I hate working on the boats in the water. Its hard to put a lanyard on a bolt, but every things else get one too! The wind generator fix and the carb fix on the other Ep were done well and the explaination and demo were well done. Please keep those parts and the cooking features coming, thanks again!
A little tip for not losing the nut next time you take the prop of the wind generator, glue the nut with some locktite or even just a little bit of silicone. That should do the trick. :)
Thanks for the educati,,,,,entertainment video. wow, every-time i watch i see something useful . you and pascal show what it is to really live aboard a sailboat. the delos is entertaining with all the neat places and stuff but your is the nitty britty of sailing. thanks again
Thank you Simon. May we recommend watching them in order from the start? Some themes go across episodes and it helps to locate us on each episode. Welcome!
Nothing Dodgy about that repair job Troy. Proper Pro stuff ! I had an alternator on my old Albin 021 petrol inboard that refused to charge the batteries. I opened that it up and checked everything with continuity etc but to no avail. After 2 weeks of head scratching i noticed the charge light bulb in the cockpit was blown. Turns out that on my boat wiring, that was the fix. 80 cents and half a minute swap….batteries charging again. Felt quite stupid with myself , ahhhhh …. Your videos are really educational and inspiring. happy sailing…
I keep seeing references to your channel on the comments section of other sailing channels. I believe that is a really good thing. Thanks for the video.
Nothing dodgy about you Troy. You're the real McCoy ol' boy. Love watching you DIY plus the education that comes with it. Excellent fun on a windy & rainy day.
I had to laugh at the gull hopping sideways in the wind down the seawall. Years ago in flight training, a few of my first crosswind landings looked like that. The shot of Pas walking across the road in the rain in a sundress had a sort of timeless quality to it, like an artist's depiction of Tahiti. Always a pleasure. Be well.
Way to go Chief Engineer, you get high marks for creative thinking on that one! As you know keeping a ship running means thinking up creative solutions when the Port Engineer and a Full Shore Support staff are not at your disposal.
What a beautiful way to live, I'm very jealous. You two are doing an incredible job of showing everyone how wonderful Australia is and without meaning to be rude, how unexpectedly lovely and cultured the Australian people are also. Really enjoy the videos and wish you all the best on your future sails.
Great engineering! I have the same AirX with the same problem but have notyet found a way to fix it. Will follow your instructions, and the regulator can be attached inside the boat cabine to tame the unregulated DC stream. Thanks!
Well done Troy on acknowledging traditional owners. Not enough of it IMO... living vicariously through you guys as we are between boats at the moment! Keep up the good work.
I would like to say that your show is better than anything we have on Cable TV here in Texas ! I suspect one of the cable channels here in America will be trying to reach you soon, if they can find you ;) Well done guys keep up the good work !
I commented recently and you liked my comments. I should have given you some background on me. I spent 4 years in the US Coast Guard as an electronics technician. One full year was on a 210ft medium endurance cutter and it seemed like we spent most of that year underway. We spent that time on the East coast of the U.S. We rarely reached our home port in New Castle, New Hampshire without being called out on some kind of emergency in less than a week. We spent a lot of time patrolling for various things in the North Atlantic. We did a lot of fisheries patrols and search and rescue missions. We escorted the Newport to Halifax yacht race in 1968 or 1969. We also transited from Newport, VA to Miami through the eye of hurricane Gladys. Winds were over 100 mph. I packed a lot of experience into one year on a ship. I liked your piece about repairing the wind electricity generator.Reminded me of a repair job I did repairing a radar antenna in winter while we were anchored off Provincetown, Massachusetts. I think I replaced brushes on the motor. Winds were at least 30mph plus gusts and the temperature was below freezing. I know I am rambling. Sorry. Just wanted to give you some perspective on why I find some of your more esoteric posts interesting. Keep posting everything. I love it. FYI, I celebrated my 72nd birthday on March 5. Be safe, keep out of those cyclones. Ted
I think this is awesome. I have been collecting a few wind gens to play with and understand. I have just finished doing your dodgy Modify while having a tea. It is brilliant fix and thrilled you shared this with all. Just like all your videos are awesome.
