Is this servicable

[dexterdixon]

Hi,

Long time reader, first time poster!


A friend has asked me to help install a wind turbine he's been given. It has some Chinese characters on the blue nacelle and a big "CE" sticker but otherwise I have no way of getting more details. I cranked it at 60rpm and got roughly 9V AC. It has three fixed pitch ~1m blades. My guess (based mainly on Hugh's table of AC outputs @60rpm) makes it a 48V battery charger. Is this a sensible guess? The budget multimeter gave the coil resistance at around .5 ohms.

There are two further issues  (beyond wanting to confirm the generator spec) which make me want to open it up and give it a bit of a service.

Firstly the bearing sounds pretty nasty - its free but knocks at various positions so I'd like to have a look at it.
Secondly the output cable has been cut through a bit and I'd like to go right back inside and fit a new one.

Trouble is I'm really struggling to get the blue plastic housing off to get inside and see what's-what. Has anyone come across similar machines and got any suggestions about getting inside? It looks like the plastic was moulded on as it left the factory! There's a possibility everything just comes out the front but I've struggled to get front plate off - do I need to make a pulling tool of some sort? The 4 ~8mm nuts came off easily enough but there's nothing to get purchase on to bring the plate out forward.

Any thoughts and/or experience with these machines greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Tom

p.s. sorry if the photos don't help much - I was in a rush and took what I could. I can get more pics if needed.

[dnix71]

I think the CE mark means the maker certified it. AC output on a commercial machine sounds a little strange. I would expect something like that to have diodes inside and output choppy dc.

You'll need a couple of rpm-voltage points to properly determine the intended output voltage.

The blue cover has to come off the back, but you may have to disconnect the base mount to do it.

We need better pix.

[fabricator]

The Chinese put CE stickers on everything whether it is certified or not, the best place for that thing is the hopper unless you want a lot of work for little power.

[tanner0441]

Hi

I can't really judge the physical size of that thing from the photos. It looks Identical to the one I have just taken down. It does give AC out, three phase, so you need a controller for it. It could be 12 or 24 V there was the option to chose when I bought mine. For any sensible power you need enough wind to spin it up to 400 to 450 RPM, then it should deliver 200W.

I had over three years of trouble free sitting at the top of my mast, didn't produce much electricity, but it didn't give me any trouble.

With the standard blades I think they are 222 profile they don't alter their pitch or angle of attack and when they do decide to work they are noisy, there is a mod on here you can find to make them quieter and more efficient at high speed, but you sacrifice their willingness to turn in lower winds.

The best description I have heard for the CE mark is Chinese Export, or Crap Export.

If you have a good solar set up stick with that, and think about expanding your solar, that turbine is not going to produce enough power to make it worth while climbing the mast to fit it.

Brian