Wind turbine reviews
Measure your wind speed
Green Energy Shop
Renewable energy guides
Solar lighting
Find Your Local Installer
| the air x wind turbine |
This is an independent review we have compiled for your reference. Feel free to add your comments or experiences at the bottom of the page.
Possibly the biggest selling small turbine in the world, with SouthWest claiming more than 100,000 unit sold to 120 countries. A new version, called the 'Air X Breeze' has recently been launched, claiming reduced noise and improved efficiency. The Air X is not without its detractors of course, some of whom have already left comments at the bottom of this page. air x power output curveThe graph below shows the typical power produced (in Watts) for the Air X at different wind speeds. Maximum power output of 400W. Anecdotal reports suggest that it does not perform well at higher wind speeds. There is no verified data on this as yet.  Blade diameter is an important thing to look at when comparing turbines, since it affects how much power can be captured from the wind. This turbine has a blade diameter of 1.14 metres. How windy? If you are thinking of buying a Air X, we'd advise measuring your wind resource first. Not just because we sell anemometers but it means you will have a much better idea of how much power you might generate.the air x wind turbine in actionPromotional video of the Air X, made by manufacturers South West Windpower.video credit: swwindpower costAround £400 plus shipping from US. our viewWe have no direct experience of this turbine as yet, so if you have any views or reviews, please feel free to add them below and we will incorporate the information when we update. UK grants available?No warrantyTHREE year limited warranty (this is unusual) available voltages12 Volt • 24 Volt • 48 Volt  comments (10)
Adam Brown
said:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Hi, I have had my airX up and running for a while and I have finally had to admit that it's just not got the power. I have 4 12v Batteries in a 24v bank. The batteries once used for a few days will not charge ! I would be better with a low powered solar trickle charger ! I'm looking at getting a 3kw one, if anyone is interested to get some discount let me know Adam |
Les
said:
|
I tried a few Air-x turbines and found that they were very weak, noisy, and no more than 70 watts in gales, if your battery is full, once below 11volt then no chance of charging, I searched Google for info on the output, and they have been tested to give no more than 100 watt, you can find this info yourself, I had mine up for 2 weeks, then it stopped, took it down and it was full of water, The built in charge controller is made by Mickey mouse, and the warranty is not worth the paper its written on, you have to pay both ways to send to the USA, then pay customs charges back, and a risk of loosing the turbine, because it will be lost in the system of southwest power, and southwest never reply to Tel: calls, Read the instructions, a real laugh before you get one its looks like you will run a house. I have tried sending emails, made Tel: calls, but no reply, they only reply when selling. Had to fix one myself, so at the end of the day, if they gave me one for free, I would not waste the time fitting it. Just a big advertising campaign and allot of American talk to sell a poor product, Southwest power is good at the talk, put poor at the backup, I get more power from a push bike dynamo, And I can back up my claim. |
Zotty
said:
|
Interesting wind turbine research done in North Carolina (Air X, Whisper, etc.) www.wind.appstate.edu/reports/...ceBJS.pdf Worth a quick read...details downtime, repair issues...Good luck everyone and I'll stay tuned for reviews. |
J
said:
| Follow up to the follow up: Im afraid I have nothing but bad experiences to report. Now that a month has passed since I dropped over $600 on the air-x, I still have yet to see it actually work. I have found the product to be completely unsatifactory, and the customer service at Southwest Windpower is pathetic. I sent the turbine out there at their recommendation, and at my expense, and it sat in the receving dept. for a week and they never called. After numerous phone calls to them to find out what was going on they told me they never received the turbine, so I spent a whole day on the phone with UPShipping trying to find it. Turns out it was there all along at Southwest lying on the floor in a pile of Air-Xs returned for warranty. It takes them several days to return a call, if at all. And when they return a call, they give you bogus information. The intire warranty dept is completely unqualified and unconcerned with remedying a customer's justified grief. I still dont have my turbine back, fixed, or replaced. I am tired of the whole mess and am going to damand my money back. I would recommend steering away from the Air-X and Southwest altogether. |
John
said:
| Follow up to the below post: Southwest contacted me and offered that the turbine is delivering unusually low amps and the suggested sending it back for inspection. They offered that it should deliver 1 amp for every 1 mph. Assuming they will fix it or replace it and the new one will deliver what they are claiming then I will be completely satifisfied with it. It is a good starter turbine and if it delivers that much power then it will be great. |
John
said:
| I have 1 Air X and it will not even keep up with a single 0.2 amp light bulb at full spin. It produces slighty more than a trickle, or about 0.1 amp at 28 mph wind. Unless something is wrong with this turbine, the performance is very disappointing and extremely overstated in the advertising. I have called the manufacturer to investigate potential problems with the turbine, but so far have not heard back from them. |
kevin parmentier
said:
| I am unhappy with my airx the regulation modules are prone to failure. and expensive to replace the pipe is galvanized and grounded three different ground rods 8' long into clay this was all done after being informed that one was not good enough. the second module fried in only 2 months it seems to be static build up from the blades at 40 mph just my guess. but after two modules in the first 6 moths of use i gave it up as not reliable enough for my installation do not recommend purchase of air x . chinese mill is most likly better engineered. |
phil
said:
| my turbine ,only about one foot away from gutter,not ideal ,but better than it sitting in the box.... it has caught the wind running most of the day .then it makes power , lots more than the 2x 40w panels ,i'm sure it's going to be ok when better sited ,in open land |
DeeTale
said:
| that amazes me phil. i live on a boat and have 150 watts of solar and one air-x. i think the air contrubutes really more. if not for the fact that there is typically wind 24/7 where sun does only half of that. it does take a few revs b4 the light comes on but its a fast spinning mill anyhow. Place it high, at least 5 meters above any structure. that makes a very big difference! |
phil
said:
| owner of air-x ,sited 1mtr above gutter (not good ) have noticed that it needs high revs befor charge light comes on !!, stronger winnd it revs for england, in current position ,my 2x 40 w pv make far more power ,hoping to move to countryside so air-x will have clear air. |
write comment
