New Wind-gen

Benny17441 · Aug 5, 2014

Quieter? Not all the time. At a wind speed of 15 knots and above a marine wind generator can make as much or more noise than a Honda 2000 generator. The Marine Kinetix is rated for 35 decibels at 5 meters in a 10 knot wind. The Honda 2000 is rated at 53-59 decibels at its rated load.

Chris Patterson · Aug 5, 2014

Tell us about that MarineKinetics. Do they have different amp outputs?

(Sounds like you've maybe found a good mechanic)

Maine Sail · Aug 5, 2014

All U Get said:
Hi all,

We have added a MarineKinetix wind generator to supply more energy to batteries aboard our boat. All the work was primarily done by a very knowledgeable individual from Compass Marine. I did pull the line from the transom to the engine room with the help of my wife and only had to pull the last ten feet two times, twice. The only slow-down was when I asked questions (I had two years of them stored up). By the time I left the boat it was turning out 4+ amps at about 11 Kts at the masthead. This should keep the drinks cold and its a lot quieter than the generator. Thanks Rodd.

All U Get

After a little sail today my daughter & I went around the anchorage to check out all the wind gens. Three were in brake mode (not spinning) and six were ripping away (we did not get to all of them. Your was by far the quietest. Barely audible from about 15' away. The next quietest in the anchorage was the Superwind but it was a bit louder. A couple of AirX types were borderline obnoxious..

When I went back to reprogram it I could not hear it in the cockpit and physically had to look at it to confirm it was spinning.

P.S. I really appreciated you opening up access to the toe rail and getting that wire run as it allowed me to get that solar install on the J-42 done on-time for the owners cruise....

Maine Sail · Aug 5, 2014

Benny17441 said:
Quieter? Not all the time. At a wind speed of 15 knots and above a marine wind generator can make as much or more noise than a Honda 2000 generator. The Marine Kinetix is rated for 35 decibels at 5 meters in a 10 knot wind. The Honda 2000 is rated at 53-59 decibels at its rated load.

Not all wind gens are created equal. The obnoxious ones tend to give them all an undeserved bad rap. So far the MK 450 is one of the quietest I've seen or installed.. The D400 is also extremely quiet but considerably heavier and about 1K more. This boat also has an on-board genset, not a Honda, and solar has been near maximized without doing major custom work..

gettinthere · Aug 5, 2014

My Air Breeze is wired with 8 ga (maybe 6 ga). Can I easily drop one of these in as a replacement for the breeze?

Maine Sail · Aug 5, 2014

gettinthere said:
My Air Breeze is wired with 8 ga (maybe 6 ga). Can I easily drop one of these in as a replacement for the breeze?

The MK 450 is a three wire AC head which is then rectified to DC at the controller. This is great for getting from the gen to the controller and means significantly smaller wire can be used as the head is operating at a much higher voltage. Not a simple drop in and would require some three conductor 10GA. It should fit your pole though..

gettinthere · Aug 6, 2014

I have 3 wires, 6 or 8 ga, up the pole with extra in place for splicing. Sched 40 ss pole. Should be a drop in replacement on the pole and then splice in the controller below.

ifmdalvey · Aug 6, 2014

From my research, you can't beat an Air Breeze with blue blades for quietness and low wind speed / amp output. Average winds are generally less than 10 knots in anchorages and this would appear to be what the Air Breeze has been optimized for.

gettinthere · Aug 7, 2014

Looking at the MK450 output charts, it will be significantly better than an air breeze in all wind speeds.
My air breeze with blue blades is louder than the D400 and Rod reports that the MK450 is quieter than the D400.

Maine Sail · Aug 7, 2014

gettinthere said:
Looking at the MK450 output charts, it will be significantly better than an air breeze in all wind speeds.
My air breeze with blue blades is louder than the D400 and Rod reports that the MK450 is quieter than the D400.

