Author Topic: Raising my first 10 foot turbine (Read 4582 times)

youmanskids · « **on:** February 15, 2010, 04:50:02 PM »

Hey all, I just got her flying yesterday on my 60 foot pole tower. For others who are contemplating a 60 foot pipe tower, here are the particulars I ended up with...The tower is 3 1/2 inch/ 3 inch/ and 2 1/2 inch steel pipe (total of three 21 foot sections, telescoped and welded together)and 3/8 inch utility cable. The anchors are at 30 feet from the base, concrete filled (twelve 60 pound bags each) and 2 1/2 feet deep (to rock) and 3 x 3 foot wide, with 2 steel tipped rebar pins another 8-10 inches into the fractured rock layer. my guy lines are attatched at 36 feet and 56 feet up the pole to try to avoid resonance vibration. It does flex a bit but so far its working. we had 25-30 mph winds on the first day, it just started furling like it was suposed to..very sweet!! getting 780 watts at 24mph.

here's the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Co2hpR_hA

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the help on this board. Roger

Volvo farmer · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2010, 05:01:29 PM »

Sweet video!

Thanks for the tower specifics, I'm one of those guys who wants to build a 60 foot tower. I like that you raised it with a minivan too, Anything is possible with enought "want-to"

halfcrazy · « **Reply #2 on:** February 15, 2010, 05:13:42 PM »

looks good it is a great feeling when that tail swings out and she takes to the wind.

bj · « **Reply #3 on:** February 15, 2010, 05:51:01 PM »

Perfect.

zap · « **Reply #4 on:** February 15, 2010, 06:42:22 PM »

Congratulations!

Nice video too!

fabricator · « **Reply #5 on:** February 15, 2010, 06:43:07 PM »

Excellent! Sweet video! Could you make one eight or ten hours long? So I can watch it until I get mine flying?

TomW · « **Reply #6 on:** February 15, 2010, 06:46:57 PM »

Gotta Love it!

Thanks for the share.

Tom

dsmith1427 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 15, 2010, 06:53:18 PM »

Great Video of a job well done!

opo · « **Reply #8 on:** February 15, 2010, 07:01:40 PM »

speachless here. Very nice rig.

Seekscore · « **Reply #9 on:** February 15, 2010, 07:43:45 PM »

Very nice. Looks like the wind cooperated on the maiden raising. What are you going to do with the power that it makes? Are you going to grid tie it or just use what you can from batteries on something specific? Great job.

I am having to jump through a few hoops to get mine up. The county planner doesn't know if I need a permit. She read off a bunch of other requirements and I met all of them. I am located close to a private airport and my property is listed on some FAA chart as being part of "77 Surface". I have to get the FAA to evaluate my location. I filled out the online request today. I am allowed to go 80 foot by the county rules and as best I can tell, 150 ft by FAA standards. Hopefully I will hear something soon so I can get mine up on a tower. I still have mine on that 8 ft test tower. High winds this weekend and my Watts up Meter shows 43.96 Peak Amps for the 24 volt stators. I was out watching it furl in 30 mph winds and saw it peak at around 1200 watts.

Mike

BruceDownunder · « **Reply #10 on:** February 15, 2010, 08:35:12 PM »

Just great, mate.....

I loved the way it sped up on taking the electrical brake off..

It did not bend much to me ,,

Tell us how long the gin pole is and pls,,cut the background music and just add commentary

well done

Bruce

freejuice · « **Reply #11 on:** February 16, 2010, 01:50:32 AM »

Nice Job...is that a 10-3 drop cord for the power cable?

I'm going 60 foot too....still dealing with the concrete.

All the best,

Gavin

dlenox · « **Reply #12 on:** February 16, 2010, 05:44:45 AM »

Roger,

Ditto on the nice job!

Video is always difficult to tell the rpm's of the turbine. Do you have any idea the speed that it was turning?

Dan Lenox

tecker · « **Reply #13 on:** February 16, 2010, 05:54:44 AM »

That is a kick . Wind was there that's also nice . It's up in solid wind and you had plenty of help . The van took it right up. All in all the system of build and install seems to be on track .

rjames · « **Reply #14 on:** February 16, 2010, 07:51:55 AM »

All I can say is...That's nice. Well done.

wpowokal · « **Reply #15 on:** February 16, 2010, 03:37:04 PM »

I could not see on the video, but if not already then conciser holding the rear center guy wire during raising and lowering, to stop the tower buckling towards the pull up side.

allan

youmanskids · « **Reply #16 on:** February 16, 2010, 06:03:57 PM »

hey mike, and the rest of you all, thanks for the comments. My mill goes thru a rectifier assembly and into a 24 v battery bank thru a Trimetric meter, then back out to an el-cheapo 3k/6k watt inverter, this runs to a sub-panel box that switches from mains to inverter as needed (a 120v relay with N.O. and N.C. contacts) Im running my downstairs lights only in the evenings, then recharge thru the day....at least that is the plan.. we'll see

You machine sounds like it puts out a bit more than mine, good job on your build. hope you can raise it soon, and put up some video too. thanks again to all.

youmanskids · « **Reply #17 on:** February 16, 2010, 06:07:02 PM »

the gin pole is 30 feet, 1/2 the total height.

youmanskids · « **Reply #18 on:** February 16, 2010, 06:10:33 PM »

yep, I bought a 10-3 extension cord and cut off the ends, it was cheaper and more felxible than buying cable. good luck w the concrete, hand mixing 46 bags of concrete was not much fun...but it is worth it!

youmanskids · « **Reply #19 on:** February 16, 2010, 06:15:48 PM »

not sure of the rpm, but it was spinning fast! you can hear the whirr of the blades and the hum of the alternator. I tried to measure the rpm by measuring the frequency of the AC current, but my multimeter just gave random numbers..? is there a way to do this?

divemaster1963 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2010, 08:33:44 PM »

GREAT job.