Very Simplistic approach but one that has worked for me..lanyard on the tail of the wind gen ..if its spinning to fast pull it out of the wind direction
I appreciate the resourcefulness you two demonstrate. Once a person recognizes that a bearing is a bearing is a bearing, all you have to do is measure the ID, OD, thickness of the bearing and determine the duty factor (light or heavy or moderate duty). Same with the bridge rectifier you went with. It really helps keep the costs contained when you realize you don't have to order a part through the company but off of Ebay, or a tractor store, or wherever. Keep up the great work and don't worry about some legalese jargon for my sake.
When I was a tech in the military my Master Sargent had a sign on the wall behind his desk. It read.... We've been doing so much with so little for so long we are now capable of doing anything with nothing forever. Well done again Troy.
Glad to see it worked for you mate. Still would have added another component just as precautionary measure at least that would not have cost much more. But you know enough what you are doing and still say job well done.
Rather than binned it you wind it! Good work. Love the weather a little more of that would be good to see. I took a ride the other day on the last ferry to Great Keeple Island when the Cyclone was off the coast. Very good fun. Rough but well worth the adventure. Blowing big time, raining hard, beautiful day if you ask me. Should be more of them. Bring on global warming if we can have extreme weather. I love it. Got off topic sorry.
Another great episode! Thanks guys! Troy, if you are concerned about over voltage, entertain the thought of a hefty zeener diode with a resistor in series to bleed off any thing above the rating of the voltage rated diode. Just shunting it to the negative side should act as somewhat of a brake too to help on those gnarled days when the wind gets up. So. In effect, the series diode / resistor would go in parallel with the output. Say you had a diode rated at 15 volts, anything above that, the diode would conduct and that excess voltage would be shunted. They are a poor man's regulator and "as common as air"! Great video my friends.
We learn heaps from you guys! I am in the USA currently and I was talking to a mate over here who says he watches and has learnt heaps of stuff from you so be encouraged!! We love the videos.
Possessing limited mechanical and almost zero electrical knowledge, I am really impressed. I kept expecting you to look a Pascal and say, "as I expected, the darn thing is broke."
If all else fails contact your turbine dealer... It rains alot there on that island... You two are a awesome couple, you both work together so well.. love your videos.
I always enjoy your videos and this brought back memories. As a kid I found a small generator of some sort, spun it over holding the wires in my hand but could not feel anything so I then put the wires on my tongue. Still don't know why I was on the floor but I learned my lesson. A generator has a bunch of pixels inside of them that when turned loose can bite real hard.
Mcgyfer!!!! Hah Hah. Nice jury rigging there ! But you know what, that's not a jury rig .... It's a complete solution. Loved the boat listing away from that wind from Hades, life on the lean once again. Be good guys.
I wonder if balancing the blades would help bearing life,also you could use a new 12 volt regulater from a tractor or old car if needed but Im sure you've thought of this,great video.
A dash of technical know-how and some creative courage and we're back on the road again. I'll bet that many of your viewers said "beep" at the same time you did :)
You two adventurers really are very suited to this kind of life. I am so glad you are filming it all and sharing it with us lucky landlubbers. Great episode, as usual, cant wait for the next one, have fun guys and stay safe.
