The front moved in and so did I. I was hoping to maybe ease into the testing phase but just after making sure everything was in order on came the wind. Sustained winds of 25-30 mph and gusts locally of 45+. I only had a 100 watt floodlight attached as a load and knew that if all figured a 30 mph wind could give me 400 + rpm @ approx. 100-110 vac. I didn't have a meter on it and could no longer track the rpm by sight after approx 250-275 rpm then only guessing higher than that. The load kept the speed in check up to around 120 rpm and then the acceleration was amazing in higher winds. Being close to the ground it was very turbulant and there was alot of activity with the yaw, man was it exciting. The first time the blades accelerated to I'm certain 400 rpm and the floodlight lit up the tower and part of the backyard .. I was in the house in a flash. In clean air above the trees I would have been able to tell exactly if or when it furled. It was too busy yawing in the gusty conditions so I'm still not certain of the furling. I do know it tracked straight at least up to 25 mph and probably up to 30 after that I was to hysterical with joy or scared to watch the tail action. I've got my direct burial run and really look forward to logging data and testing my variable load controller from my control center (bedroom). More tests to follow and updates, Man what a night !! Right on cue. Dave B.
