Ron, I installed a lot of the Bergey XL.1 until they stopped production. I just replaced blades on one last week and my first install of one of the first ones manufactured in 2001 is still working fine. We took in down about 10 years ago for preventive maintenance and replaced the brushes and blades though both were still in good shape. Most problems have been blades, brushes and a few tower failures mostly due to customer neglect or violent storms. I installed a Pika 1.6 kw at my home about 4 years ago and fell in love with that machine. Pika solved the Blade root attachment weakness found on the Bergey as well as sound issues and performance. Unfortunately they stopped production due to low sales. I ran mine for a year and a half and almost eliminated my generator in a low wind speed site but att he same time saw it perform flawlessly in high winds putting out well over 2500 watts and regulating my batteries at float with no dump loads needed. I got my first order for one and called Pika to order one but they had already stopped production and were not going to make any more. I had sold a customer a complete upgrade of his system which included upgrading from a Xantrex SW Plus to dual Outback inverters, going from 24v to 48v, and directly replacing his Bergey with a Pika, and new Aquion batteries. Sine we had already done the rest of the system, I ended up selling mine to him to keep him happy. I dearly miss that machine. Since Pika sold out to Generac, I’m hanging on a glimmer of hope that the turbine production could be resurrected.
Otherwise, the only new turbine I have installed is a 1 kw SuperWind, made in Germany. It is on a 40’ tilt up guyed tower on a mountaintop transmitter site. It has performed as expected with the only problem being susceptible to icing and the blade hub freezing to the nacelle. It is all white so the sun can’t help defrost it. Very nice workmanship but it also has a controller and dump load In addition to pitching blades. Similar cost as the Pika. I don’t have any data on how much the dump load has interacted with the controller. This is a high wind site. I’m not sure how it would perform in low winds. We put it up in November and it survived the winter. If you could find a used Pika, that would be my choice but I haven’t found one yet myself. Let me know If you find anything else. Wind Wrenches out there. ... respond ! John Blittersdorf CV Wind Service john.blittersd...@gmail.com 802-770-8625 On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 4:08 AM Ron Young <solarea...@solareagle.com> wrote: > Looking for recommendations on a wind turbine from the Wrenches. Wondering > what people are liking out there right now. I know it’s a pretty skinny > market and lots of junk but my client would like to replace an aging model > that he has in a low to moderate wind area, not spend too much money but > spend enough to get reliable. Ideally around 1kW but smaller is ok. > > Ron > > earthRight Products - Solareagle.com > Alternative Energy Solutions ~ Renewable Energy Products > 1-877-925-2929 > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > >
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