Southwest Wind Power Air X Wind Turbine Land 400W 48VWrite a review

I added the Air-X wind generator to my off-grid solar system and those 400 watts really add up. In the winter of last year, my generator (auto-start) would run at least 10-15 hours per week. With propane now at $3.30/gal, I had to do something. I installed the Air-X two months ago and the generator has only run seven hours since then due to two days of clouds on one occasion and battery temperature (really cold nights) on another.

Install was very easy. Noise is NO PROBLEM-flutters for a second above 45 knots, but the wind is so loud, you hardly hear it.

System: 48V, 2 Outback Inverters, 1 MX-60 controller, 24 Trojan T-105's, 16 165w panels, 1 Air-X 400w turbine, 15kW propane genset

I'm a new customer and had questions concerning compattability with my grid-tie in system and the Air-X Marine Wind generator.After talking to Ben, I wanted to reafirm the information that I received and everything that Ben and I disussed was right on target with the experts of my system.
I'm looking forward to my now newly purchased Air-X 400 Marine Wind generator to arrive and the reassurance of any questions that might pop up can be answered by this staff.

My Air X Turbine is still on the floor.
With a drill and a multimeter, I was able
to extract only 20 to 40 watts. Enough to
light a 20 watt bulb (for about 2 seconds, then
the thing cogs down and stops). I was unable to get
the voltage up; out of the single digit range.

I did call the representative that helped
to place my order. He said the warranty
was no longer good because I tested it with
a drill. However, the manual refers to
testing it with a drill.

I think I will try removing the auto breaking
system and the charge controller. These seem
to be causing the generator to stop and start
constantly; with not even a slim chance to give
up any kind of usable energy.

So far the rating is bad. But I have not even
tried to hook it to a battery, and the manual states
that this is what you need to do. But my gut feeling
is that I made a _$500 mistake. I could probably use
some of the parts in a homemade turbine. Or, as above,
remove the problem electronics. Giving the Air-X a
bigger body and a longer wind vane would also be a good
thing. Also, I can't see those blades doing much good.

{:

I should probably talk to a technical person.