Hummer wind turbines

[JLB FAB]

Does anyone have or know anything about the hummer brand turbines? They have the genni in the nose cone like a bergey any help would be great!!!!!!!! 

[dsmith1427]

I have been on this and other boards for several years and this is the first time I heard of the Hummer Brand.   Did a google search turn up anything?

[poco dinero]

Hummer wind turbines are made in China.

More Hummer information here:

          http://www.evolvegreen.ca/catalog/item/6319999/7321661.htm

Evolve green also sells Chinese hydraulic towers for about $10,000.  You can buy the same tower directly from the factory in China for $3066, including the hydraulic cylinder, foundation bolts, and ocean shipment to Los Angeles.  More tower information here:

          http://www.f-n.cn

I have two of these towers and I really like them.  They are extremely well built, weighing in at about 4500 pounds.  I bought the 40 foot ones and then added another fifteen feet of height to them using 9 feet of 6 inch and then 6 feet of three inch pipe for direct mounting of a 2 kw 12.5 foot rotor diameter Exmork wind turbine.  The 14 foundation bolts are inch and a quarter diameter, six and one-half feet long and are embedded in a 7 foot deep, 8 foot diameter hole.  It took 14 yards (56,000 lbs.) of concrete to fill each hole.  To assemble the tower you just bolt down the 2 foot high base, and then add the first tower section and the hydraulic cylinder.  At that point you can hydraulically lower the first section to the ground and bolt on the remaining sections and the wind turbine while standing on the ground.  I use a Kubota tractor with rear hydraulics to raise and lower them.  Totally slick, one person operation.

I bought the Exmork wind turbines for $575 each (including ocean shipping to Los Angeles) directly from the factory in China.  I will be traveling to Los Angeles this week to pick them up.  The controllers for these turbines cost an extra $107, including the 4 kw dump load.  These 2.0  kw turbines (rated 2.0 kw in 22 mph wind) can each put out 3.8 kw in a 35 mph wind, at which point the controller starts to slow them down.

[JLB FAB]

since asking about the Hummers I have decided to go with the EXMORKS after finding such a strong following of people especially in Australia. If they can withstand the elements down under they must be good. The Hummer brand I contacted direct and they told me to find a local dealer and there are 2 in Md. I did speak to one gentleman who has installed them and says they are a good unit using skf bearings, but a 1kw is the same cost as a 5 kw EXMORK

[poco dinero]

Hello JLB,

I forgot to mention that I believe (but could be wrong) that the Hummer turbines are not available in 48 volt versions; their lowest voltage is 120 volts dc.  That was what originally drove my decision to buy the Exmorks.

BTW, I have a 5 kw Exmork sitting in my shop, haven't flown it yet.  But it appears to be a well built unit.  I especially like the use of sliprings and the drum braking system that can be activated from the ground.

poco

[SparWeb]

BTW, I have a 5 kw Exmork sitting in my shop, haven't flown it yet.  But it appears to be a well built unit.  I especially like the use of sliprings and the drum braking system that can be activated from the ground.

Poco,

That's surprising to hear - I examined a 5kW Exmork myself about 2 years ago and it did not have slip-rings.  Do you happen to know if that is a newly added feature, or a feature that has been added after the factory?
Has your smaller Exmork experienced winds greater than 80 kph or so?  If so, how did it fare?  We had winds gusting over 80 here just a couple of weeks ago, so of course I'm wondering...

[poco dinero]

Hello Steven,

I don't know when Exmork started using sliprings; I only have about eight months of experience with this company.  The slip rings in my 5 kw machine could not have been installed as an aftermarket feature; they are obviously designed and built in by the O.E.M.  They are fairly massive; each phase has a 4-5 inch diameter slip ring rotor and a set of two large brushes per rotor, in separate brushholders feeding power to it.  I suppose that's for redundancy.  The Exmork sales representative (James Ye) recently told me that all of the wind turbines manufactured by Exmork have slip rings, even the smallest unit, the 500 watt model.  Only their 3 kw and larger machines have the ground-activated drum brake feature though.  They don't  do a very good job of hyping these features on their website.  Don't even mention them.