I would not say it is quieter than a D400 but certainly on-par and quieter than most other wind gens I have seen, installed or worked on.. It also has some great engineering. Jeff Field is a brilliant guy and recognized swept area is swept area so focused on every other aspect to make the MK-450 more efficient. It is less expensive and has a lower start up speed than a D400 but the D400 is still the Hope Diamond of wind gens IMHO... The MK-450 is also a 450W wind gen vs. the Air Breeze at 160W. This boat spends lots of time in the trade wind areas so the higher output can be utilized...

I have also dealt with both SouthWest and Primus, the current manufacturer of Air Breeze, and suffice it to say, at this point in time, I can not recommend that product to any of my customers....

Jeff Field the owner of Marine Beam, the maker of the MK-450, answers the phone himself and stands behind every product he sells. He is one of the more stand up guys in the industry. Larry Janke the US distributor for the D400 is also a very stand up guy and stands behind everything he sells. To me customer support matters, especially in the marine environment.. Some warranties, on some wind products, are simply not worth the paper they are printed on...

The bearings in this one were so corroded into the housing that it physically bent two pieces of 1/4" stainless just trying to press them out... "marine grade"??????

gettinthere · Aug 7, 2014

Thanks for the clarification on noise levels. My blue bladed breeze is definitely louder than the D400 which is quite quiet. If the MK is as quiet as the D400, thats very good.

Tim R. · Aug 7, 2014

The blue blades from Spreco make a huge difference. There are other blue blades out there now that are not as quiet. I can tell you from personal experince that the Air black blades are much louder than the Spreco blades.

BTW, I took down my wind generator in favor of more solar. We have been out cruising since mid May and we have not needed to run our engine for charging once. We have a freezer with spill-over frige running 24/7. Also add in the light, nav equipment, heater, electrics toilet, etc.

gettinthere · Aug 7, 2014

Tim
Did you get a set of mounting bolts for the Spreco blades? The kit I got had blades, hub and hubcap but no bolts. I think they need to be metric and I used English. Always going out of balance.

Tim R. · Aug 7, 2014

gettinthere said:
Tim Did you get a set of mounting bolts for the Spreco blades? The kit I got had blades, hub and hubcap but no bolts. I think they need to be metric and I used English. Always going out of balance.

I did not. I was able to use the bolts from the old blades I think. It was a few years ago. Mine did not come with the hub either. Just the blades and the cap. It was for an older Air 400.

ifmdalvey · Aug 8, 2014

Maine Sail said:
The MK 450 is a three wire AC head which is then rectified to DC at the controller. This is great for getting from the gen to the controller and means significantly smaller wire can be used as the head is operating at a much higher voltage. Not a simple drop in and would require some three conductor 10GA. It should fit your pole though..

Question for Mainesail, the MK450 is about $400 more expensive than an air breeze, is the build quality and output good enough to justify that? My Windbugger gave up this year and a new wind generator is my winter project, I previously had a Morningstar PWM load divert controller feeding excess power to a 12V heating element, would this still be possible with the MK450?, I know it is with the Airbreeze having talked to them.

gettinthere · Aug 8, 2014

The MK website published some very good numbers. Much better than air breeze. Can you believe their hype? I am quite disapointed with the meager output of my air breeze. 160w vs 450w is a lot.
I definately would go MK over air breeze knowing what I know now. And I have the Spreco blue blades.

ifmdalvey · Oct 2, 2014

I am slightly confused, i have been trying to email Marine Kinetix for some technical info as i thought they were the manufacturer but Mainesail says it is Marine Beam, who i thought was just the US distributor, i will now email them and see if i get a response.

Maine Sail · Oct 2, 2014

ifmdalvey said:
I am slightly confused, i have been trying to email Marine Kinetix for some technical info as i thought they were the manufacturer but Mainesail says it is Marine Beam, who i thought was just the US distributor, i will now email them and see if i get a response.

Jeff answers his phone and also returns calls if you miss him. Marine Beam is the manufacturer (Jeff's company) and Marine Kinetix is Jeff's brand name for the MK-450 wind gen.

Jeff Field - 864-214-5337

Tell Jeff Rod at Compass Marine sent you along...

New Wind-gen

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