Wind at last

[tanner0441]

Hi

Having given up on car alternators, 24 volt electric scooter motors, and all things requiring over 1000 RPM to do anything, and having a poor wind site. I decided to buy a 200/250W kit. Turbine, mast, charge controler.

It arrived in two small crates, I unpacked it and checked the bits over but had to shelve fitting it because I was in the middle of replacing my kitchen it had to stay in the crates.  For over a week the wind blew, in fact it was still blowing the morning I assembled the bits. Then with assistance from my brother in law and an electric winch I pulled it up and set the guys.  The wind stopped, and we had 4 days of mist and drizzle.

Last night I heard the wind rattling the trees so I went outside. The wind speed was varying between 7 to 11MPH, the blades were  turning and it was slowly moving on the yaw bearings, the bades were making a gentle swishing noise. It was nearly 1AM but I went out opened my workshop up and looked at the ammeter. 6 Amps, the DVM on the battery (12V 95AH AGM Deep Cycle) was reading 12.87V. The amp reading was swinging slowly between 3 and about 7 amps. (the battery started at 11.96)

I have ordered another 2 110Ah deep cycle batteries, and the magnets are ordered to make my own alternator, now I know it is a viable project. It may not produce enough power to run more than lighting but I will have a set of figures for comparison.

What didn't I like about the unit? The blades finish was very poor requiring work, it only has 1.5mm sq cable from the alternator, the tail didn't fit without grinding the mountings. Having said that it seems to do what it said on the box, see if it is still doing it in 12 months.

Brian

[fungus]

Rule #1 : Whenever you put up a wind generator there will be at least 5 days of no wind.

Never fails.

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

I thought it was three days, but yeah.  B-)

Also:  It's not just Murphy's law.  People usually don't raise a turbine during high winds.  Weather cycles in the temperate zone tend toward about 3 days between changes.   The Markov chain paradox of the average time to next event being the same as the average time between events (because you're likely to hit the space in the middle but you're more likely to hit a long one than a short one) means that once your mill is up you wait the average length of a calm for the next wind.

[hmccoy99]

a few questions:

1. what brand of wind gen
   
2. what is the blade dia.
   
3. what do you like about the unit.
   
   

a watt made is a watt saved

henry