Long zombie thread resurrection warning: We just purchased and installed a Primus Air Breeze turbine -an upgrade from our 30-year old Rutland Windcharger, so I figured I would rewatch this video. Our wind-generated power output has approximately tripled but the ancient Rutland was just an early 75w turbine and would only produce about 1.5A at 15 knots. We would only rarely see outputs over 2A. A few times in wild gales when I didn't have time to tie-up the turbine beforehand we saw 5A+ for short periods. Now we see that and much more as winds get into the high teens. I don't think I will often bother to stop this new turbine and tie it off since its survivability is much better and it doesn't have 30-year old UV-rotted blades that are no longer in production. I was starting to be concerned about standing near or under the old turbine in more windy conditions. I have heard other stories of board failures like yours on the whole line of Air turbines, so I wanted to prepare for such an eventuality without the expense of buying an extremely expensive spare board for now. The old Rutland was poorly-regulated so we had an external rectifier/regulator down below which I am saving for any eventuality of temporarily modifying the new turbine. I may pick up a 3-phase rectifier like you used to keep in my spares in case that is needed. I already purchased some spare bearings before the new turbine had been up for a week. They don't last forever. I decided to get only the 2RS version since they cost only pennies more and I don't figure the seal on the inside is going to hurt anything. I am not buying tens of thousands of these at a time, so a few pennies saved per unit isn't going to add up like it does for the manufacturer. I did notice that the blades were quite rough at the edges, simply poorly finished from out of the mold. I thought about using fine sandpaper to clean that up but instead just used my calloused fingers to polish them up a bit, which actually make a big change in only a few moments work, dragging my fingernails over a few of the roughest spots where the mold flashing was the most egregious. This is kind of ridiculous IMHO on an $1100 unit IMHO. I was concerned about upsetting the balance of the blades but I might go back and clean them up a bit more in the future with fine sandpaper on the edges and the tips. They are not very noisy, but will flutter a little at lower wind speeds, especially when the wind veers and the turbine yaws off a tad and the blades slow down before it finds the wind again. I also hear a constant light whirring which tracks in frequency with the blade speed throughout the inside of the boat from the coil/magnet lumpiness which I suppose is unavoidable in a turbine design such as this. Still, the Air Breeze is much, MUCH quieter than the old Rutland Windcharger which would growl and howl nearly all of the time, even after a fresh bearing change. The blades themselves were quieter, being a shorter-diameter 6-blade turbine but the magnetic vibration inside would couple with an inherent yaw-bearing looseness to create a vibration which would lightly shake the mast forward and aft sometimes. It actually got better the faster the wind blew. At 15-20 knots it used to sound like a Scoobie-Doo ghost -WOOOOOOOO! Over 20 and it would settle right down. The last owner said that a heavy lead weight strapped to the mast with a hose clamp would help dampen this but I never had much luck tuning it by moving it up and down the pipe, so I just took the ugly weight off and lived with the noise. The gentle whir of the Air Breeze turbine is nothing by comparison. Over time I will see if aging bearings make any difference. We never had a bird take on our old turbine but I think it would have taken out one of the ancient blades had that occurred. Rutland changed their blade design 25 years ago and those blades are unobtanium now.
Thanks for another great video filled with information and fun! Can't imagine having to put sunglasses on to stand in the rain. Unreal rain! Looking forward to the shirts.
Great job. Your fix as it is now is working, I wouldn't change it. External regulators are a dime a dozen, you have the added advantage of the regulator situated (hopefully) in a cooler zone in the boat. I can't imagine how hot it would get in that turbine housing on a 40C+ day with the generator working. Keep it as is now and find a suitably rated external regulator.
What you guys need is a hydro generator. They work great and would give you so much power than you need, But they are very expensive, But you use your boat more than the normal weekend sailor so that would be great for your little boat traveling long distances. Lucky fish had one installed on his boat and he has done a review on it, when he done a 1200 mile sail, And i was very impressed with the out come, You get what you pay for in the long run but it always comes down to the dredded budget in the end, Good bodger work there, Nice save!
Hail from Michigan, U.S. Been watching you guys since Christmas. As a mechanic I love seeing people dig in and do their own fixing. Good winds and safe travels.
I laughed when you thought we would suggest you just dive for the nut; never even occurred to me. In my water, I wouldn't be able to find it in 6 inches of water (and two feet of mud).
ah, another tip: look for videos for balancing rc props, smaller props but same principle. That will also reduce noise and wear/tear. Rc folks do this sort of religiously to avoid wobbly footage on multicopters.
I love the modify. I bet just a cheap voltage regulator off of and old boat motor would do the trick. See if there is anyone who rebuilds generators in the next town and but an external voltage regulator. But I agree with your asessment that it probably will be fine since you have a huge load.
