Thread: Wind power
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Old 25-02-2019, 04:59 PM
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pmrid (Peter)
Ageing badly.

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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Cloudy, light-polluted Bribie Is.
Posts: 3,665
Wind power

Is anyone into wind turbine power - for -home, shed, remote obs - whatever? I'm about to embark on my third turbine experience after two pretty dismal efforts.

Both were EBay purchases of identical Chinese 3-blade 400watt units. The first one failed when the whole turbine broke off at the point of attachment to the tower. These attach my means of a collar that clamps to the tower. Number 1 had a complete break of the neck of that mounting. It was in a high wind episode so I was prepared to write that off the bad luck.
Number two lasted all of two years before it failed. The blade assembly shook itself loose from the motor part of the head and it simply ceased to drive the stator. It had stripped the thread off the retaining bolt and could not be undone. It was a complete write-off.

So now, a bit older and wiser, I am getting set to install a 5-blade unit and I thought I might take the opportunity to poll the experience of others.

In the meanwhile, I have been looking at some of the electrical connection issues. Such as:
1. Do I need to install an external brake?
2. DO I need a relay and dump load?

In the past, I have relied on the controller supplied with the turbine. Because the instructions that come with them are so woeful, I did not really know how to set them up and what I could expect them to do. Their specifications told me that they had a set brake voltage at 29 volts or thereabouts. But did that mean the device automatically applied a brake at that point - presumably by shorting the 3 AC leads? I assumed it did and so I have not, thus far at least, gone down the road of an external isolation switch or brake. Is this my first mistake I wonder!

Also, I have not gone down the road of over-voltage sensor/relay units that switch the power output to a resistive dump load instead of overcharging the batteries. This strikes me as the more important issue to resolve before going 'live'.

More study required. All advice will be likely to be better informed that I and therefore welcome.

Peter
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