Eclectic Energy D400 Wind Generator Wiring & Performance Review (Part 3)
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- It's been several months since we've installed the Eclectic Energy D400 Wind Generator and it's time to give you some of our thoughts about it, plus a look under the hood to see how we ran the wiring aboard Paragon.
Check out the unboxing and installation videos with the links below!
D400 Unboxing (Part 1) : • Eclectic Energy D400 W...
D400 Installation (Part 2) : • Eclectic Energy D400 W...
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See the whole North Atlantic Adventure series with the links below!
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• Season 1 - North Carol...
Season 2: New York City to Boston
• Season 2 - New York Ci...
Season 3: USA to Newfoundland, Canada
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#windgenerator #D400 #offgrid
Check out the unboxing and installation videos with the links below!
D400 Unboxing (Part 1) : ua-cam.com/video/U1n98pIQ-vc/v-deo.html
D400 Installation (Part 2) : ua-cam.com/video/E6xypfntBa0/v-deo.html
I've been following you for 5 years Drake, you truly inspired
me to (get a boat) sail the world! Your videos were awesome...it would be great to see you get back to your awesomeness!!
Cheers
During this past Summer season we have voyaged from Scotland to Faroe to Svalbard to Norway and are now in Rørvik, Norway pushing off to sail to Shetland, and then on to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. With particularly bad weather making our return to Scotland more difficult, we are anticipating that we may not arrive there until late November, and that is when we will finally be able to settle back down and start editing season 5. Season 5 will tell the story of when we voyaged throughout the west coast of Greenland and we're so incredibly excited to share that with you.
Cheers
Season 5 sounds like it will be great, looking forward to watching. Thanks for sharing your adventures!!
Just bought our D400 and very pleased with your clear and straightforward demonstration videos without geekspeak! Thanks so much
Thank you! Glad it was helpful!
- Drake
It's a lot less noisy than some of the wind generators I have looked at in action. I hope you get some kickback from the company because your videos of the D400 made my decision to buy one. Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you. That's wonderful to hear. Please let us know how your installation goes.
I now live on a ketch, so it will be interesting to find a place for the unit.
Sailing Carat b
Just love these tech vids- they are fascinating and informative as standalone vids and also provide a kind of background that enriches enjoyment of all your other vids. It makes me feel like an informed member of the crew.
Looking forward to the next season! Thanks
That was very helpful thanks As a marine installer i learned a lot from this series
I might put an audible signal or a light in that braking circuit.
Wow, thanks, yes! I really like that idea!! I'll do it.
That is a great idea.
I totally love the squashed tin can heat barriers behind the dump resistors. That is quite enterprising.
HA! Good eyes. Those kidney bean tins were all I had available at the time. They seem to have worked fine, though the heat generated by those dump resistors is so little that I wonder if they were even necessary.
@@drakeParagon Certainly won't hurt anything. Like you, I was thinking these things were gonna be like the elements in a toaster. Er, not so much.
an interesting dump load would be an engine block heater. or, a fuel heater tied into the polishing system.
Hi Drake & Moni
We just removed our D400. Our experience was that we were not and do not plan to sail in sufficient wind conditions to make the D400 a justifiable device. I really wanted this to work but it just did not contribute enough. Maybe if we were high latitude sailors... Anne & I are softies. So that means milder conditions which lets us get our electricity from the 640W of solar (4 panels). Doug
Great D400 series! I'm sure you've sold a number of units for them. I hope the manufacturer was open to some feedback about ways to make the installation easier. Like an alignment post when aligning the blades to the plate. Seem like it would be easy to add one so it almost snaps together. Either way, great video. I'm looking forward to next season.
well explained
Great set of videos on the D400. Thanks for putting them together!
Great video. My D400 lost its blades and tail in hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Bahamas. Your video helped me decide what parts I need to order to repair it.
David
I'm so sorry to hear that your D400 broke apart in the hurricane. I can't imagine those wind speeds. Did the bolts break? Would it be possible to send me a photo? I'd really like to see that! - Drake - drakeparagon@gmail.com
Great video - I used this extensively to assist the install of a D400 on my vessel. Two questions I’m keen for your experience on as you’ve had this a while now:
1) how hot to the touch do the dump resistors get when full energy is diverted to them for any sustained period? I.e. can you hold onto them.
2) when energy is diverted to the dump resistors do you hear a soft buzzing sound from them?
After my batteries were fully charged, the power was diverted in a 16-20 kt breeze to the dump resistors and both of the above circumstances were true for us. I’m assessing was there an issue in install or if this is expected.
