I write this in the hope it may be of use/interest to other novices/newbies thinking about their first steps into homebrew wind power. I only wish to express my opinions and experience and not be derogatory to those selling commercial products in any way.... moderators please deal with the below as you see fit.
About a year ago now I started to dabble again in wind power, last time I tried I was about eleven, with an old bicycle dynamo and four plastic barrels cut in half to try to build what I now know to be called a VAWT - it didn't work!!
Then a friend who had purchased a piece of land in an off grid situation in the Adriatic challenged me to try again and see if we could make enough power to charge two 12v car batteries to power a couple of lights and charge our mobiles whilst camping (posting was titled "Wrong Motor", pictures in my "file").
Knowing very little, and not having come across this excellent resource, I did what I imagine a lot of others have done, jump on Ebay, trust exactly what is written in the description and purchased a motor, again no luck.
Getting frustrated I came across a company selling a specially wound Delco alternator with neo magnets, designed to work in low wind situations - dream come true I thought and purchased one.
This I mounted on a very rudimetary tower, pvc blades and crossed my fingers. To my absolute delight it spun up and illuminated a 12v car headlight bulb. Problem solved, I am now a master of harnessing the wind! Connected to two 12v car batteries it gradually began to charge them and we had enough power for lights. For those who love figures I apologise, this I am still mastering.
We took the mill out to the island, thirty hour drive, set up and watched her fly, managed to get enough charge into the batteries in a day for half an hour light, not that great we thought. Wind speed I do know, 12mph continuous sea breeze. RPM of blades, guesstimate but approximately 500, anyway, well above the 150 RPM stated on the sellers website for cutin and to begin charging at 8 amps at this speed. Even in my ignorance taking readings and with the help of my friend we never saw anything about 7 amps. I never once saw it make the dump light on the Ghurd controller flicker!!
We dismantled after a week and headed home. Planning another trip for the middle of this April and having got better at carving wood blades we decided to unpack the alternator and fly her again to test the blades and check all was still working. This is where the problems began. The alternator had only been used for ten days maximum, had been carefully looked after as we did not consider it to have been a cheap purchase. On putting it back in the air we instantly noticed something was wrong, our new wood blades would not spin up, swapped the hub back to the "tried and tested" pvc blades, still nothing. On taking the alternator down there was huge resistance, checked all "out" wires, no short. Presuming bearings we carefully dismantled, bearings all ok spinning freely, tried adjusting the bolts holding the unit together, still could not get the shaft to spin, almost as if the stator had warped but no rubbing between stator and rotor. After much head scratching, greasing bearings, re-soldering internal wires and heat-shrinking (Thanks G) still no success in getting the thing to spin freely again. We eventually resorted to a local re-wind company, they quoted £200 to try to inspect and repair, approx the cost of the unit again, unfeasable in our opinion and on a budget.
We emailed the company and received a response advising to adjust the bolts holding the alternator together, something we had already had the forethought to try. Still stuck and hoping for help we emailed again, no response. Emailed again, no response, emailed again, still nothing - prehaps they have closed their outlet, who knows, maybe one of their super-powerful all dancing units exploded causing total melt down to the business operation and thus exterminating their very existance from the face of the earth... doubtful - customer service, after sales support hmmmmm. I am getting cynical as I grow older but still believe that if you are running a viable business you treat your customers accordingly and with a moderate level of respect at best - one disgruntled diner at a restaurant will put many others off visiting just by word of mouth, one happy diner will encourage many other to visit the eatery and spread the word about how good the service is.
Anyway, I do not wish to rant or name names, merely express and hopefully convey my experiences with the "wonder" products that are available, particularly over the internet that they do not always do "what they say on the tin" and trying to get support should things go wrong can leave one banging their head against a brick wall feeling very frustrated and let down by what was considered a reputable company/business who you had paid your hard earnt cash to.
I suppose the conclusion is one lives and learns, moves onto the next. Pity it has to be done in a way where there seems so little morale fibre. Don't believe everything you read, research carefully first and most importantly, read this board.
I am now leaving well alone and trying my hand at my first motor conversion.
