# Windspire Wind generators



## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

Were going to get two of these. My brother tells me you get 2K rebate back form Unkl Sammmm

Windspire Wind Turbines By Windspire Energy | Photos and Videos


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

That is a great concept - lots of little wind-catchers setup to capture the wind ... I LOVE IT!!!


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## WildMist (Nov 13, 2008)

NaeKid said:


> That is a great concept - lots of little wind-catchers setup to capture the wind ... I LOVE IT!!!


WOW What a cool concept, I think I like this better than the windmills in Alberta.:flower:


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

One generator provides enough direct power for a 3B2B home. Were surely going with batteries and an inverter.I would have them elevated to avoid thieves and vandalism. They would collect air better elevated.


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

If you have one of these, it's a Federal Mandate that the local power company has to run a line to you on their dime and buy all your excess power. Much cheaper that having power brought it. Like 10K a pole if you know what I mean.


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

Were also going to run LED Flood lights mounted in the old fashion flush mount ceiling can lights. We will have the same on the outside of the home. 
Seen them on Ebay for $30.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

before investing heavily in VAWT you should probably read this 5 page article...

Wind Power: Are Vertical Axis Turbines Better?


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

The_Blob said:


> before investing heavily in VAWT you should probably read this 5 page article...
> 
> Wind Power: Are Vertical Axis Turbines Better?


Bob, I am very open mined to a better mouse trap. Can you advise a better more efficient product that also cost effective?


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

HELIXX said:


> Bob, I am very open mined to a better mouse trap. Can you advise a better more efficient product that also cost effective?


Introducing the Honeywell Wind Turbine from WindTronics springs to mind

cutting in at 1/2mph vs 7 1/2mph seems pretty good, also less parts and stress vs a VAWT hopefully means less maintenance

I just wish they made a larger unit


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## Halfcrazy (Feb 14, 2011)

I will say there is absolutely no way the wind spire will run any average house short of an outhouse. I am a professional renewable energy dealer specializing in wind and the first rule is simple
IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT IS!!!!!!!

The absolute minimum for wind turbines is 30ft above anything within 300ft I prefer 50ft above anything within 1000ft. I do not discourage anyone from Wind power quite the opposite actually I live off grid with pv and wind. I simply do not like to see people roped into throwing good money away on products that are not up to the task. Both of the turbines mentioned are not ready for prime time. A turbine on the roof of your house is flat out a bad idea the wind is to turbulent and the vibrations will resonate all through the house tearing it apart.

If you have your heart set on wind look into turbines by Bergey wind power they have a smaller 1-1.5kw machine that is almost bullet proof or another brand would be Kestrel. Before any one buys a turbine I really encourage them to look around ask tons of questions and check out forums line Fieldlines.com: The Otherpower discussion board - Index or Solar Electric Power Discussion Forum by Northern Arizona Wind & Sun - Powered by vBulletin
read and ask lots of questions. Money is tight and times are getting tougher I really hate to see people get sucked into expensive marketing and waste hard earned dollars.


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

Ouch! they raise their price to $8500.00


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

HELIXX said:


> Ouch! they raise their price to $8500.00


what's the price for the windspire (all I could find was a nebulous "up to $4800 rebate per unit" which at 30% rebate rate would make each unit about $16k, so I assume they chose a target site with the highest rebate potential to quote that figure)

8500 - 30%(2550) = 5950 ... seems about what the market will bear ( that's just the fed rebate, many areas/utilities also have incentives)

DSIRE: DSIRE Home

Wind and Water Power Program: Wind Powering America

WINDKNOWLEDGE.COM

incentive programs for fed, state, and local


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

I made 6 calls to Windspire over the last 9 months and narry a return call. I finally got a hold of them today and the only one there was some 21 year old girl that had clue about anything. Now you have to go through a dealer. Most dealers will only sell you a turn key unit for 16K installed. I found one company that will sell me the Windspire alone but he said they raise there prices because of the new manufacturing facility but also says their and I quote" butt heads to deal with"........ The dealer also said they pretty much priced themselves out of the market.
I think I'll be looking at solar now..............


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

The_Blob said:


> before investing heavily in VAWT you should probably read this 5 page article...
> 
> Wind Power: Are Vertical Axis Turbines Better?


I just tried calling. No one there to answer questions or give pricing......
Lady asked if I want to leave a voice mail.......:scratch


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## Nadja (Jan 12, 2011)

I also live totally off the grid with both solar and wind. I concur with half crazy as I too know these are cute , but that is about it. I did some heavy checking into these and other brands starting to show up and can honestly tell you they will NOT provide the power advertised. Most of the models in any kind of wind do NOT give you accurate assesments of power gleaned from the wind. What they do give you is MAX power if the wind is so and so miles an hour and something else they never tell you is 2 minutes of wind , even at 50 mph won't really do much. You pretty much need sustained winds to amount to much. It is like a savings account. If you put in $100.00 every say 3 years or so, it really won't amount to much, but if you put in $10.00 every week, it adds up pretty fast.


