Rutland 910 Wind Generator

[Aquaria]

... yes, I know, this is VERY old gear, but after 20 years of reliable service our Rutland 910 MK II Wind Generator (by Marlec/UK) does not charge any more.
Checked all parts (which is very easy because of its simple technique and a good fault finding guide) and finally found out the the stator winding gave up. And this is the part that HAS to come from Marlec but unfortunately, they do not have it on stock any more.
So, any functioning stator winding left out there, maybe sitting somewhere in the shed after an upgrade to a newer, bigger wind gen?

Uwe
SY Aquaria

[redbopeep]

You might find an "old guy" who can do the windings for you--check out the small electric motor shops (usually advertized as doing alternators, starters in the automotive section of a local yellow pages). If you can't find one of these, there are numerous people on YouTube doing their own windings for making their own wind turbines...You could possibly do your own. Hubby has done this--years ago--when no one else was available to help out. So, we know it's possible.

Fair winds,

[Aquaria]

... when I opened the gen, I found that the stator winding is a quite smart, but very special design... .
The axis is no loger connected tightly to the "dish" - and the edge of the "dish" shows signs of chafe and the windings can be seen...
Nothing to take further apart and rewind... any attempt would be a further destruction of the stator.
A good solution for a moist salty environment as long as it was tight, but now no chance to reapair.


Uwe
SY Aquaria

[chiroeurope]

Depending on what was used to seal the windings and as long as none of the windings have been broken or worn to less then half thickness (though that is getting iffy) it could possibly be resealed. Then would come have some one machine a new coupling or look at the design and see what could be done to put it back in full working order.

This all must be weighed against the cost of a new unit though as repairs of this type can at times exceed the cost of new. Having said that "if" the quality of the new unit is below what the repaired unit would be I would go with the repair. Just make sure you also check all bearings present as chafe like that comes from loss of tolerances and excess movement in other areas.

Michael

[Lexx]

I would save myself the trouble and invest in a new Rutland 914i. Far more efficient with good performance and output. A friend upgraded his old 910 for similar reasons to yours and he is raving about how well the new one works.

I just dumped and Airbreeze not long ago and will eventually replace it with a new 914i.

[Aquaria]

Originally Posted by Lexx

I would save myself the trouble and invest in a new Rutland 914i. Far more efficient with good performance and output. A friend upgraded his old 910 for similar reasons to yours and he is raving about how well the new one works.

I just dumped and Airbreeze not long ago and will eventually replace it with a new 914i.

...well, as the 914 was a third more expensive than the 913, and as I was quite content with the 910s output, I finally invested in a 913, after Marlec informed me, that they do not have a stator winding for the 910 any more on stock..
And when looking closer at the new machine, I realized, that the whole unit of stator winding/hub moldings (back and front) and airfoil blades did not show major changes to the 910 edition - it even still has the "RUTLAND 910" writing on the frond hub molding!!
So, as the metal nacelle of the 910 was of much better quality than the today's plastic nacelle cover of the 913, I took the 913 apart and transferred the whole 913 turbine to my old 910 housing. This is easly done as you only have to loosen two bolts from the main block, pull out the whole prop and reinstall it on the main block of the 910!
You have to look for the correct wiring, as the old 910 MK II stator winding worked on two phases (two wires -plus two wires for the thermostat leaving the stator axis) and the 913 on three phases. But the correct connection of the now 5 wires to the rectifiers can be easily figured out when following the fault finding manual: http://www.marlec.co.uk/wp-content/u...ing-Manual.pdf .

So, everyone who is in love with the traditional look of the 910 just has to buy the hubs and stator for the 913 and install it on the 910!
Yes, the new generators are not as heavy (more plastic), but with using the old 910 housing I was not in need to build a new generator rigg because the 913 and 914 need a 41mm diameter pole...

...and as the prop design of the new 914 looks astonishingly similar to the 910 and 913 I am just wondering, if even the prop of the 914 would fit to the 910? That would be nice - spare parts forever! No planned obsolescence on the Rutland wind chargers of the 91X series... lovely!

Uwe

SY Aquaria