Wattage for a Wind Turbine - what does it mean?

wattage is a rate

watt-hours is a quantity of energy

by changing the blades and controller from the air x, the air breeze has been limited on the high end instaneous power (300w 200 in most cases) in excange for lower startup and greater energy production in similar windspeed. 

intantaneous power is not really useful in measuring wind turbines apples to apples.  nobody regulates what windspeed manufacturers report this power at, so direct comparisons in instaneous power are not that useful.  you are correct in looking for the energy per month, but the spread of 10kWh is a lot considering the size of these turbines.  that is 33%. 

the air breeze is the update of the air-x which was the update of the 403.  if i had to pick, i would probably go with the breeze because noise and controller improvements.  if you had higher average annual windspeeds and thought you could take advantage of the older controller and higher potential output, you could pick the air x.  either way, it is important to understand these are small units designed for sailboats or small cabins and function best with laminar air flow free from obstructions.

hope that helps

james
Alt-E staff

The other reason is because the AIR-X was extremely over spec'ed and SouthWest received alot of negative feedback and negative company image over it.  Notice they also discontinued the mythical graph that demostrates their innacurrate wind speed to watt output.    And guys like me spent alot of time and money sending turbins back that did not meet the graph, because it was claiming more performance that it actually delivers.  Im glad to see they 're-evaluated' and came up with a more 'realistic' power curve. But who is going to reimburse me for my shipping charges and phone calls and time spent over the original 400 watt false graph?

I would be willing to bet that if you placed to two side by side you would be hard pressed to find a difference.  200 watts at 28 mph is almost exactly what I get with my air x demonstrated by six months of useage.  The old graph states 400 watts at 28mph which is 16.7 amps.  My air x self regulates (shuts down) at around 12-15 amps, and that takes about 35-40mph wind.  Not to say it is not a good turbine, but it takes two turbines to get the amount of power claimed by the old stats.  And you dont have to look far to find many owners who have the same result with it.
http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-44444-12Volt-400Watt-Generator/dp/B000C1Z2VE
 

I may do that, but I'd have to sell my existing Air-X.  The reason for wanting the smaller generator was lower start-up speed, which is important because of the instability of the wind one some days.  The garage is a nice "small-scale" experiment for understanding the best way to put it all together.  We're hoping in the next few years we'll be taking our whole house off the grid.