After putting up the turbine in late May I haven't been able to get to work on it since then. It is installed over 200 miles from my house, so it is difficult to make plans to work on it. When I left it had severe problems when reaching cut-in RPM. The turbine would cause the tower to shake pretty badly, it scared me quite a bit.
Basically the shaking was attributed to two things, one was loose guy wires. The concrete we set didn't have very much time to settle (I think your supposed to allow nearly a week), we gave it only a couple days. Because of this the guy wires had shifted slightly after the tower was installed. We tightened the wires using a turnbuckle and another piece of cable with a loop at either end.
The other part to the shaking was some pretty off balance blades mounted on the rotor. I hadn't taken sufficient care in balancing them before we put it up (I was kind of rushed). Either way, my father and I were able to do some thinking and came up with a way to balance the rotor and blade using only supplies from the local hardware store. We bought a funnel that fit in the center of the rotor (volvo disc) and the purchased a small piece of wood that had a small hole pre-drilled dead center ( I believe it was a curtain rod holder or something). This piece of wood fit very snugly in the funnel. Then we sharpened a big spike to a nice point and drove it through a piece of wood.
Pictured below are the blades and rotor balancing on the spike:
http://yfrog.com/7gimg00140rj
http://yfrog.com/0wimg00139j
The pictures look like the whole thing isn't level (but the photo was taken at a funny angle). We were able to eyeball it very well and after it was reinstalled the vibration was minimal.
Side note: It was my first time climbing the tower and just as we were putting the whole assembly back on the wind picked up. It made for a very sketchy situation. Also the magnet rotor was catching on the metal bits of my harness. My father had to climb up the tower and help me free myself so I could finally get the whole thing on. Lesson learned: Have a good plan when working on top of a tower with minimal room. That could've been a very bad situation.
Anyways, we got the whole thing back together only to discover that my inverter had died. It was purchased from VIP (auto parts supplier) and is rated for 750 watt. It wouldn't even turn on, I'm not sure why perhaps a voltage spike or something killed it? If anyone has any advice on what to look to troubleshoot it, please let me know.
Also, what is a good brand name for reliable inverters that can withstand being outside?
