Light Wind Heavy Weight Turbine Project - as I build it.

[Steadfast]

It did it again.
But this time with the Doc Wattson on.

This time at 12mph for 15 seconds
It cut in over a 14.25 system
Generating 2.01AP

[niall2]

 

that sounds a whole lot better .....

with some discharge in the batt the cut in will be a bit lower as well.....maybe down to 7 or 8 mph

sounds much more normal .....nice ...

[DamonHD]

Hurrah!  Those electrons are finally moving!

Rgds

Damon

[ChrisOlson]

This time at 12mph for 15 seconds
It cut in over a 14.25 system
Generating 2.01AP

That sounds MUCH better than 21 mph.  You're pushing 30 watts or so into an almost fully charged battery bank @ 12 mph, which is right in the ballpark for a small turbine. 

The other thing I was wondering about was them blades.  Those are some experimental modified GOE222's that Dave whipped up.  I wondered how noisy they are running at 250-300 rpm?
--
Chris

[Steadfast]

Chris-
The blades make no sound until just before cut in. 
Then they begin to make a prolonged slight "whiiiissssssss" sound.
This "whiiissssssss" gets louder as the wind get stronger.

The sound is not a roar, no does it vibrate like a fan or a helecopter,
but more like a continuous snake hiss.
There is no "wheeooo-wheeooo-wheeooo" just silence and then the
"Whiissssss".

When the wind gust go up and down quickly it sounds
Like the sky is whispering, as if wind has a secret.

You can only hear it at 10 mph or more.
My neighbor says "the sound is strangely pleasant"!

Is there some scientific signifigence to why the blades can
Only be heard at cut in and over or is that just an rpm coincidence?

[ChrisOlson]

Cool.  I think Dave had the pitch on those at like 8 degrees instead of 10 like on the big GOE222's.  I'd like to try a set of them on my latest direct drive MPPT turbine.
--
Chris

[Frank S]

SF Reading your latest posts this leads me to think you may have actually produced more than the .08kwh

[Steadfast]

Re read my last post I added to it.

Frank- I don't understand what you just told me
I'm techie retarded.  Remember?
Please elaborate. 

[ChrisOlson]

The noise is due to tip speed ratio starting to drop as the blades get loaded, or starting working against load.

I think Steadfast got more than .08 kWh too.  I'm betting the Doc got accidentally reset at some point.  If you don't keep power and ground to the Doc Wattson 24/7 it won't retain it's logged data.
--
Chris

[Steadfast]

That reading of
"The cut in at 12mph for 15 seconds
It cut in over a 14.25 system
Generating 2.01AP"
Was literally recorded live 2 minutes or so after I
disconnected the doc from the solar and hooked it back up to the turbine
resetting it in the process. 

[ChrisOlson]

Yeah, every time you move the Doc from the turbiner to the solar it loses its logged data and resets.  So if you want to log power for a whole month you have to either write it down before you disconnect it, or leave it hooked up for the whole month.

That .08 is 80 watt-hours, which you logged after the last time you moved it from one to the other.
--
Chris

[Steadfast]

Clearly my snap shot reading had more info then my monthly. 

Tell me how to wright up a log and ill re record
It's progress over the next few weeks. 

[ChrisOlson]

You can take a piece of paper and make two columns on it, one for turbiner and one for solar.  Then right down the kWh (or amp-hours, it doesn't make any difference) under each one, depending on what you got the Doc Wattson hooked to, each time before you reset it.  Then add the columns up at the end of the month.

The only problem with this is that the solar panels might be putting out power while you got the Doc on the turbiner, or the turbiner could start up and run while the Doc is on the solar.  So you would not get all the power logged because you can only log one at a time.

You could parallel the outputs of the solar and wind turbine and run them both thru the Doc Wattson simultaneously.  Then you'd never have to disconnect it and it would retain the logged data.  That won't tell you which one was which, but it would tell you how much total kWh you generated for the month.
--
Chris

[Steadfast]

I am never home during the day so getting "live" readings is hard.

Also...
My turbine is shy. 
It stops moving as soon as I
Go into the shed to see the meters.  EVERYTIME. 
I BS you not.  It the weirdest damn thing I've ever seen.
It been like this for over a year.

So, "snapshot" results like todays are as rare as unicorn horns.
I can probably do a daily recording and reset the doc
Everyday I come home and post the results here for the next few weeks. 

