Vawtman.....................Ronb is watching... However,
I can't help but feel that if your turbine spins, then with the correct alternator matched up with it, it will work.
We talked some time ago, and it was suggested that the alt you have built, is too big for that turbine. It needs a slow rpm axial flux hanging off the end of it before you can dismiss it out of hand.
Ed has a pic of his turbine (micro) above, and he has matched the abilities of the mill to an alt that he feels will match it..... if he used your multi hp alt, it would need a hurricane to start it.... but with the right alt, it produces power at 6.5 mph... more than your 8 footer has thus far i think.
The one he had on the roof got decent power, and unless you feel he's massaging the figures, (I don't believe for a moment that he is), then there is power to be had from this type of machine.
Is it really the mill type, or is it the matching.... I agree that for power generation, the Danb/Hugh system is the standard, but if you have a mill of around .3 (as against the .4 etc for the Hawt), then you should still get reasonable power out of it... just to prove a point....(then you can give up)....Solwind is still claiming good figures, and I haven't heard anyone disputing them.
Ed has built many Hawts and Vawts, he has not dumped the Vawts, even though so-far, he has yet to surpass the hawts efficiency (as I understand it anyway), this can only mean that they are not completly useless.
I'm not trying to talk you out of your decision, building a hawt is the sensible thing to do......it's easier by miles, has less problems to solve, and they have all been overcome right here.
But perhaps have a good think about why you feel like this, is it the Vawt or is it "this" machine and that "alt" that has broken the spirit.
So in finishing this, there is nothing wrong with realising that the rest of the world may have gotten it correct, but there is something to be said for "matching the load."
Your Alt needs a good Hawt, and your Vawt needs a matching alt.
Take it from someone who has no talent, but is plenty stubborn...it aint always easy.
Master of blowing fets and things up,
but not giving up too soon..............oztules