Thanks drake great info as always and cant wait to see the next update from you all
Also, I am very interested in photovoltaic performance in the North Sea (vs. more southerly climes), as I would like to know how a solar, wind turbine (turbines...that I would add), and kite sail powered boat (a modified Silent 60) would preform in a Labrador to Greenland, to Iceland, to Faroe, and then to Shetland route (in May...the highest period of insolation for that area). This vessel carries 250+ gallons of diesel as a backup, but I'm not sure of it's nominal MPG.
But then, if I accomplished this crossing, I could perhaps take the same boat to Jan Mayen, or even Svalbard...and well then, that would be mighty dandy!
To me the key of sustainable energy is freedom!
In Svalbard during summer when the sun never goes down we always had lots of excess electricity from our solar panels. We were surprised however in Greenland, where even though there was a lot of sun, our solar panels were often not generating much because it was cloudy.
- Drake
A job well done.
Looks as you are doing well. Had tocancel my patreon . Lay off. Sorry about that. I still hope to meet you guys on the water someday.
This was an excellent series. Based on your review, D400 has moved to the top of my list. I really like the amp meter setup with the off switch--very clever. Not sure what additional info the control panel provides. My question: how many watts do you have in solar and how many amps is your battery bank?
Why not do either: use the excess electricity for heat in the cockpit, or hot water? Also I imagine it would be easy to wire a relay that opens when the batteries are full. Thoughts please. Excellent video , very well done and appreciated your slow narration.
Thanks, I really don't think that the amount of heat that's generated by the dump resistors could be enough to heat our enclosed cockpit. I've thought about sending the excess energy to a heating element in a hot water tank instead. But I haven't heard of anyone who has actually done it, and I'm not sure if it would be an adequate amount of energy to heat much water. In 2010 I did install an Hurricane II hydronic heater (made by International Thermal Research) for cabin heating and infinite super hot water for showers. It's one of the best things that I ever installed on Paragon. - Drake
@@drakeParagon Roughly, and assuming no heat loss, using the example at the end where the amp meter hovers at around 5A, if it did that for 1 hour at 12V that's 60 Wh or 216 kJ (kilojoule = 3.6 * Wh). Water has a specific heat of 4.19 kJ/kg°C. So correct me if I'm wrong but 216kJ / 4.19kJ/kg°C = 51°C for 1 kg of water in 1 hour at 60W. If the D400 was dumping 420W at 14/ms (28 kts) for an hour then 1 kg of water would get to 360°C or 6 kg of water would get to 60°C. If you were 60W for 24 hours, that's 1440 Wh (5184 kJ) or 1237°C for 1 kg of water or 20.6 kg of water at 60°C.
dont forget that this heat flux also has a negative component. The calculations you have appear correct at first glance, but negative heat flow through any insulation is likely to be 20-50 watts for a container with 20 litre capacity meaning that you will never actually achieve the temperatures you have calculated.
@@superwag634 Thanks, yes the insulation and tank material properties are important. Another factor I forgot to mention is the initial temperature of the water you are heating. If that's say 20°C then you only need a 30-40°C rise for warm water use to get it between 50 and 60°C.
Those are really interesting numbers. I don't know your credentials for making that claim and would love to see if others can confirm your claim. I think dumping excess power to HW would be really useful, especially in the arctic circle!
When your batteries were topped up, why not just brake the wind generator? Why the dump resistor?
hi, what is the voltage out of the wind generator to the regulator?
Love it!
This is a great video, and it's seems like you're producing a lot of energy with your wind turbine. Fantastic!
I have a question to start with. You spoke of heaving to during 25 kt + winds and the turbine topping of your batteries and then the excess energy was harmlessly dissipated as heat.
So two questions here:
1. Do you have any sort of heat on your vessel? This could include a central heater, a space heater, an electric blanket...or something that I am yet unaware of.
2. If you are not using electrical heat, but rather insulation ( :-(, that would suck), then could you use the excess, dissipated heat, to, at least, heat your sleeping area?
Hi T Diddle, thanks. For the past 11 years we have heated our boat throughout every winter with a wood burning stove. We have also insulated 100% of the hull from the floorboards to the deck, the underside of the deck, and the inside of the cabin top with 32 mm thick Armaflex insulation. We do have a little electric space heater which we occasionally use when we are hooked up to shore power. Any excess energy created by the wind generator after the batteries are topped off would not be enough to run any kind of cabin or water heater.
