After my welding friend Dave Moller and I lowered my tower a couple weeks back I pulled the blades as planned after one blade had hit the tower in 50+ MPH winds late in November. It isn't often we have sustained winds at this speed so I decided to let it run to test it's limitations. It ran too fast before completely furling, I was shooting for under 200 RPM max @ a conservative 3 KW. Well, after pushing it to 300+ RPM and over 6 KW at times I had a blade strike the tower, it wasted about 2' of the tip.
Taking advantage of good weather (and the wait for 3 new blades to be carved by Dave) I decided to pull the rotors, stator and hub for a complete inspection of the parts in my basement. Well, the stator has blistered and discolored obviously from running too hot which didn't surprise me to see when you run things at more than double it's rating. (new one is completed already) Rotors and magnets look great, no problem with heat there, they are not totally cast in Wests System Epoxy so the 3/4" thick magnets swirl the air around well.
I'll replace and repack the bearings, races and modified seal etc., at about $15.00 with it apart anyway why not ? I'll be taking the main assembly to Dave's shop and he'll be reducing the tail angle to reduce the furling wind speed and will be carving my new set of 9' Wincharger profile blades on his self designed carving machine also. When this all goes back together I'll be installing a service panel at the tower base for a short stop switch and plug for untwisting the cable if necessary. Photos and updates to follow. Dave B.