[Steadfast]

Who cares what the solar says!
I'll just hook up the Doc for wind results and reset it each day

[ChrisOlson]

The thing is, if you leave it on just the turbine you don't have to reset it every day.  It will hold its data as long as you keep power connected to it.  So if you leave it hooked up to just the turbine for a whole month, at the end of the month it will show the kWh, amp-hours, and peak amps for that month.  If you want to write down the readings every day to keep track of daily production, you can.  But you don't have to reset it.
--
Chris

[Steadfast]

I'll try to give you guys a daily total every day for the next few weeks around 6:30 pm EST.
that way I can also give you guys the local daily wind reports as well.

Lets see what she can do.

[Frank S]

I'm betting that his turbine will probably show better than 5 KWh in a month's time even if it does have Anthropophobia  just as long as it doesn't suffer from Ancraophobia

[Steadfast]

And Anthropomorphism rears it ugly head...

[Tritium]

How about a 2nd Doc Watson?

Thurmond

[sean_ork]

well, thanks for banning me for questioning what was so ''great'' about generating .08Kwh in an entire  month - I hope it transpires that this figure is inaccurate

[Frank S]

SF if you are really out to learn just how much energy you are producing from both sources then Thurmond's idea of 2 DWs might be an easy answer you could do a real time comparison if sometime you had a strong wind but a cloudy overcast day or even a sunny one. Actually not a bad idea if budget allows  you could still have your logging chart to write down your findings.
 BTW I think all machines are possessed by a spirit of their own at times but hopefully friendly ones   

[sean_ork]

and if there is no money left in the pot just wire the one DW immediately after the rectifier - 2 wires in and 2 wires out - omitting the zero volts lines is an unnecessary complication here

if in fact it really did record a peak of 17 amps then that's (to borrow a word) great - but the monthly output is negligible

I don't suppose you've included any fuses or trips in the wiring before the DW ?

[tanner0441]

SF

Don't think you are being singled out for the turbine stopping when you watch it. Just after I first put mine up we had a gale forecast.  Just before midnight I went out into my shed and watched the amp meter, after about half an hour it slowly crept up to 5 amps.  It was several storm later before I saw any real power and on a few occasions I watched it pin the meter to the end stop. I learned the hissing sound from the blades when it was working, and every time I heard the blade sing I ran to the shed, only to watch the amp meter settle back to zero.

The most annoying part was the trees about 50yds away at the end of my garden sounded like a jet taking off. The only time I get good output is if the wind is from the east.

There is a similar relationship between clouds and solar panels.

Brian

[Steadfast]

Readings
Day 1
Today's wind, measured by a weather station 3 miles away,
Was 3MPH ave, with 6MPH gusts.

0.00 ap

No surprise. 

[Steadfast]

Readings
Day 2
Today's wind,
Was 5MPH ave, with 9MPH gusts.

0.00 ap
Once again.

[Steadfast]

Readings
Day 3
Today's wind, as reported by benson nc weather station
Which is 3 miles away and accessible on the app "wind finder"

Was 8MPH ave,
with 15MPH gust around 10am, lasting 10 minutes.

2.18 ap recoded on the doc

[gww]

sf
I have simular luck with my 12 volt turbine.  I have seen 16 amps but it never spins long and seems to take very strong wind to get to speed.  It is below several tree tops.  Part is probly location and part is probly bearing drag.  Too much grease in a sealed bearing.   What does AP mean?  Amp peak?
Thanks
gww

[Bruce S]

SF
Be ready for the wind St. Louis is getting tired of, was up on the roof when the 25 & 30 mph winds came through today. We're getting even higher this weekend seems Texas is tired of their wind and sending it our way.
Bummer that I don't even have one of Ed Lenz's teaching mills up anymore , would nice to see what those coming 60mph winds would do with it.

[Mary B]

Wind has been steady here at 16+ with gusts to 30 the last 3 days.

[just-doug]

i still think your small wire is killing your cut-in

[Steadfast]

The reason I have not posted numbers over the last few days
Is because the reported wind gust speeds have been below 10MPH
from my "wind alert" app from the 2 nearest weather installations near my home.

Which is the case for today as well. 
When the wind goes above 10MPH
I will report in. 

[Steadfast]

Correction.   
Something must have happened today
Which the local weather station failed to record
Because the wind turbine is reporting
10.90 AP
0.2 AH.