- Drake
GOOD JOB !!! 🙂👍
Thank you! 👍
Lots of power. Cool.
Than you for posting this. You did not comment on the noise factor.
Thanks, I'm looking forward to making another video about the D400, which will include showing how little noise it makes. In the meantime, I'll say that the D400 is incredibly quiet at any wind speed. We usually don't even notice any sound at all. You can hear it in the last part of this video starting here: ua-cam.com/video/0uArpuWHVTg/v-deo.html
"Incredibly quiet" might be a roar to someone else.
Any decibel or some readings?
Thanks for your video. I noticed that you didn't install a bypass for the dump resistors. Is there anything you can tell me about how I would install a bypass? Would the two grey wires be shorted out or would they be then switched to being open? Tia
Is your installation 12 volt or 24 volt. This is to interpreted the Amps
First DIY video 100% A+, Second DIY video 100% A+ Third DIY I think you forgot the DIY part of the video F.
Drake Paragon videos in general...? A+
Thanks guys! Very interesting setup.
A down and dirty SKETCH of your installation would be helpful for NON-SPARKIES.
Thumbs UP #13
Thanks! I just posted a sketch of the D400 installation here: ua-cam.com/users/drakeParagoncommunity
Thanks.
I always thought a small underwater generator can produce the same energy as a large wind one. Great video nevertheless.
Thanks Dimitris, On the Westsail 42 with Perkins 4-236 diesel engine, the propeller spins when the boat is undersail with the engine off. On Eric Forsyth's Westsail 42 Fiona, he installed a custom made alternator in the bilge just above the prop shaft, with a belt going to it to generate electricity. It worked great! :) I've also seen a few different commercially available water generators. I think this one is particularly interesting because it works as both a wind and water generator -> eclectic-energy.co.uk/product/duogen-3-long/
The nice thing about wind instead of water is that wind works even when you're not going anywhere. At least, when *intentionally* not going anywhere. Solar's a nice backup when you're unintentionally not going anywhere. :D
Over time with the D400 rotating on the post, the wire could twist further in one direction and eventually break. What do you use to stop the wires from twisting in the post? Or what precautions are in place?
The stainless steel shaft base with the wires coming out of it (and the tower liner) stay stationary as the wind generator body rotates. So the wires don't rotate inside the pole at all. Take a look at this part of the installation video -> ua-cam.com/video/E6xypfntBa0/v-deo.html.
drake , its noise? you can hear flapping on wind? thanks mate
Excellent video Drake. Do you think it’s possible to cruise with only a wind generator with no solar as a live-aboard?
Thanks Rob,
That's a difficult question for me to answer. I think it's complicated. I could just say yes because there are lots of cruisers who live aboard year round and voyage for thousands of miles every year without any solar panels or wind generators.
But I think it really depends on things like...
- how much electricity you want to use every day- how often you will have access to shorepower battery charging- how much sun and wind is in the area where you are cruising for your solar panel(s) and wind generator(s)
I know of cruisers who live aboard year round without any solar or wind power, but they are cruising in areas where they are able to frequently plug into shorepower.
Or other cruisers who don't plug into shorepower, but run gas or diesel generators for all of their power.
Or others who are happy without needing more electricity than they can get from occasionally running their engine's alternator.
I also imagine being in places where there's always a lot wind, but often not a lot of sun or vice versa. So it all really depends.
On our boat our electrical demands are pretty high. So I think for us it's definitely worth it for us to have both wind and solar. We love how we can get electricity from the wind generator when the solar panels aren't producing anything because it's night time or cloudy, or vice versa when it's very sunny but not windy enough...
I found some articles which I thought might find interesting:
Wind Generator vs Solar Panels Which is Better For Your Boat?www.emarineinc.com/Wind-Generator-vs-Solar-Panels-Which-is-Better-For-Your-Boat
How Much Solar Power Do You Need?
theboatgalley.com/how-much-solar-power-do-you-need/
Thanks for the review. I'm very tempted if only I had an arch. Is the brake used when wind speed exceeds a certain limit or just at the discretion of the user?
Thanks, The brake switch is only manually operated.
Wow...
So with your current configuration would you be able to go electric propulsion, and maybe even an all electric stove/oven? Or do you think you would need more batteries?
More batteries for sure.
Thanks for all the great video content on the D 400. Can you tell us approximately what they cost?
