KISS  High/Output Wind Generators


                                                                    		Image
Report on the Seven Seas Cruising Association's 2000 Equipment Survey

2000 Equipment Survey ranks the Kiss High/Output Wind Generator:

    #1 in Output
    #1 in Quietness
    #1 in Reliability
    #1 in Product Rating


The Seven Seas Cruising Association's 2000 Equipment survey was printed in November 2000 and replaced their December 2000 Commodore's Bulletin. I have written for permission to reproduce it here for your convenience but in the interm the following are the high points of the Seven Seas Cruising Association equipment survey.

Wind Generators Product Rating

The authors observe that over half of the boats surveyed now have wind generators. They comment that the Kiss wind generator is off to a good start but that it only accounts for 5% of the population and is a relatively new unit. They note that Four Winds accounts for 27% and Air Marine for 26% of the market while Ampair at 12% and Wind Bugger with 9% follow. In all ten different brands were reported.

The survey asked people to rate the wind generator in terms of "product rating" with a 1 being very satisfied and three being very unsatisfied. Kiss had the best rating with a 1.25, Air Marine rated about 2.3 while Four Winds and Wind Bugger were rated around 2.5. The product with the next best rating after the Kiss unit was Aerogen at 1.7.

The Kiss units were only a little over a year old and had had no breakdowns. Of the other units some of the smaller units such as Rutland and Ampair had had no or very few breakdowns. Air Marines averaged about 3 years old and had almost one breakdown per unit. While the larger units like Four Winds and Wind Bugger tended to be much older. i.e. 5-6 years, and had broken down one or two times over their life. (Unfortunately, the authors didn't define what a breakdown was; whether it included worn out bearings and brushes or only non-maintenance items failures.)

Wind Generator Performance Analysis

The authors had asked owners to rate the units for amp output at 10 knots, to estimate what percentage of the power needs of the boat were supplied by the wind generator and also to indicate whether the unit was quiet or noisy. The recognized that the answers were subjective and it was not a rigorous scientific study but they felt that it was from a big enough sample to enable one to make compairisons between brands.

The Kiss owners reported the most amp output from their wind generators, 4.9 amps in 10 knots of wind. The next most powerful unit was the Four Wind with 4 and a third amps. Of note was that Air Marine owners reported that their units made just a little over 2 amps at ten knots. Of the smaller units Ampair was rated at a little over an amp in ten knots of wind.

In terms of noise the Kiss owners rated the unit as "quiet" (1.00) as did owners of Rutland, Aerogen and Ampair. It was the only large wind generator to be rated "quiet". Two units that were rated at about 1.30 were Four Winds and Wind Bugger. Air Marines were rated half way between quiet and noisy at about 1.50. While a Hamilton Ferris unit was considered "noisy" at 2.00.

by Kiss Energy Systems
Tropical Marine Complex
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
ph/fx 1 868 643-4929
Home