Did that guy have that hinge on top of that conduit? Or was it bolted to his roof?
I don't remember all the details of that setup. He had a lot of problems with that Chinese turbine. First it burnt the slip rings out. So he eliminated those. Then it shook real bad so they replaced the blades on it.
The whole tower was a 2" pipe with another pipe inside it, but I don't remember if it was hinged at the roofline to let it down, or if it was hinged at the ground. It think it was hinged at the roofline.
I checked out some things on these "Falcon" blades, as I had never seen these particular ones before. I found out they come from a certain outfit that straps barn fan blades on car alternators, calls it a wind turbine, then applies an arbitrary power rating to it at 50 mph wind speed, or some other equally ridiculous thing. I have had some discussions with these people in the past, and let's just say I wasn't all that impressed.
There is no TSR specs, no Cp, nothing on these blades. They don't have an airfoil that creates any lift, that I can see. They appear to be glorified versions of the famous "PVC blades" that we all know go around but don't make any serious power for their swept area.
Anyway, I found this particular video about them:
I would judge the wind speed at at least 10-12 mph looking at the foliage in the background. And I'm talking at real wind power height at 30 feet above the treeline - not in the trees. What I learned about watching this video is that, apparently, I have always had the wrong idea about wind turbines. The important thing, it would appear, is that the thing goes around. Making power is secondary.
I can only surmise that, based on the fact that this appears to be a pretty decent wind day in the video (if the guy had a real tower). But when he shows you the "setup" the ammeter is laying on ZERO. However, he's happy as a lark because that contraption on that pole is going around. At least it did most of the time. I noticed at one point it appeared to spin around like a top on the "tower" and stop, even with the wind still blowing good.
So, in conclusion, I'm going to have to re-think all my theories on wind power. It would appear there's a way bigger market for yard art than there is for real wind turbines. There is absolutely NOTHING in that video that I could recommend to anybody thinking about a wind power system, from the blades to the car alternator they're bolted to, to the tower, to the location. And yet the guy in the video is tickled pink with it.
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Chris