This is my first listing on energybook, I was having technical converstions with potentel customers for my wind turbines, when ebay's big brother message filters started accusing me of selling stuff outside of ebay and started cutting me off, as a result of this appaling ebay rudeness, I've decided to start listing on here. My ebay handle is 'beyond-cheap-fuel' and I have a 100% positive feedback rating. But alas I'ts time to move on from that shabby money grubbing outfit! (I'm not mad! ;-))

Wind Turbine.

But not just any wind turbine.

A cheaper lighter alternative to a well known favorite.

A turbine to take on the mighty Rutland! Having been on the back of a sailing yacht with a 913 being pitched and rolled in a howeling gale in heavy seas, screaming around at a huge rate oft knots, I got to witness the sort of conditions the '913' was designed for.

BUT

Perhaps it's just a teeny weeny bit over engineered and expensive for someone who just wants a small turbine to go on the shed/narrowboat/moterhome/boat in port.OR just to 'get some experience' with wind power.

Enter the MW 180 turbine, designed as a land based alternative to the 913, cheaper, lighter and MORE SENSITIVE to lighter winds.

If you've ever put up a '503' (the one with the ring around the outside of the blades), a '913' or similar only for it waft around without going fast enough to actually supply a current in to your battery, then you need one of these - its rotor turns at about half the speed for the same output voltage so it will reach 'cut in' speed sooner.

Because it has a much slower turning rotor, it has a better tolerance of turbulant air thanks to its lower tip speed.

This is not a copy, but an all new design. Its lower blade speed makes it more suitable for lighter winds then the typical 'yacht mounted turbine'.

In side by side tests, the MW beat the '913' in low to moderate winds. The much faster spinning Rutland produced more power in high winds. The MW design produced more power overall.

A word on power output ratings. Alas power ratings sells wind turbines, people tend to go for the turbine with a high rated power, this is a mistake, what REALLY matters is the area of the rotor, and that the turbine is chosen for the conditions, for example, a Hornet in clean high winds, (they don't work so well in turbulant weather as the thin blades don't grip the wind so well - but rough weather dosn't harm them), or perhaps a Navitron in an inland area where it's well away from the naighbours. Or THIS ONE if you want a neat compact versitile turbine that isn't too difficult to handle, for your motor home or garden shed, or to learn about the wind conditions around your home. Use this one to asses your wind resource then make an informed choice. 

A word on anemometer based wind measuring systems. I have such a system, but as the anemometer itself is very light and of low inerta, it responds very quickly to wind gusts, also, a wind turbine has to stear itself in to the wind as well as speed up, this is ok in clean winds, but in turbulance, an anemometer can give the impression that there is much more energy on the wind at a particular location, such as near your house, then a wind turbine can actually respond to, I have an anemometer system and find it hugely over optomistic in turbulant conditions. Also an anemometer system dosn't produce any power. I'd rather charge a battery with this sort of wind turbine and get a proper understanding of the available wind energy and real experience of wind power - it's also much more fun! I suspect that VAWT's (wind turbines that have a vertical rotor, especially a slow turning rotor) would perform well in turbulant air even though they are said to be less efficient, but I don't have any direct experience of these so far.

Other turbines:-

For very high wind speed areas, have a look at the 'Hornet' this is a very robust if rather basic unit that can run in a hurricane. Not a good choice for weak wind areas, and some consider it crude, but I like these machines even if I did fall out with the importer over the massive output power clames. It's as hard as nailes, and will happily run in the sort of conditions where some other turbines 'thrash and vibrate' so much you won't sleep at night for fear they'll disingerate - I talk from experience!

The Futurenergy unit looks rather nice too, but I don't have any experience of it first hand.

Or have a look at 'Navitron' http://www.navitron.org.uk/ for a range of super value wind turbines, that are great value for money BUT rather large and noisier then some more refined and expensive machines.

Check out 'onenationnet' (one nation renewables) on feepay -er I meant ebay for something similar but that can directly tie in to the mains.

And there is not forgetting the Rutland 913, the direct competitor to the turbine listed here, especially ideal for rough conditions of salt water spray and stormey weather - a lovely solid design.

There are other units too, but I don't have any experience of them.

Or if you are just unsure of wind power, then just buy this one, then when you have some idea of how you get on, you can better decide what to do. FOR EXAMPLE if you find that the output isn't what you expected, then you may decide that you need a taller tower or that it's in the wrong place, and you may want to try it somewhere else, easy with this turbine, but rather difficult with, say, a Navitron machine with it's base set in concrete! Better making your mistakes with a versitile turbine like this one, then spend out, say, £1500 on perhaps a B&Q Windsave only to find that that there is some sort of issue you did not anticipate. If things really don't work out, then you can always just put it on ebay and you'll recover come of the cost.

Happy generating! :-))