I'm still working on getting my blades done right. building a small 8 footer on 60 foot pole also. love the ginpole with the support at the base. keep us informed on the output.

Tink · « **Reply #21 on:** February 18, 2010, 09:30:32 AM »

I'm using a 10/3 cable down the 40 foot pole on mine and my wires to my rectifier are 8 gauge and 100 feet long. It's a 24 volt turbine like yours that I bought in kit form from Forcefield, just didn't have the time to build my own. It looks like I'm getting the same power you are. How long is your cable run to your rectifier and what size is it? Great video by the way. Thanks for sharing that!

Tink

Tink · « **Reply #22 on:** February 18, 2010, 09:54:48 AM »

Mike,

I have a neighbor who wanted to give me a hard time about my turbine. She told me the county had a limit of 35' for the tower height. SO I called the county engineer and he said there was no limit at all for where I am located. Although out here (NE AZ) it all depends who you talk to as to the answer you get. It's a good idea to get it all well documented. Good luck with your's.

Tink

dwpeters12 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 20, 2010, 01:44:55 PM »

Nice job! I am also building a small turbine getting close to putting it in the air! Just cant wait!

youmanskids · « **Reply #24 on:** February 20, 2010, 04:44:42 PM »

my tower is 80 feet from the house (just at bit more than the 60 foot height!) the cable goes another 40 feet under the house the basement battery room. Im using direct bury 10-3 cable (its the gray stuff from Lows). the rectifier is wired up with 8 Stranded as per Dan and Dan's reccomendations in the book. hope this helps you.

youmanskids · « **Reply #25 on:** February 20, 2010, 04:46:39 PM »

sound great, get some video of it!

Tink · « **Reply #26 on:** February 21, 2010, 04:43:44 AM »

Thanks for the reply. It looks like you'll have a bit more resistance than I do in my system. I used the 8 AWG wire that I found laying around here so didn't have to buy it. I only get mild winds here and short gusts to over 35 or 40mph at times. I haven't seen mine furl all the way but it tries in the short gusts. It's a great feeling to get up in the morning and have your battery in float! I'm finding I have to let my wire going down the tower uncurl about every 2 weeks so I must be getting more turbulence than normal.

Tink

Ronnn · « **Reply #27 on:** February 23, 2010, 01:48:00 PM »

Congrats are in order. I am so far away from that moment but moving in that direction. Got any pictures of the pivot set up? How was the `elbow joint' fabricated for the gin pole. I've wondered if it would be a good idea to run a guy wire between the ginpole and the tower. Or does competent welding provide all the strength needed in that area. On the surface, it sounds like you over built your anchor points. This isn't a criticism. It's maybe wishful thinking on my part. I'm very new to all of this. What is your soil like? I'm hoping it wouldn't take that much concrete to keep one in place.

Ron

youmanskids · « **Reply #28 on:** February 24, 2010, 07:33:47 AM »

hey Ron, I thought I was on the small side with the anchors, what Ive read for a 10 foot mill on a 60 foot pole has reccomended 4 feet deep and 2x2x1 foot block of concrete to hold the anchor pipe in. I set my anchors at about 60 degree angle also. due to soil type variations I couldnt get and hard data or reccomendation. I just hope it holds, but Im glad you feel like i over did it! as far as the pivot, its just a 3 1/2 inch pipe over a 3 inch pipe joint, the inner 3 inch pipe is 12 inches long and welded to 1/4 inch angle iron I had left over from another project, imbedded in a small 2x1 foot round pad. I coped out the base of the main pole to fit the 3 1/2 inch pivot pipe. I first welded the gin pole to the base of the main pole, then welded in the gusset pipe, hooked up the guys (from tip of gin to the main pole, these take all the force, not the weld), then I raised the gin to vertical and then welded the base of the whole rig to the pivot pipe (no taking this baby apart!) the gin tip is anchored, and the guys go from gin pole to tower. (the gin is left for future raising and lowering). hope this helps you, It went up without any problems, only time, or storms, will tell if its good enough... Roger

bracken · « **Reply #29 on:** February 24, 2010, 09:01:40 AM »

The rule of thumb is, "There will be absolutely no wind for several days after you have finished and erected your wind turbine!" You must of done something very wrong or very right! Gutsy move raising it during 20MPH wind.

Looks awesome! Well Done!

Bracken

Ronnn · « **Reply #30 on:** February 24, 2010, 10:48:14 AM »

Well it's not a good idea to put much stock in what I say about what's overbuilt. I'm a rank bebinner at all of this.

I really appreciate you taking the time to fill me in on the details. I'll watch the video again. I didn't notice the guy wire from ginpole to the tower but it sure does make sense to do it like that even with a gusset. Long may she spin!

Ron

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Author Topic: Raising my first 10 foot turbine (Read 4582 times)