Not Sure why its not charging Batteries

[jjrob80]

I have a 12/24 volt charge controller that is made from a Kit. I bought it off of ebay and it sounded like just what i was looking for. Not so sure now. But here goes.  It is made for a DC wind genny, AC wind genny, or solar Or all at once i hope but ok if not. Im only using it for a dc wind now. I have a bank of 2 12v 80ah batteries that i have load tested and are good. Im using a 4'high x 3'dia. VAWT genny  It is the Lenz2 type turbine found on www. windstuffnow.com. I am using a 1hp PM motor on this to do the generating. I have it pulleyed from the turbine to the PM motor. Everything working nice and smooth at this point.

Here is my problem   At this point i am getting some power from all of this. But at about 10-15 mph winds my amp meter is bouncing from 0-3 or 4 or 5 amps then back to 0 very fast. My volt meter is reaching 12-14 volts input from the motor before my blocking diode.It is like when it just begins to produce some good power the controller or something makes it brake. The only thing im not real sure about out of all this is how big my blocking diode is.  I got it at a electronic swap meet near me. The numbers    on the side of it are   GPS 9420    MF-35   1200      These mean nothing to me.   I am using a 12v car bulb as a dump load and its not even coming on when any of this is happening.   Any help out there"?   Hope this is enough info     I hope to sometime figure out how to add pics to this thing

[electronbaby]

First thought, its not working because its not sited properly. Every site is different, however, not much usable wind that close to your roof.

Second thought: Try bypassing the controller and taking your dump load and connecting to the output of the turbine. Make sure to have an open circuit (as to allow it to come up to speed) and then connect the load. Does the turbine come to a slow crawl? If this is the case, than everything is working normal and you did not match the prop to the alternator (motor in your case) correctly.

When the prop is up to speed, at what RPM do you see cut in (in your case 24v nominal)? A 12v car bulb on a 24v system will not last long as a dump load (it will burn out eventually, leading to free wheel and destruction).

Its a little scary how you have that thing mounted. Just my two cents.

Sounds like the controller might be working properly (you can never tell with those ebay things). It seems like when a load is placed on the motor, it puts the prop in stall.

I dont see how that controller can do that stuff all at once. They are usually only able to be configured for one use at any given time. Maybe you have it set up wrong. If it is set up for a normal diversion load controller, the turbine should be wired directly to the batteries (observe polarity) and will pass through your blocking diode on the positive line.

Im not sure any of this helps, as it is just a guess as to whats really going on. You did not provide alot of info.

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Sounds like it's configured to regulate a solar panel and it's trying to limit the current by either opening the connection from the genny to the batteries or shorting the genny with a pulse-width modulated control.

Good for solar panels.  Not good for wind gennies.  Check your connections (to see if you hooked the genny to the solar panel terminals) and settings.

[wooferhound]

In your wiring Diagram

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/10391/wire_diagram_windmill_controller.jpg

(3 meg picture)

You have your solar and wind power connected totally incorrectly. The diodes for your wind generator are already on the Oatley Electronics controller

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/10391/controller

(3 meg picture)

Your Solar and Wind power should really be connected directly to the battery through Diodes on solar, and Bridge Rectifiers on wind.

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

The layout of the diodes and switches in this controller looks more like it's trying to scavenge power from low winds by acting as a voltage-boost switcher, using the genny as the inductor, rather than act as a voltage regulator.

If it's trying to regulate the voltage using a dump load it has some problems.

 - The dump load is across the source, rather than the battery.  That's OK if it's JUST solar panels.  But it's what's stalling your genny.

 - The blocking diodes between the bridge and the battery are redundant (once the dump load is moved to the battery).  They introduce another diode drop and throw away maybe 5% of your power on a 12V system.

For a quick fix short D7/D14.  (Note that this will cause the "charging" light to falsely indicate charging whenever the battery isn't fully charged.)

Alternatively you could move the hot end of the dump load to the battery - though you'll have extra diode losses things should work OK and your mill should spin up.

The real fix would be:

 - Unhook the hot end of the bridge from D7/D14 and move it to the battery.

 - Ditto the hot end of the dump load.

 - Remove the blocking diode from either your solar panel or your DC generator and use D7/D14 for that function.  Move the controller end of the blocking diode for the other one to the battery.

 - Unhook the hot end of the "charging" light and add small diodes to it from each of the following:  Upstream of the blocking diode for the solar panel, upstream of the blocking diode for the DC genny, and from each of the AC terminals of the AC genny (a redundant small-current version of the top half of the bridge).  Alternatively you could use separate charging LEDs (and current-limiting resistors) for each (though you'll still need diodes from the AC genny - or you could use just one AC line if you don't mind flicker).

Of course that may require surgery on the PC board.

That "charging" light isn't ever going to be reliable.  Below-cutin voltage will light it and you'll be charging with it off if the dump load can't dump the full output of your generation.

[jjrob80]

so what i guess now i want to ask is does it seem like this motor it self will produce some good amps if controlled right?  Setting aside the controller,  i know the turbine it self is balanced and would, and has withstood some high winds. I saw someone had a question whether that would hold up.  And the placement of the genny is good to because it seems that most of the VAWT i have seen on the web have been placed low and similar to how i have it.  Im just trying to match things up at this point. Im more on the mechanical end of all of this and im not sure about tearing into the controller like lightingrod is asking me to do. Im going to try a 10mph day and go through my amp meter  to the batteries and see how that works. The controller was only $60.00.  And maybe can still be salvaged as a solar controller like everyone seems to think. (Which is the next project).   Am happy though with this type of genny compared to 3 prop type at this point. Someday maybe a prop type will be a project also.  I built this for the 3phase stator i built, and maybe ill use that on the prop one. I have the most money i guess in that with the magnets and mag. wire for the stator.  well any other advise would be helpfull

thanks

John

[jimjjnn]

GPS is mfr. 9420 = 1994 20th week. MF-35= 35 amps. 1200 MAX volts

[jjrob80]

thanks for that info jim   that helps alot

[ghurd]

Is there a battery connected???

Sounds like an open V connected to a dump load to me.  On a slow reacting controller.

Yea... I'm here

G-

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Just move the hot end of the dump load and the load side of your genny's blocking diode to battery + and see if your genny starts performing properly (and ignore the "charging" light.)