In the electronics they actually call modifications after the fact bodge jobs ... good on ya for that also : D cheers. also if the output voltage and amperage is in range you could pipe that into your solar charge controller for regulation, preferably a separate controller then the one you use for your panels.
Always good to stop by. Not sure of course and simply a suggestion but suspect that if it was bird-to-blade then most noise will be from 'out of balance' of the blades. Difficult to rectify aboard but on terra firma (you know, the the greater the firma, the lesser the terra!) if you can centre the blades on a single pin support and then balance til they are 'perfectly' level by bending and fine tune by drilling indents, then the unbalancing force on the bearings will diminish and likewise, the noise. Blades are aerofoils so 'smooth' blade = low vibration (noise) as your friend suggests. Good luck, BB
I think the technical term for this kind of modification is a "hack". It would have scored double points if the rectifier was taken from a scrapper yard (motorcycle for example, comes with an integrated regulator as well). I'd be pretty interested in the waveform being output, just in case you stumble over a oscilloscope. And if there's increased gassing from the batteries due to the wobbly dc.
You could make a little clipper which shorts your 3 phases to put the brakes on for you when you reach 14 volts or higher. It can get a little complicated. You're doing great ! Probably easier just to switch something on for a load to keep your voltage down manually.
Great episode. Another maintenance workshop 101 installment..always learning something from you guys. You had me at 'we sail a Clansman'. Always look fwd to the next episodes..never genuinely disappointed 👍
Outstanding! I had one of those units and it held up great! Nice to know there is a fix when the electronics finally go. However 11 years of operation is pretty great for a unit exposed and abused they way they are. Cheers!
Another very enjoyable 22 minutes and very informative. Shame you had rain for seven days but oh well. Looking forward to the next one, take care and be safe. From central texas
![แฉกลโกงงานวัด 2024 [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.106 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/taC5dpP3HXA/mqdefault.jpg)
I hate working on the boats in the water. Its hard to put a lanyard on a bolt, but every things else get one too! The wind generator fix and the carb fix on the other Ep were done well and the explaination and demo were well done. Please keep those parts and the cooking features coming, thanks again!
Inspired! My kiwi friends would have used No 8 wire, but your option was sophisticated genius. Go, the two of you and your awesome boat.
A little tip for not losing the nut next time you take the prop of the wind generator, glue the nut with some locktite or even just a little bit of silicone. That should do the trick. :)
Thanks for the educati,,,,,entertainment video. wow, every-time i watch i see something useful . you and pascal show what it is to really live aboard a sailboat. the delos is entertaining with all the neat places and stuff but your is the nitty britty of sailing. thanks again
Thanks for the intro guys.... Respect is important
Dude! You just blew my mind! I kind of assumed how a motor versus a generator worked, but had no idea it was just two sides of the same hand.
Great stuff. I love fixing things when they don't work. Although, I'd go a catamaran any day😁
Another thing I should have said , was that I only just found your programmes, and have been really enjoying them .
So , thanks for the entertainment
Thank you Simon. May we recommend watching them in order from the start? Some themes go across episodes and it helps to locate us on each episode. Welcome!
Yes, I went back to no.1 , and just finished watching Kimberley . Stunning scenery :)
Nothing Dodgy about that repair job Troy. Proper Pro stuff ! I had an alternator on my old Albin 021 petrol inboard that refused to charge the batteries. I opened that it up and checked everything with continuity etc but to no avail. After 2 weeks of head scratching i noticed the charge light bulb in the cockpit was blown. Turns out that on my boat wiring, that was the fix. 80 cents and half a minute swap….batteries charging again. Felt quite stupid with myself , ahhhhh …. Your videos are really educational and inspiring. happy sailing…
I keep seeing references to your channel on the comments section of other sailing channels. I believe that is a really good thing. Thanks for the video.
I love your down to earth, honest, no bullshit manner of presenting these videos guys. Keep em coming! Wade.
Nothing dodgy about you Troy. You're the real McCoy ol' boy. Love watching you DIY plus the education that comes with it. Excellent fun on a windy & rainy day.
