good reputation as being noisy and having a poor charging curve, compared to the Air-X Marine. They are frequently confused in discussions).

Our mounting pole has large rubber grommets and rings that totally isolate the generator from the boat, physicly. The poles also have heavy rubber grommets and isolators that the bolts pass thru, so the poles are securely captured, and physicly isolated from the boat. To the end that the poles do not vibrate sympatheticly when the generator is really flying, as no vibration gets to them from the generator.

The commutator that the Air-X Marine uses is a very well built unit, with the brushes easily accesed from the generators outside shell. No disasembly. The mount for the turbine features a thick rubber collar that isolates it from the pole itself. Consequently, no vibrations get thru tho the hull at all.none...

I also have a 75Watt solar panel onboard, and between them we can stay anchored without the engine running for as long as the food holds out..3-4 weeks so far.

[Russell]

Russell, you say it is the "noisiest"? How so? We cannot hear ours operating unless there is absolutely no noise. Mostly, we hear a whisper like sound, and of course it gets a bit richer as the speed increases.

How so? Compared to all the other units out there its noisier. I do not consider it unbearably noisy, but many do. Down here almost everyone has a wind generator, so I have listened to the noise made by all the various makes many times, the Air-X is the loudest. The older Air-X is much worse, the newer version is indeed an improvement, but it still ranks as the loudest. But for many reasons it is also still the most popular. Remember I am spending all my time in the trade winds, its constantly blowing pretty strong so the noise is more constant and noticeable here.

[L.DeMers]

Russel,

Which of the generators is quietest? Now how about output at say 20kts. of wind? Seems that you can have a quiet generator or one that will output a decent amount of amps in average airs, but will have a whisper sound.

I certainly understand what you are saying though...if it is on 24/7 then it may become a tad annoying if you are out in the cockpit.
Honestly, yours is the first report I have read saying that the Air-X marine is noisy. But as you say, you are out there in the winds and see many wind generators. I can only report what I have seen and experienced in my three years with ours, and it differs considerably from your report.

Stay safe.

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
CD30c Lake Superior