I have had two KISS wind generators on line for several years.
I have had problems with them I documented and published on the List. Perhaps
the data can be dug out of the archives, I don't know how to do it. Thanks to
Windows and various computer failures all my email library is gone.
I'll try to be brief...
Noise.- The KISS don't whistle, but like all wind turbines do make some noise;
as the wind pipes up they become louder, but so does everything else. My boat
is very quiet inside and I like the sound of the wind generators as they give
me a good indication of wind conditions outside.
The earlier Air-Marines did whistle but they seem to have fixed that long ago.
I had dinner one night about eight feet from a Air-Marine. When it first
started spinning in a puff it would whistle a bit but when the rpm spooled up
to about 10 mph air speed it was dead quiet.
Plus Factors - The KISS look good (wish they had spinners to cover the hub).
They have excellent output.
Minus Factors - Slip rings are an extra cost item and must be cobbled in. The
azimuth bearing is just a piece of plastic. They had a sloppy fit resulting in
loose vibrations. I installed roller bearings (boat trailer bearings) to suit
at significant expense and labor but now they don't rattle. The heat
protective thermal switches inside the unit are heavy and not tied down causing
the wires to them to break from normal vibration (as the magnet poles pass by
the stator poles) requiring disassembly and reworking. They were connected by
slip-fit connectors that stopped conducting so I soldered all internal
connections to correct the problem of no output and tied the switches to the
stator with fishline.
I also notice some tail flutter at specific resonant speeds and wish they had a
stiffening spine molded into the tail.
The KISS would be my recommendation IF the engineering and construction factors
(I copied John at svhotwire.com in all my reports) were upgraded as I have done
to my units. The things lacking in mine now is a hub spinner, tail spine and
improved overall construction quality.
As for price, after a while you forget how much they cost and remember only how
well they work.
Norm
S/V Bandersnatch
Lying Julington Creek FL
----- Original Message -----
From:
To: [email protected]
Sent: 2/4/2010 4:31:59 PM
Subject: [Liveaboard] Wind generators
It looks like my old wind generator may finally be ready to be replaced. It's
a Rutland Model 910, Mk 2 and after I had a shop replace the bearings and
reassembled the hub halves, it drags quite badly. I don't know if the stator
is warped or if the shop somehow did something to cause it to drag, but I'm
debating replacing it rather than throw more money at it.
Anyway, ideas on the above would be appreciated, but I really wanted to hear
any recommendations or brands to stay away from. I'll have to get one with a
fairly small diameter, say 43" or less in order to avoid having to re-do my
pole.
Thanks,
JP
3/4 Time
Key West
_______________________________________________
Liveaboard mailing list
[email protected]
To adjust your membership settings over the web
http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard
To subscribe send an email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/
To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
The Mailman Users Guide can be found here
http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
