Whats quieter Air X with spreco blades or Air Breeze?

Mariner777 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-15-2011

Have an Air X and its making a good racket - sort of like the swishing at lower rpms but when it gets really going its starts to make a less then pleasant vibration. Have read the Spreco blades make it silent. Have also read the Air Breeze is quiet and see one on a neighbours boat - it seems to always be spinning at much lower rpms then my Air X but the blades are much wider - perhaps they spin slower but having more mass create more torque and are thus quieter then the super fast skinny Air X blades?

Has anyone compared an Air X with spreco blades to an Air Breeze and if so which one is quieter?

treilley · #2 (**permalink**) 07-15-2011

If it has gotten worse from when it was new that is probably your bearings. Might be time for a rebuild.

Mariner777 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-16-2011

Actually I've been looking into it further and its actually an Air 403 - long story but I think that the voltages it puts out are lower then the air x as that was one of the listed upgrades - so all in all it seems utterly useless as there is a tiny percentage of time when it will put out a high enough voltage to have a charging effect. This means I best rebuild it into an Airbreeze if thats possible have heard air Xes could be converted with new guts and blades hopefully the 403 could be as well. The unit is brand new in that it was never used before its not the bearings. After a 2 day blow and a ton of racket the thing has not made a dint on my battery bank - just a noise machine and a scam given the rpms required to get over 12V output... What a waste of $$ and time and energy.

treilley · #4 (**permalink**) 07-19-2011

Brand new and never used are two different things. Don't expect bearings not to rust when sitting. It still could easily be a bearing problem. Bad bearings could cause the noise and also prevent the unit from spinning up to proper speed to produce the voltage.

I have an Air 403 and even with bad bearings did not vibrate. Sure, there is some noise from the blades but it is more of a gray noise than a whine. Note, this is with the Spreco blades. They are quieter than the stock blades but certainly not silent.

I checked with SW windpower and I seem to recall there is no upgrade for that unit. Your only choice is to rebuild which I am in the process of doing.

Either way you will be pulling the unit apart so you will get a good look at the bearings. The inner bearing on mine was loaded with rust as the outer bearing looked fine. I almost didn't pull them because I assumed the inner bearing would surely be in better condition.

tattoosteve · #5 (**permalink**) 07-19-2011

i have an air-x with both sets of blades. dont see too much difference in noise level, but the standard blades seem to track the wind better without "spinning off", while the srpeco's seem to operate in lower wind conditions. im in s.f. bay so i have the stock ones on now.