Windy here today

[Birdmmjb]

As some of you suggested to me I cut the blades on my ametik 30 down by about 4". I'm really thinking of taking of another 1"

Wow, what a difference.  We are getting 10 to 15 mph winds today and I have seen several spikes in the 13vdc range Before 12 vdc was rare of simular days.

Tonight with the gusts arround 20 I have seen 18 vdc for the first time.

I still dont think for every day charging this is worth the effort but I bought a few of the O2 cool dc fans from wall mart when the were selling out I am using them to move the air heated by the propane heaters arround the house to get a more even heat. I have direct wired them to the generator and they work really well even with the low voltage. Note I only direct wire on low wind days windy day like now I have it connected to the batterys.

Its funny when the wind really kicks in as the speed at which they turn really goes up.  I can tell how much wind we are getting outside by the sound of the fans in the house.

I'm hoping the use of the fans will lower the amount of gas we use this winter as we are not overheating one or two rooms trying to keep the others warm enough to stay in.  Time will tell.

Jan

My typing and spelling cant keep up with my thoughts just over look the mistakes.  There is a reason I am not working at a desk job.

[Experimental]

Hi again Jan,

    Yes I too know the problem with the typing and thinking -- but as long as folks can read what we write, I think it,s exceptable -- besides I don,t think anyone is going to grade our writeing skills !!  (could be wrong there)

    I, like many others, are more impressed by your building skills than your literary skills !!

As for your mill, sounds like terrific performance so I,ed be carefull cutting more off, you might wind up building new blades, as it,s hard to add, after removal..

   Got a chuckle about the fact that you were reading and didn,t realize you had lost grid power --- well done !

    The last time we lost power here, it was out for 4 days -- my wife really took a likeing to my RE setup then -- we were able to have light, watch satelite TV and later, layed in bed and read books..

Next day, I hooked up the refrigerator and ran it down to normal temperature (it,s good for about 24 hrs, then run the temp down again)

   Unfortunitely, solar dosen,t work to well here (we live on an Island in Washington state) The sunlight is usually abscured by clouds and rain..

What we do have, is lots of wind, unfortunitely we also have trees surrounding us, many over 100 feet high, so needless to say, not an ideal place for RE..

   My wind gen, is not nearly high enough to escape the disturbed air from the trees and I have aquired a taller tower -- but, we have planned to move south, to enjoy better weather, so the tower hasen,t gone up!

Hopefully, if we do move, I,ll be able to use solar and the wind gen may be in clear air--Southern Utah and Arizona get plenty of sun shine, and not many 100 foot trees !!

   Was curious where you live, sounds like south east !!??

   Anyway, enjoy your progress reports and keep up the good work, Bill H..

[Birdmmjb]

Bill I live in south central AR and we are realy getting some wind tonight 25 to 35mph gusts.  Which we need as it was cloudy all day today.

Thanks for replying to my posts.  I know that my skills in the RE area are very limited.  I am reminded every time I see the circut drawings on the board.  I look and them and get dizzy.

As for someone grading or writting.  I will never get over having to take college comp twice becase my spelling and typing were so poor.  Went out and got a computer (TI 99 days some of the younger forum menbers wont remember them) with spell check, It helped some but I still managed to stump it on occasion.  But in the real world I have found that many science majors are very poor writers and spellers.

Hubby is no help with the spelling as he is a chemist and can't spell worth a darn eather.

When the kids were in school they could get away with so so grades in english as neither of us could do better.  But dont even think of not getting high marks in math or science or there was trouble in the house.

I took the lighting in another room off grid today and by the end of next week hope to have the computer offgrid.

One room at a time.

Jan

[chadking]

Good to hear on your steady progress!  That's what it is all about.  I am in Indiana and that cold front moved through here tonight. We had a lot of wind as well with gusts over 40mph.  I don't have anything flying now to take advantage, but hopefully I can devote some time to it this winter.

Have a great day!

[Experimental]

Hi Jan,

   Spent some time in Clarksville, many years ago --Originally from Nebraska...

   I had a cabin on the Klamath river, on the border of California and Oregon, it was completely RE, and I loved it..

I had 12 volt lights (and 120 when wanted)Propane heat, fridge and stove and a 12 volt water pump..

   When I needed it, I had a heavy duty Tripp Lite, 2500 watt inverter -- this is a very large and heavy duty inverter, weighs about 35 pounds -- it worked so beautifully, I also bought another for home, but that is a 1850 watt unit..

    I had had several of the cheep units they sell, but they seldom lasted long, as they are a series of small transformers, and very "touchy"electronics..

Tripp Lite also has some of the foreign built units, but the big heavy units they sell are really "bullet proof"and well worth the money..

   Many of the cheeper units would not run my computer, but the Tripp Lite will and have used it often, when the power was out -- (Had to bid on something on Ebay)

   You mentioned 25 to 30 wind, we just had 60 mph plus here yesterday and a lot of the area on the mainland is flooded, but haven,t had to use the inverter yet -- that was a surprise, cause we usually loose power in high winds -- but we had another big storm a couple weeks ago, so I guess all the "week" trees, already went down -- maybe we are safe for a while !!??

  As expected, my wind generator was putting out good power, but never needed it!

  I know what you mean about the electronic diagrams and discussions, most are beyond my comprehension as well -- But, I do have some understanding of some, enough, to build several generators and charge diverters..

   Building a wind gen yourself is very gratifying and carving props is easier than it appears, if I can help in any way, look at my files, you will find my email there.

   Keep up the great work and have a great week, Bill H........