Anyone have any experience with the Air X 400W turbine?

[ezee]

I am thinking about purchasing one, can be gotten on ebay for about $500...

any feedback on this unit...or is my $500 better spent (performance wise) building a PMA from scratch?

[Phssthpok]

Personal experiance with output?..no. However I can relate what I observed at an RE fair last year.

There were two wind-gennies erected. An Air-x atop a 30' guyed pipe tower and another brand.....I forget the name ATM, but it had five blades, and a notched tail....mounted on a pole about 15' up.

To be fair, there wasn't a whole lot of wind for the entire weekend, but what little wind there was would often have the five-blader pumping out maybe a dozen watts, before the AIR-X would even rotate into the wind, let alone start to spin.

The few times the AIR-X DID spin up to a decent speed, it sounded just like an electric weed-eater....up untill the electronics threw the brake to 'quiet' it down. I think that's what annoyed me the most....I can deal with a little noise (especially if it's steady) as long as I'm getting something for it (power). But the way the AIR-X was working, it would throw the brakes on just as it was hitting it's stride. This led to a constant wwwwwhhiiiiIIZZZZZZZ-OM.....wwwwhhiiiIIIZZZZ-OM......that told me the electronics would never allow that thing to make a full 400 watts. (come to think of it I dont recall ever hearing ANY noise from the five-blader).

Save your money...build your own.

[wdyasq]

Our poster have given just enough information to give a 'definite maybe', and/o an indefinite 'Maybe not'.

Before investing money in a wind device one needs to determine if the resource is there to run it. According to their information sheet and reports it takes a small hurricane to get any power out of many of small commercial turbines - Air-X included. In very light winds no turbine will produce usable power.

Comparing 'homebuilt'-DanB/Otherpower style with 'Air-X', there is not much of a contest. For electrical production the 'DanB' type wins. For noise, I'll put money on the Air-X.

Ron

[Jerry]

I own a SW-403. Let me be as gentle as I can.

In terms of power output and startup IT SUCKs.

In terms of noise IT SUCKs.

In my road/truck wind test the most I could get was 325 watts from the 403 at 30 mph.

It doesn't start charging till about 13 mph. At about 25 mph the noise is like a small jet. My neighbors 400 ft away didn't like it.

You can build a far supperior machine and for less money.

                          JK TAS Jerry

[windstuffnow]

  I'm with Jerry on the Air 403... you would get much more satisfaction donating the money to a charitable cause... or of course building your own.  If your "DIY" skills allow you to build one then you will be much happier and farther ahead.  If your not up to the task of building one I'd have to suggest a Bergey system, a proven and well designed "off the shelf" unit.  

.

[tecker]

Ok mags 100 to 160

    wire 75 or less

    plastic 50

    hub 50

    blades 100

    control 100

    batts 300

     satisfaction priceless  

[ezee]

SOLD

I'll be building one for sure...sounds more fun anyway.  

THank you all so much for your responses.

[nothing to lose]

Good choice

Also don't forget, if you build it you can fix it if needed.

Can you fix an Air 403 if needed?

[tecker]

Ed has a machine for 400 that goes together easy and out performs the x

[winston]

I have used an Air 403 for several years

Let me preface this with the fact that I have a very good wind site on top of a hill in Wisconsin -- average over 12 mph

The machine survived very high winds during summer thunderstorms (trees were downed) and winter blizzards with no icing problems

survived a lighting strike (the inverter didn't)

lost one blade due to a bird strike (replacement set of blades $75)

the unit produced enough power to run a full size refridgerator for 2 1/2 years-- easily paying for itself

About the noise ---when it made noise it was during high wind conditions (over 25 kts) the sound of the wind through the trees and buildings was very high as well

it was about 40 yards from the house and it didn't rob me of any sleep from the noise

If the noise bothers you you can shut it down with a flip of a switch

What I like about the machine is it does not shut down in high winds but keeps putting out full power --about 40 Amps at 13.5 V (it was pegging the ammeter)

I am planning to buy 4 more 24 volt models, this should be enough to get me off the grid for roughly $3000 bucks including batteries and controller-- payback should be about 3 years

I do not know of a better deal out there

if you have a good wind site the machine is excellent