The two smaller (2 kw) Exmork wind turbines you asked about are sitting in a warehouse in Los Angeles at the moment, they just cleared customs last week and I will be picking them up this week.  So obviously I haven't flown them yet, and can't answer your question about hown they handle 80 plus kph winds from direct experience.  However, the Exmork web site here:

          http://www.exmork.com/2kw-wind-turbine.htm

indicates that the 2 kw wind turbine has a survival wind speed of 50 meters/sec (112 mph or 180 kph).  It isn't clear whether they mean with the turbine runnung or with the kill switch engaged, but I suspect the former.  That website has a power curve for the 2 kw turbine, but the curve stops at 30 meters/second (67 mph or 108 kph).  If you believe that curve (and I do), the 2 kw machine should easily survive 80 plus kph winds, because the controller starts throttling down the alternator output when the wind speed reaches 16 meters/second (36 mph or 58 kph).  The alternator output is significantly less at windspeeds of 108 kph than it is at 58 kph.

My place is high on a ridge on the rim of the Great Basin in southern Utah, and in the seven years I"ve lived here we've rarely had steady 80-plus kph winds.  What we mostly have are nice breezes that are strong enough to make it difficult for this old man to carry a sheet of plywood broad-on to the wind.  Until I get some hands-on operating experience with these machines I plan to play it safe and shut them down when a serious storm approaches.

My installation is fairly well instrumented, including an "Inspeed" brand anemometer with data logging software.  I'll post a test report on these turbines when I have enough data.  Stay tuned.

poco

[poco dinero]

I forgot to mention in my previous post that there is an error in one of my other previous replies to this post.  I mistakenly said that the price for the controller for the Exmork 2 kw wind turbine is $107.  In actuality it is $165, including the 4 kw dump load.  The cost of Exmork's 1 kw controlller including 2 kw dump load is $107 though, and I bought one of those too, when I noticed that the power curve for Exmork's 1 kw wind turbine is a dead ringer for the power curve of my DanB 10 footer.  It'll be interesting and fun to see what that Exmork controller will do for the performance of my DanB 10 footer.

poco

[SparWeb]

Hi again Poco,

Thanks for the extra info.  I know someone with a 5kw Exmork and he's had some trouble with it.  He would let me fiddle with it, but his system was installed by a turnkey outfit that offered service and support, so I don't want to void his warranty.

Anyway we had nasty winds and his machine suffered damage.  Investigation continues.

His certainly doesn't feature any slip rings, so the feature on yours is a welcome improvement.

Over 80 kph wind is a rare here, too, like once in 10 years.  My little mill survived, but now I'm sure the bearings are shot. 

If you want, I can put you in touch with either my neighbour or his supplier because they came up with some interesting gadgets together, and did a fair bit of trouble-shooting too (especially the controller).

[poco dinero]

Hello Steven,

I certainly WOULD like to be put in touch with your friend that is having trouble with his 5 kw, but how do we do that without giving our contact information to the whole world?  I'm somewhat protective of my privacy.

It sounds like he has a different, earlier version than mine, since mine definitely does have the sliprings.  Does his have the fixed tail boom and unusual pivoting tail vane as currently shown on the website? 

The 5 kw used to have a 5.5 meter (18 foot) rotor diameter.  Mine is only 5 meter diameter (16.4 feet).  What is the rotor diameter on your friend's machine?

Another fairly recent change on the Exmork website is that they used to show the power curve for the 5 kw going all the way up to 8000 watts maximum power, but now they show it going up to only 6,000 watts maximum power.  I have no idea whether the maximum power reduction is the result of the smaller rotor, or changes to the controller, or both.  It sure would be interesting to know, though.

I don't intend to fly my 5 kw until I get some operational experience with the two 2 kw machines.  And another thing:  I notice that the controller for my 5 kw uses large relays to dump excess power to the dump load.  Somebody on this forum (Ungrounded Lightning Rod, perhaps) is on record as being totally against the use of relays for this purpose, so I'm going to use those relays to trigger a mercury contactor to do the dumping.

I am in the process of setting my 5 kw up so that I can spin it up using the Kubota tractor PTO.  I want to generate my own power curve, and also find out how the voltage and current coming off the alternator vary with rpm.  That will allow me to accurately determine the size of the cable coming down the tower.  It all takes time.

[TomW]

Hello Steven,

I certainly WOULD like to be put in touch with your friend that is having trouble with his 5 kw, but how do we do that without giving our contact information to the whole world?  I'm somewhat protective of my privacy.

poco;

This board has a fine internal messaging system. Upper left of most [every] page by your avatar are some links to that. Under every members avatar on a post is a link to send them a Private Message [PM]

It is private between the users.

Try it.