Happiness is free range sailing
I had to laugh at the gull hopping sideways in the wind down the seawall. Years ago in flight training, a few of my first crosswind landings looked like that. The shot of Pas walking across the road in the rain in a sundress had a sort of timeless quality to it, like an artist's depiction of Tahiti. Always a pleasure. Be well.
Way to go Chief Engineer, you get high marks for creative thinking on that one! As you know keeping a ship running means thinking up creative solutions when the Port Engineer and a Full Shore Support staff are not at your disposal.
What a beautiful way to live, I'm very jealous. You two are doing an incredible job of showing everyone how wonderful Australia is and without meaning to be rude, how unexpectedly lovely and cultured the Australian people are also. Really enjoy the videos and wish you all the best on your future sails.
Great engineering! I have the same AirX with the same problem but have notyet found a way to fix it. Will follow your instructions, and the regulator can be attached inside the boat cabine to tame the unregulated DC stream. Thanks!
Well done Troy on acknowledging traditional owners. Not enough of it IMO... living vicariously through you guys as we are between boats at the moment! Keep up the good work.
and trying for the hat trick: super glue + baking soda is great for filling holes in dinged props.
Your repair videos are awesome. There’s nothing like them on TH-cam, keep up the great content.
I would like to say that your show is better than anything we have on Cable TV here in Texas ! I suspect one of the cable channels here in America will be trying to reach you soon, if they can find you ;) Well done guys keep up the good work !
Again a great episode! Thank you very much :-) Mr Sideways seagull made me smile, looking forward ep.36
I commented recently and you liked my comments. I should have given you some background on me. I spent 4 years in the US Coast Guard as an electronics technician. One full year was on a 210ft medium endurance cutter and it seemed like we spent most of that year underway. We spent that time on the East coast of the U.S. We rarely reached our home port in New Castle, New Hampshire without being called out on some kind of emergency in less than a week. We spent a lot of time patrolling for various things in the North Atlantic. We did a lot of fisheries patrols and search and rescue missions. We escorted the Newport to Halifax yacht race in 1968 or 1969. We also transited from Newport, VA to Miami through the eye of hurricane Gladys. Winds were over 100 mph. I packed a lot of experience into one year on a ship. I liked your piece about repairing the wind electricity generator.Reminded me of a repair job I did repairing a radar antenna in winter while we were anchored off Provincetown, Massachusetts. I think I replaced brushes on the motor. Winds were at least 30mph plus gusts and the temperature was below freezing. I know I am rambling. Sorry. Just wanted to give you some perspective on why I find some of your more esoteric posts interesting. Keep posting everything. I love it. FYI, I celebrated my 72nd birthday on March 5. Be safe, keep out of those cyclones. Ted
not doggy if it works and that looked like a good fix.. allway a good show thanks for sharing.
I think this is awesome. I have been collecting a few wind gens to play with and understand. I have just finished doing your dodgy Modify while having a tea. It is brilliant fix and thrilled you shared this with all. Just like all your videos are awesome.
We love hearing we have helped out someone every now and then. Thankyou.
Very Simplistic approach but one that has worked for me..lanyard on the tail of the wind gen ..if its spinning to fast pull it out of the wind direction
That’s some free range direct current. Really enjoy your channel.
I appreciate the resourcefulness you two demonstrate. Once a person recognizes that a bearing is a bearing is a bearing, all you have to do is measure the ID, OD, thickness of the bearing and determine the duty factor (light or heavy or moderate duty). Same with the bridge rectifier you went with. It really helps keep the costs contained when you realize you don't have to order a part through the company but off of Ebay, or a tractor store, or wherever. Keep up the great work and don't worry about some legalese jargon for my sake.
benc65753 .
And that my friend is the difference between a Wrench (a real mechanic) and a Parts changer (most of the mechanics(?) you meet). Well done.
When I was a tech in the military my Master Sargent had a sign on the wall behind his desk. It read....
We've been doing so much with so little for so long we are now capable of doing anything with nothing forever.
Well done again Troy.
Your land recognition at the start is spot on. Would love to see more of it in other videos.
