Mitcamp,s 17 footer is up

[mitcamp]

Same mags, same wire size, same # of turns. I added Yaw bearing, slip-rings and brushes, with a enclosure to protect it from the elements.3 wires down to large stud mounted diodes. You can see the link below if it works, or check my  FILES

Had to get a crane to set it on top, as its total weight was slightly over 400 lbs. I had several jinpoles laying around, but decided to go with the big stuff and be certain I would get to use it this winter.No time for mistakes now.

The finished generator sit at the bottom of my 100 foot tower for 2 months. I had balanced the blades on the hub previously and made notes of tip to tip measurements. The hub was then numbered, then the blades. I then took it apart to wait for a day to instal. The blades weighed 15 lbs each and the 16 inch hub weighed in at 48 lbs for a total of 93 lbs. I choose this method of blade attachment to make it easier to drop the blades to the ground, when they need refurbished in the future.

The tail was hoisted next. The tail boom is 7 1/2 ft long and 1 1/2 diameter sch 40 with a 1 1/2 angle iron brace going back to the tail hinge. The tail fin is 1/4 puckboard 3 1/2 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide. It,s super tough stuff

 



It,s been up for 4 days and I see the tail getting light at 15 - 18 mph when its, putting out 50 - 60 amps. A few times the wind gusting took the ammeter to 80 amps, then 90 amps a few times.  I did see one time 100 amps briefly from a gust. During those wind gust the tail was furling fully and stayed there til the gust subsided. The machine runs nice and smooth, no vibration. It makes a whoosh whoosh sound, according to my neighbours, and at 60 amps a whine that kinda makes you grin.

Not sure if I  will need to add a little weight to the tail. I will keep my eye on it and decide when I can get some stable winds without gusting.

Many thanks to: Flux,DaveB, harrie,DanB and others.  comments welcome Mitcamp

[kurt]

i think this is the link you were trying to put in http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/6/20/35553/7134

[mitcamp]

Kurt, First time I tried that with the link, my numbers were correct and I double checked them before I posted. Must be something I,m missing.  Another thing,those pictures were taken by a friend and they were 1280 x 960  I know you people like smaller pictures so I resized them with Picasa  to 320 x 240 and they look crappy.   Thank you for sorting it out.   Mitcamp

[harrie]

Sounds like ya got a handle on this one, great output. What type of controler do you have to handle the high amps? Thanks for sharing.

[mitcamp]

Hi harrie, I've got 2 C60 Trace controllers on my battery bank hooked up so one comes on, then the other comes on if needed. I have another C60 in the box if needed. The 2 C60 are diverting to 2 40 gal. hotwater tanks that have been refitted with those 24 volt 600 watt dc screw in elements. One tank has 2 elements on top and 2 elements on bottom. The other tank has 3 elements on top and 3 on the bottom.

 I plan to circulate some of that water to baseboard heaters to help heat my home, If this generator can't cut it, I,ll build a bigger one. Thanks for asking.    Mitcamp

[dlenox]

Harrie,

You say that you regularly get 50-60 amps output, what is the voltage range the turbine is putting out at various amperage?

I am curious as I am looking for an inverter/grid tie system for the 17' that I just put up last week.  Your turbine and mine are very similar with the exception that I wound my coils using 80 turns of #12 wire rather than 2 in hand.

Dan

[harrie]

Yes, Heating the house is definitly a big plus!!! And yes, I think it is doable, and you may have to build a bigger one. Ha. Sound like your well on the way. When I built my house, energy was cheep. I sure wish now I had built it energy efficent, with the infloor heat pipes. I think than it would for sure take care of most of the heating. Thanks.

[mitcamp]

Dan, I,m not sure what your asking:

 You say that you regularly get 50-60 amps output, what is the voltage range the turbine is putting out at various amperage.              My machine is 24 v and without looking, I believe I used 34 turns of #15 4 in hand. I copied DanB,s and he used 68 turns of #15 2 in hand for 48 v  I see 5-10 amps all the time 5 to 6 m.p.h

     15-25 amps @ 10 m.p.h

     40-60 amps @ 16 m.p.h

I have my rectifiers at the batterys and could do voltage checks either AC or DC   I am not positively sure of my cut-in yet but I,ll guess its 75-80 r.p.m  

I checked out your build, very impressive. Nice work from start to finish. I need a heavy duty jinpole and will use some of your idea,s if you don,t mind. I want to be able to drop my own unit,if needed without using a crane. Mitcamp

[dlenox]

Mitcamp,

From my understanding the faster that the turbine rotates the more voltage it puts out.

24v is the cut-in speed of your turbine.  The coil winding is to obtain the desired system voltage at the desired cut-in speed.

I keep seeing people state ouput as either X kw, or X amps, but don't see them stating the voltage output.

My turbine is designed as a 48v unit, and I have to admit that I am unsure exactly what it will be outputting.  This makes it difficult to try to match it up with an inverter/grid-tie system.  The guys from PIMBY keep asking me what is the voltage and amperage range that my turbine will be putting out, and to date I don't have an answer for them.

Mine is basically the same 17' turbine that the guys at OtherPower.com built, structurally beefed up and stator is wound with 80 turns of #12 wire (instead of 2 in hand of #15).

Feel free to use whatever ideas I put out that you want from my website, that is one reason I put up such detailed information.  The other is to remind me at a future point how I did things, I have noticed that if I did not post everything (good and bad) that in the future it all gets a bit foggy.  So it reminds me as well.

Dan Lenox

[mitcamp]

Dan, your asking the wrong guy to explain it properly.  In my  case my  stator is wired for  24 volt, and its my battery bank that will clamp and regulate the system voltage. In my case here the wind starts about 9.00 am and quits around 7.00 pm. If I were to check my batterys first thing in the morning I generally see 24.6 to 25.4 and within a few hours my batterys are showing 28,29 volts until my C60 controllers see 30 volts. At this time the controllers divert any excess to my water heaters.

I,m sure without the controllers the voltage would rise to a dangerous level, voltage wise and boil the batterys dry of electrolite. There are some better qualified fellers here that  could explain it better than I.  How about it guys, speak up.  Mitcamp

[mitcamp]

I think I got my pitures sorted out. Previous were resized and fuzzy.This picture is showing the machine in a 14 m.p.h wind.



This picture is showing the machine starting to furl at 16-17 mph I have seen 70 to 90 amps during short wind gust.





Next picture showing my amp meter set up thats upstairs where I can monitor it at a glance. I have digital amp and volt meters at the battery bank also. The 17 ft and the whisper 1000 ampmeters are both connected to my 24 volt bank of batterys and the 8 ft ampmeter is connected to a seperate 12 volt bank.I have been fine tuning my meters and are reading similar readings,not perfect yet but very close. My only windspeed indicator is a anolog Danforth/White approximately 4 in diameter,2 scales 0-25 and 0-100  It,s almost as old as I am.