Tom

[SparWeb]

I won't impose, Poco.  Send me a private message is you want.
Actually, I should talk to my neighbour first before giving you his contact info - for just about the same reason you give.  Besides, he's kinda sick of the WT right now, he's having a lot of trouble.
It's late tonight so I should give him a call tomorrow.

[poco dinero]

Hello Tom W,

What's an avatar?

Also, I can't get the feature where you insert a quote from somebody else's post to show up in your reply to work.  How do you do that?

Also, how do I post pictures?  My wife, who is more computer savvy than I am, tried for several hours without success.

Are there some instructions somewhere that I'm missing?  You can use that private contact if you don't want to gunk up this thread with information nobody else wants.

Thanks.

poco

[DamonHD]

For small images, you can attach them to the message (see the stuff at the bottom).

Rgds

Damon

[John68b]

Hi Poco,

I tried PM you on this forum, but the message did not send for some reason. I'm ordering a 12m tower in couple of days and need some information on the hydraulic cylinder. You can email Me at  j.sz@comcast.net

John68b

[poco dinero]

Hi John,

I'm ordering a 12m tower in couple of days 

Don't order your hydraulic tower until you get my email, which is in the works.  I have some suggestions that will save you a few bucks.   I'll send some pictures too.  Bottom line:  these towers are way too cool.

poco

[poco dinero]

Hi John, 

My email address and pictures of my towers are headed your way.

I'll tell you all I can about the cylinder, which isn't much that doesn't show in the picture on the Shenzhou factory website:

     www.f-n.cn

By the way, they posted a nineteen page tower installation manual that you can download.

The pistons are steel, heavily chrome-plated, then ground and polished.  They are made in China but look just like an American cylinder.  The hydraulic connections are metric, so you'll likely have to get an adapter to use American hydraulic hoses (no problema).  The end fittings on the cylinders, where the pin goes through, are swivel joints to allow for minor misalignment.  The tower comes with a quarter-inch thick steel "position board" to position the base of the cylinder the correct distance away from the tower base.

I fabricated a 16 foot long extension for my towers.  Figured that if it could lift a 10 kw turbine at 40 feet, it would have no problem lifting a 220 pound 2 kw turbine at 56 feet.  You could probably go much higher, if your permit allows and you need the height.  The first extension is a 10 foot long, 6 inch diameter Schedule 40 pipe.  The top extension is 3 inch pipe, 6 feet showing, 30 inches sleeved into the six inch pipe.

I don't know what maximum pressure the cylinder is good for, but the Shenzhou factory will sell you a hydraulic plant that puts out a little over 2500 psi (I didn't buy it).  My Kubota L3400 tractor has a 2250 psi hydraulic system, and it has no problem lifting the tower, even with me hanging on the end of the extension (simulating the weight of the wind turbine), at the 56 foot level.  See pictures in your email.

When I bought my first tower, I was a little green about ordering stuff direct from China, so I bought the tower from Allen at Applied Magnetics in Plano Texas.  He charged me $5800 for the tower, ocean-shipped to Los Angeles, with all customs duties, warehousing fees, etc paid.  I considered that a bargain, because Lorena at evolvegreen wanted $5995 for the tower, $900 for the cylinder, and she told me I'd have to find my own foundation bolts (probably another $1000), plus I'd have to pick up the tower in Vancouver, Canada.   When I picked up the tower in LA, the customs document showed a declared value of $3200.  Customs, warehousing, etc. came to about $800, so I figured Allen made about $1800 on the deal.

So, since James Ye (at Exmork) had treated me so well (several freebies and all), I thought maybe he would broker a tower for me, but he referred me to the website above.  So I emailed them, and received an instant reply from "Amity" quoting a price of $3066 for the tower, cylinder, bolts and shipping.  What a deal!  So I emailed Amity and told her to send me a proforma invoice and money wiring instructions.  Several weeks went by, no answer.  So I finally decided to buy the second tower from Allen.  A couple of days later I received a positive response from a new girl at the Shenzhou factory.  Wouldn't you know, apparently Amity had moved back to the farm in western China, and her replacement was snowed under.

So, if I were you, I'd try to buy the tower direct from the factory, just like we did with the exmorks.  But you gotta be more patient than I was. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend Allen.  The towers are an absolutely  screaming buy even at $5800.

poco

[John68b]

Hi Poco,

Just got home and received your message. I checked, but did not get your email. My email address is  j.sz@comcast.net  Couple of weeks ago we had severe storms that wiped out some of Comcast Systems. Ever since, people in my area have had Internet and email problems.

John