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

Nadja said:


> I also live totally off the grid with both solar and wind. I concur with half crazy as I too know these are cute , but that is about it. I did some heavy checking into these and other brands starting to show up and can honestly tell you they will NOT provide the power advertised. Most of the models in any kind of wind do NOT give you accurate assesments of power gleaned from the wind. What they do give you is MAX power if the wind is so and so miles an hour and something else they never tell you is 2 minutes of wind , even at 50 mph won't really do much. You pretty much need sustained winds to amount to much. It is like a savings account. If you put in $100.00 every say 3 years or so, it really won't amount to much, but if you put in $10.00 every week, it adds up pretty fast.


I'm going Solar for sure now.


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## Nadja (Jan 12, 2011)

HELIXX said:


> One generator provides enough direct power for a 3B2B home. Were surely going with batteries and an inverter.I would have them elevated to avoid thieves and vandalism. They would collect air better elevated.


One thing to keep in mind. If there is little or no wind, there is not going to be any power either. I have a wind gennie to supplement my solar power, and only wish I had more of a steady wind, espeically at night when it would count most


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Nadja said:


> One thing to keep in mind. If there is little or no wind, there is not going to be any power either. I have a wind gennie to supplement my solar power, and only wish I had more of a steady wind, espeically at night when it would count most


I live on an airport, on top of a 'mountain' (hill  ) so we have a bit of constant wind that is also consistently from the same direction a good % of the time :2thumb: even with that, most of my alternative power comes from the biofuel-run generator...


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## jnrdesertrats (Jul 3, 2010)

I too considred a Windspire. A co worker who has one said it puts out about 70% of advertised and we live in a high wind area.


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## BasecampUSA (Dec 26, 2010)

I worked in the wind industry for 5 years putting up 3 huge windfarms in Iowa and Minnesota for Clipper Windpower.

30 years ago I had a 1500W Jacobs wind generator here on the homestead - ON THE WINDY COAST OF MAINE! -* it did NOT pay*!

I know 2 people who are desperately trying to sell their expensive units now.

There are very select areas in the US that it will pay to buy and set up a wind generator, even a smaller version!

*Before you go and buy a VERY expensive lawn ornament, you better make a WIND SURVEY for one whole year!*

Man alive! - I know better ways to piss away $10,000 to $30,000 than to blow it like that... gawd, don't people really look before they leap?

Oh well, like they say, "there's a sucker born every minute"...


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

Halfcrazy said:


> I will say there is absolutely no way the wind spire will run any average house short of an outhouse. I am a professional renewable energy dealer specializing in wind and the first rule is simple
> IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT IS!!!!!!!
> 
> The absolute minimum for wind turbines is 30ft above anything within 300ft I prefer 50ft above anything within 1000ft. I do not discourage anyone from Wind power quite the opposite actually I live off grid with pv and wind. I simply do not like to see people roped into throwing good money away on products that are not up to the task. Both of the turbines mentioned are not ready for prime time. A turbine on the roof of your house is flat out a bad idea the wind is to turbulent and the vibrations will resonate all through the house tearing it apart.
> ...


Yea Lexxi and I have pretty much given up on wind and solar.
Diesel generators and batteries is the way were going.


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## BasecampUSA (Dec 26, 2010)

These are the wind zones that I mentioned in my above post.

The darker blue covering N. & S. Dakota and reaching down through Minnesota and into Iowa is where I was mangaing the installation of large wind turbines and wind farms. The darker the blue color, the more yearly wind there is. You who live in those areas know that for sure.

You should get an "integrator" monitor and put it on a pole 30 feet minimum above the ground and record your wind speed and direction for one whole year before buying a wind generator (you can rent these). The monitor records it all and the data is fed into a computer to give you a picture of a "wind rose", and this can calculate what your estimated power output will be, the very best generator to buy for the location, and what the fastest pay-back on the installation project will be.

Wind generator site evaluation: http://www.wind-monitoring.com/


















We live off-grid and solar...


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## Aaric7546 (May 21, 2011)

The darker blue covering N. & S. Dakota and reaching down through Minnesota and into Iowa is where I was mangaing the installation of large wind turbines and wind farms. The darker the blue color, the more yearly wind there is. You who live in those areas know that for sure.
_________________________________
Solar Power


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## Jimmy24 (Apr 20, 2011)

BasecampUSA said:


> These are the wind zones that I mentioned in my above post.
> 
> The darker blue covering N. & S. Dakota and reaching down through Minnesota and into Iowa is where I was mangaing the installation of large wind turbines and wind farms. The darker the blue color, the more yearly wind there is. You who live in those areas know that for sure.
> 
> ...


Basecamp, I was wanting a micro wind setup, not trying to completely live off it. I have small solar now that works very well and wanted to add one or maybe two of the 400-600 watt wind-gens. We only have decent wind about 5-7 months out of the year (per local meteorological sources) . But they are strongest when solar is not as strong. I have a wide open area with no obstructions for nearly 1000 yds. I'm just running LED lighting, 2 very small fans, a small LED TV and my laptop. With everything running, I have a 1.1 amp load @120 vac. I have 2 small inverters running off 4 12v deep cycle batteries. Have never run out of power yet but if I had to go 3-5 days with no sun, I'd be running on empty. Want to move up to golf cart batteries at some point. Just thinking if I had the wind power as a minor back up when the sun is not shining.

Only stay here on weekends and sometimes as long as 5 days.

Your advice would be appreciated

Thanks in advance!

Sorry didn't mean to hijack the thread....

Jimmy


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