Glad to see it worked for you mate. Still would have added another component just as precautionary measure at least that would not have cost much more. But you know enough what you are doing and still say job well done.
Rather than binned it you wind it! Good work. Love the weather a little more of that would be good to see. I took a ride the other day on the last ferry to Great Keeple Island when the Cyclone was off the coast. Very good fun. Rough but well worth the adventure. Blowing big time, raining hard, beautiful day if you ask me. Should be more of them. Bring on global warming if we can have extreme weather. I love it. Got off topic sorry.
Aside from a very cooperative partner she is also brave and intelligent. You got a lucky life. Enjoy your sail
I don't even have a wind generator and I watched the whole thing. Very interesting. Great fix
Excellent tutorial, thanks!
EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!! McGuyver you certainly are!!!
I really like you Troy! As I like Brian from SV Delos. He and you can fix anythingh! Anything!! I like! Keep on with what you and Padc are doing!
SKF3203? Yep, really common in small motors👍
Another great episode! Thanks guys! Troy, if you are concerned about over voltage, entertain the thought of a hefty zeener diode with a resistor in series to bleed off any thing above the rating of the voltage rated diode. Just shunting it to the negative side should act as somewhat of a brake too to help on those gnarled days when the wind gets up. So. In effect, the series diode / resistor would go in parallel with the output. Say you had a diode rated at 15 volts, anything above that, the diode would conduct and that excess voltage would be shunted. They are a poor man's regulator and "as common as air"! Great video my friends.
We learn heaps from you guys! I am in the USA currently and I was talking to a mate over here who says he watches and has learnt heaps of stuff from you so be encouraged!! We love the videos.
Your right about us English, have a cup of tea and calm down. There's nothing better. Good job done with the generator. Great Vlog. Many thanks
Possessing limited mechanical and almost zero electrical knowledge, I am really impressed. I kept expecting you to look a Pascal and say, "as I expected, the darn thing is broke."
Nice one Troy, love your work.
If all else fails contact your turbine dealer... It rains alot there on that island... You two are a awesome couple, you both work together so well.. love your videos.
I always enjoy your videos and this brought back memories. As a kid I found a small generator of some sort, spun it over holding the wires in my hand but could not feel anything so I then put the wires on my tongue. Still don't know why I was on the floor but I learned my lesson. A generator has a bunch of pixels inside of them that when turned loose can bite real hard.
That’s what I’m talking about! Always learn something.
Mcgyfer!!!! Hah Hah. Nice jury rigging there ! But you know what, that's not a jury rig .... It's a complete solution. Loved the boat listing away from that wind from Hades, life on the lean once again. Be good guys.
I wonder if balancing the blades would help bearing life,also you could use a new 12 volt regulater from a tractor or old car if needed but Im sure you've thought of this,great video.
Awesome fix again! Glad the rains have let up ,,,,,,,,,/),,,,,,,,fair winds you two.
Very nice bit of electrical work there! Brilliant!
You guys are patient! 5 weeks! I love your intros and finish/ credits segments , that you’ve used on these recent episodes. 👍
An absolute mine of information, and entertainment. We need a new term for "nautical bush engineering" :)
A dash of technical know-how and some creative courage and we're back on the road again. I'll bet that many of your viewers said "beep" at the same time you did :)
You two adventurers really are very suited to this kind of life. I am so glad you are filming it all and sharing it with us lucky landlubbers. Great episode, as usual, cant wait for the next one, have fun guys and stay safe.
yep need two nuts plus the one on it..one yaw bearing in parts suppy and two brushes then you good for yrs...
Long zombie thread resurrection warning:
We just purchased and installed a Primus Air Breeze turbine -an upgrade from our 30-year old Rutland Windcharger, so I figured I would rewatch this video. Our wind-generated power output has approximately tripled but the ancient Rutland was just an early 75w turbine and would only produce about 1.5A at 15 knots. We would only rarely see outputs over 2A. A few times in wild gales when I didn't have time to tie-up the turbine beforehand we saw 5A+ for short periods. Now we see that and much more as winds get into the high teens. I don't think I will often bother to stop this new turbine and tie it off since its survivability is much better and it doesn't have 30-year old UV-rotted blades that are no longer in production. I was starting to be concerned about standing near or under the old turbine in more windy conditions.