Thanks! In the USA this company sells the 12 volt version for $2455 ->www.jgordonco.com. Also a full list of dealers world wide is here eclectic-energy.co.uk/dealers/
What keeps the generator from spinning on the mast so it does not twist the wires up inside the pole
The stainless steel shaft base with the wires coming out of it (and the tower liner) stay stationary as the wind generator body rotates. So the wires don't rotate inside the pole at all. Take a look at this part of the installation video -> ua-cam.com/video/E6xypfntBa0/v-deo.html.
Why not use the dump circuit to power a 12V heating element in the hot water tank? Use the heat!
Hi Andrew, Do you know anyone who has done this and how it worked for them? Thanks, Drake
DrakeParagon I read about it on one of my Facebook pages. I’ll do some searching. There is a lot of info on google for 12v/24v DC hot water elements though.
@@andrewbarron8857 Thanks, I'd love to hear of any examples of this being done successfully.
Tanks for the info. But you just have to install a Frankenstein switch in there someplace, just for looks
HA!
I have heard that wind generators are very loud when they are turning. How was the D400 sound ?
Hi Mike, D400 is incredibly quiet at any wind speed. You can hear it in the last part of this video starting here: ua-cam.com/video/0uArpuWHVTg/v-deo.html
u hear the high pitch in the video. when u sail there is a lot of noise from everything else so u wont notice but at anchor or in a habour i dont know. but its a valid question. some vindmills are quiret some are not.
Our old Air X marine wind generator was unbelievably loud, and we had two of them. I couldn't stand the noise. But we love how incredibly quiet our D400 is, in any wind speed and in any anchorage or marina.
Hi. Weve had our d400 for 7 years and its rusted on the inside? How did water get in??? Weve never opened it up until now...yaw shaft bearings aren't Stainless steel and they rust from the inside out. Hope your bearings aren't rubbish like ours are! Great technology but rubbish components
Wow. What was it doing (or not doing) that got you to take it apart? Did you write to Eclectic Energy? What did they say?
The yaw bearings had gone which made it wobble. Took it to an engineering shop to see if they could take the bearings out they had to take it apart it was that rusted! Havent told eclectic energy
Why not divert into hot water?
DrakeParagon, you comment on the earlier video that the D400 was reported to create less noise than other units. What have you observed?
Oops, I should read further down before commenting... I see your earlier reply
When do we pick up the next season back in Greenland?
With particularly bad weather making our return to Scotland from Svalbard more difficult, we are anticipating that we may not arrive there until late November, and that is when we will finally be able to settle back down and start editing season 5. Season 5 will tell the story of when we voyaged throughout the west coast of Greenland and we're so incredibly excited to share that with you. Fair winds, Drake
@@drakeParagon Great. Looking forward to it. 😀
D400 windmill
Hi Drake, great videos. I have a Eclectic Duogen installed but I want to install ammeters as you have. I couldn't see that well but are your meters 0-30 amps? Cheers Andy UK
Hi Andy, Yes those meters go up to 30 amps. They were pretty easy to install because they didn't require installing a separate shunt. Cheers! Drake Isle of Lewis Scotland
neighbours must love you , no genny running or motor , probably wouldn't see many up there .
are you still using this?
Absolutely. It’s still working great. I especially appreciate our D400 when we’re sailing offshore and it’s powering our autopilot, radar/chart plotter, lights and refrigeration.
In addition to our 15 solar panels we’ve got way more electricity than we use all summer long.
Have you abandoned free travel vids on UA-cam?
Since we started publishing the story in 2014, we have always maintained the same schedule. Every winter season, we work tirelessly around the clock to edit our previously taken footage into weekly episodes. And every Summer season we focus entirely on voyaging and filming. During this busy Summer season we rarely have time to edit footage into full length episodes. During this past Summer season we have voyaged from Scotland to Faroe to Svalbard to Norway and are now in Rørvik, Norway trying to find safe weather windows to sail to Shetland. From there we will sail back to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. With particularly bad weather making our return to Scotland more difficult, we are anticipating that we may not arrive there until late November, and that is when we will finally be able to settle back down and start editing season 5. Season 5 will tell the story of when we voyaged throughout the west coast of Greenland and we're so incredibly excited to share that with you.
Now we're off to prepare Paragon for what we hope is a two day weather window before the next major storm slams into us. Until next time...
Fair winds,
Drake
Craving real time updates? Check out our Patreon page where we share all the latest news, answer questions and comments, always display our current position, and give sneak peeks of current footage! www.patreon.com/DrakeParagon
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Not really clear explanatioms
Hi Gabordidier, I'd be happy to try to help you out. What part wasn't clear?