.......and here is the view of another customer.
"First of all. If you expect to buy a kit that you just put together to generate electricity, forget it and look elsewhere. If you are looking for some parts to form the basis of a small wind turbine assembly, then this may be of interest to you.
No tracking information was provided by the seller. However, it was delivered by a carrier requiring signature and who provided tracking. Fortunately the 'you were out' card was avoided.
The packaging was not really up to the job of survivng a parcels carrier. Although parts had moved around inside, there was no significant contents damage. Just a couple of minor scuffs.
The kit was described by the seller as 'made in Europe'. The turbine head assembly is Turkish. The controller assembly German and the invertor is Chinese. Make of that what you will. The parts are available from places other than Amazon with the same seller.
The 'kit' does not contain all of the cables, connectors, etc that are required. The instructions are not particularly good. If you have reasonable electrical knowledge then you will be OK about sourcing the required parts and working out the wiring details. Expect to have to sot out cables, ferrules, crimps, etc.
You might expect the German turbine controller PCB to be the best part of the package. But this is certainly not the case. On arrival the package rattled. The PCB was loose inside the aluminium case. The cause was quickly revealed when opening the case. There is a 35amps 3phase rectifier soldered to the PCB. This has an M5 clearance hole for fixing. The manufacturer had chosen to try to self tap an M6 machine screw through the plastic, to secure the PCB assembly to the case. The assembler had given up with the screw only part way through leaving the PCB to rattle. However, the aluminium case was too thin to take the M6 countersunk screw head. This method, even if it had worked, is a poor solution. The soldered joints to the PCB being under strain when the terminal block is used. Yes there is a large unsupported terminal block on the end of the PCB. After some use I discovered that the board consumes 450mA from the battery when doing nothing. There are 3 relays permanently energised. These are not low coil power, but automotive low cost (low efficiency) types. Steps can be taken to significantly reduce the current consumption. But additional components and soldering skils are required. In round figures, as built the board will discharge an 85Ah leisure battery in a (low wind) week. This drain can easily halved by low cost component changes and additions. The general standard of construction on the PCB is poor, but it appears to work. The overall design and component choice, coupled with shoddy assembly are very reminiscent of a home build 1980s design.
The turbine head is not balanced, it is nose heavy. It is also unstable in wind, reducing efficiency. I strongly recommend extending the tail using metal sheet to improve stability and balance. The blade design, coupled with the strong permanent magnets in the alternator mean that a strong gust is needed to start rotation, but once moving, the blade maintains rotation in a moderate wind. There is some whirring and vibration carried down the shaft into the building below. As yet I have not had enough windy days to determine how this problem might be reduced. The small fins immediately behinde the hub in the seller photos give the impression of being heatsinks (cooling fins). These are in fact plastic, just for show.
The invertor sometimes reports fault when started into no load, sometimes it is OK. So far I have not made much use of it beyond running small filament and CFL lamps for test, so cannot comment further.
In conclusion. This is not a well thought out kit of parts. It is better regarded as a prototype, providing the basis for further development by a technically competent person.
I am working on the controller PCB and turbine situation. For any individuals wishing to modify their own similar kit, then I am happy to make the information freely available. For any manufacturer or retailer wanting to improve their product, all enquiries to be written on the back of £50 notes please. I have 30+ years of electronics design and would be ashamed to let something like this kit out of the door. Especially as it can be so easily made into a much better product.
This is an ongoing project and I may well add more information later.
1 month update. Despite carrying out significant power saving on the controller PCB, the unit has generated less electricity than the PCB consumes. Having had a chance to view performance in high wind, the design error on the top of mast kit jumps at you. The tail is nowhere near big enough to point the assembly reliably into wind. I should have taken a video of an adjacent wind vane with crude wind gauge to show how the turbine doesn't turn and faces the wrong way! Soon I will be taking the kit down and fitting a much larger tail fin to address this issue. I note the selling price has increased since purchase."