I have heard other stories of board failures like yours on the whole line of Air turbines, so I wanted to prepare for such an eventuality without the expense of buying an extremely expensive spare board for now. The old Rutland was poorly-regulated so we had an external rectifier/regulator down below which I am saving for any eventuality of temporarily modifying the new turbine. I may pick up a 3-phase rectifier like you used to keep in my spares in case that is needed.
I already purchased some spare bearings before the new turbine had been up for a week. They don't last forever. I decided to get only the 2RS version since they cost only pennies more and I don't figure the seal on the inside is going to hurt anything. I am not buying tens of thousands of these at a time, so a few pennies saved per unit isn't going to add up like it does for the manufacturer.
I did notice that the blades were quite rough at the edges, simply poorly finished from out of the mold. I thought about using fine sandpaper to clean that up but instead just used my calloused fingers to polish them up a bit, which actually make a big change in only a few moments work, dragging my fingernails over a few of the roughest spots where the mold flashing was the most egregious. This is kind of ridiculous IMHO on an $1100 unit IMHO. I was concerned about upsetting the balance of the blades but I might go back and clean them up a bit more in the future with fine sandpaper on the edges and the tips.
They are not very noisy, but will flutter a little at lower wind speeds, especially when the wind veers and the turbine yaws off a tad and the blades slow down before it finds the wind again. I also hear a constant light whirring which tracks in frequency with the blade speed throughout the inside of the boat from the coil/magnet lumpiness which I suppose is unavoidable in a turbine design such as this.
Still, the Air Breeze is much, MUCH quieter than the old Rutland Windcharger which would growl and howl nearly all of the time, even after a fresh bearing change. The blades themselves were quieter, being a shorter-diameter 6-blade turbine but the magnetic vibration inside would couple with an inherent yaw-bearing looseness to create a vibration which would lightly shake the mast forward and aft sometimes. It actually got better the faster the wind blew. At 15-20 knots it used to sound like a Scoobie-Doo ghost -WOOOOOOOO! Over 20 and it would settle right down. The last owner said that a heavy lead weight strapped to the mast with a hose clamp would help dampen this but I never had much luck tuning it by moving it up and down the pipe, so I just took the ugly weight off and lived with the noise.
The gentle whir of the Air Breeze turbine is nothing by comparison. Over time I will see if aging bearings make any difference. We never had a bird take on our old turbine but I think it would have taken out one of the ancient blades had that occurred. Rutland changed their blade design 25 years ago and those blades are unobtanium now.
Wind Generator -- and I always thought that was an extra serve of vindaloo
I have the same wind generator but haven't had to take it apart. Good to see someone else do it first, thanks.
Nice job McGyvering a fix!
Thanks for another great video filled with information and fun! Can't imagine having to put sunglasses on to stand in the rain. Unreal rain! Looking forward to the shirts.
Outrageously knowledgeable! FRS delivers again.
You guys continue to present sailing life as it really is. Thank you. Luv ya
Nice one Troy!!
Something needs doing...so let’s get it done 👍
Really good info.
my favorite channel by far. excellent
You guys really are legends. Never stopping. Working so hard. Inspiration for us all.
Another great video guys
nice video thanks
Great job. Your fix as it is now is working, I wouldn't change it. External regulators are a dime a dozen, you have the added advantage of the regulator situated (hopefully) in a cooler zone in the boat. I can't imagine how hot it would get in that turbine housing on a 40C+ day with the generator working. Keep it as is now and find a suitably rated external regulator.
What you guys need is a hydro generator. They work great and would give you so much power than you need, But they are very expensive, But you use your boat more than the normal weekend sailor so that would be great for your little boat traveling long distances. Lucky fish had one installed on his boat and he has done a review on it, when he done a 1200 mile sail, And i was very impressed with the out come, You get what you pay for in the long run but it always comes down to the dredded budget in the end, Good bodger work there, Nice save!
You are a most talented gent. Very impressive video. Glad you had some good chow and a visit on dry land. Lot of rain. Send some to us in California.
these vids are my favorite part of Fridays
Great jerry-rig on the genie... you could always wire in a voltage regulator... 3 pins and you have protection.
Hail from Michigan, U.S. Been watching you guys since Christmas. As a mechanic I love seeing people dig in and do their own fixing. Good winds and safe travels.
Hello. Fantastic. The mysteries of electricity, thank for you for the tutorial. Very professional the way you both t handle the gale. You guys rock!.
I laughed when you thought we would suggest you just dive for the nut; never even occurred to me. In my water, I wouldn't be able to find it in 6 inches of water (and two feet of mud).
ah, another tip: look for videos for balancing rc props, smaller props but same principle. That will also reduce noise and wear/tear. Rc folks do this sort of religiously to avoid wobbly footage on multicopters.
Nice job on the repair.
Great video!!! When you dropped the part overboard, I said THATS ME!!.....lolol.
I love the modify. I bet just a cheap voltage regulator off of and old boat motor would do the trick. See if there is anyone who rebuilds generators in the next town and but an external voltage regulator. But I agree with your asessment that it probably will be fine since you have a huge load.
Hell of a good job great vid
I have to stop whinging about all the many things I have to fix around work. On DRY LAND. ;-) Always a treat to see you both.
Kimberly Thomas. That's an English name if I ever heard one! I've got some first cousins with the Thomas name.
reported Kimberly Thomas for Sexial contend...
In the electronics they actually call modifications after the fact bodge jobs ... good on ya for that also : D cheers. also if the output voltage and amperage is in range you could pipe that into your solar charge controller for regulation, preferably a separate controller then the one you use for your panels.
Always good to stop by. Not sure of course and simply a suggestion but suspect that if it was bird-to-blade then most noise will be from 'out of balance' of the blades. Difficult to rectify aboard but on terra firma (you know, the the greater the firma, the lesser the terra!) if you can centre the blades on a single pin support and then balance til they are 'perfectly' level by bending and fine tune by drilling indents, then the unbalancing force on the bearings will diminish and likewise, the noise. Blades are aerofoils so 'smooth' blade = low vibration (noise) as your friend suggests. Good luck, BB
I think the technical term for this kind of modification is a "hack". It would have scored double points if the rectifier was taken from a scrapper yard (motorcycle for example, comes with an integrated regulator as well). I'd be pretty interested in the waveform being output, just in case you stumble over a oscilloscope. And if there's increased gassing from the batteries due to the wobbly dc.
"In the British tradition, I made a cup of tea before doing anything else." LOL
As a fellow fisherman, i've seen many times where dodgy modifying means the difference between returning home or being stuck at sea.
I have a similar situation and was thinking of regulating it with an mppt controller.
Great video! I always enjoy watching your DIY videos!
Nice job Troy! Sounds like you have a large battery system so should be no problems.
You could make a little clipper which shorts your 3 phases to put the brakes on for you when you reach 14 volts or higher. It can get a little complicated. You're doing great ! Probably easier just to switch something on for a load to keep your voltage down manually.
Thanks guys just watched the last two videos really enjoyed
Fantastic !!!!
Much love from wylie tx
Superb as always!!!
Great episode. Another maintenance workshop 101 installment..always learning something from you guys. You had me at 'we sail a Clansman'. Always look fwd to the next episodes..never genuinely disappointed 👍
Outstanding! I had one of those units and it held up great! Nice to know there is a fix when the electronics finally go. However 11 years of operation is pretty great for a unit exposed and abused they way they are. Cheers!
Another very enjoyable 22 minutes and very informative. Shame you had rain for seven days but oh well. Looking forward to the next one, take care and be safe. From central texas
Awesome! Really good video.
The proper nautical term is not "dodgy repair" it's "jury rig", as in making a jury mast from a spar. :-) Great video! Fair winds and following seas.