Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
hi all
i bought and erected a chinese gen around 2 years ago and it worked fine so around 6 months ago i got another.
now it seems that only one will work at a time,i feed them both via a 6 ml wire back to the batts in series i think...ie one b4 the other.
they run around 5 feet from 24v reg to batts thruough an old 60 amp ammeter and travel approx 12 metres from gen to reg.
i replaced bridge recs in one reg and it works good so i changed other reg from a small sealed unit type in an aluminium box to three bridge recs as well.
still one wont work so maybe i have it wired to batts incorrectly?
any wise words of wisdom welcome
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 10:50pm 19 Oct 2010
Copy link to clipboard
Print this post
When you disconect 1 mill the other will work ok, right??
Do these mills have electronic braking, and if so i would suspect the line resistance might be too high, and with 2 mills on the line it causes them to see a voltage above the cutout point and they shut down.
im unsure if they have electronic braking.they were both bought from ebay
but you are right it seems as if only one works at a time,the one with the longest wire run gen to reg works well.
the only other thing is with the bridge recs i soldered one ac input to the lug and then jumped over to the other lug and this one doesnt seem to be working,with the mill thats working,a tail from each ac input lug of same length joined to the single ac input lug is the way it was done.does that make a difference?
thanks in advance.........
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 04:44am 20 Oct 2010
Copy link to clipboard
Print this post
Hi nobbie,
you might want to get some pics of what you describe, and post them.
The windmills should only share a common DC. All the AC should be independent. The windmill AC should feed each controller independently. The DC outputs from the controller would be connected together at the battery.
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 08:29am 20 Oct 2010
Copy link to clipboard
Print this post
Hi nobby,
I would just invest in some more wire to the battery, and wire these 2 mills independently to the battery.
Just to be sure, If the battery is low in voltage, Do both windmills work?
Do both windmills spin in low winds, and then one turns off as the winds increase?
not really,
i thought that possibly there may be some type of feedback problem stopping the original mill working,but after talking with you fellows im beginning to think that there may be a join becoming damp and tracking on the ac side.
do these mills have slip rings at the pole pivot point
its been up and running on the west coast of tas for two and a half years so maybe id best pull it down and give it a birthday,as its seen a few 60 knot gales.
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 11:48am 20 Oct 2010
Copy link to clipboard
Print this post
Hi nobby,
I do not wish appear blunt, but "not really" does not help.
You have given no indication what the windmills are but "chinese".
Unless you can give some actual answers to reasonable questions, then we are wasting our time.
Go with the damp conclusion. It is as good a reason as any considering the info we have at hand.
Gordon.
become more energy aware
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 01:05pm 20 Oct 2010
Copy link to clipboard
Print this post
Yes and no answers dont help much here and the information you have given is asking us to find a needle in a haystack.
1) With both mills connected to their rectifiers and with the dc sides seperated from each other and disconected from the battery do both mills spin.?
2) Connect each mill to the battery 1 at a time and do they still work?
3) Post some photos or a drawing of your rectifier wiring for each mill.
4) how heavy or what size is the dc cables.
5) What controls the mills, is there a dump load or what controller do each mill have.
ok i just swapped mills and rectifiers and rectifiers are ok as good mill is still working
problem original mill not turning with ac wires disconnected and not touching at the ends
when ac wiring ohm tested all wires read the same to one another the readings vary....
they go .8 then 1.2 then 2 or so up to 4 ohms then go slowly back to 0
this all happens in around 3 or 4 seconds
i tried all this in under 5 knots of wind
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 06:49am 21 Oct 2010
Copy link to clipboard
Print this post
Can you disconnect the original mill at the tower to eliminate the cable run and see if it will spin up then.
It really is just a process of elimination to track the fault down.
Doing an ohms test on very low resistances wont tell you a lot and most multimeters dont read worth crap on the very low bottom end, and you really need a megga meter like a sparkie would use for earth testing.
You did not answer what sort of controller these mills have??
they dont have a controller?
they have rectifiers and then the dc side goes directly to batt bank,
the first mill came with an overvoltage device,like a kettle element mounted in an airy steel box which cuts in around 30 volts i think,ive only ever felt it warm once.
i have 14 x 77watt panels on the roof and the system is 24v.
i have a large bank of ex loco batts,though they have been dropping out 1 by 1 recently
they are tamoor batts i think made in nsw somewhere,roughly 150x150x500 and bloody heavy.
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 10:21am 21 Oct 2010
Copy link to clipboard
Print this post
There are many 500W chinese windmills available on EBay. Early models did not have slip rings. Some later models do have slip rings.
The fact that one windmill does not spin could indicate that the cable has wound up tight inside the tower and caused a short.
Some surgery may be needed to find the cause of the problems you see.
Gordon.
BTW the small aluminium box you removed is an electronic regulator. I have one similar. Fixed setting at 29.5V.become more energy aware
thanks gordon,
so if i find no slip rings and a short i will repair short and then put stops in place ?
or would that cause furling problems as i imagine it would.
the small box internals i thought were u/s so i put in three bridge recs as the other reg had and used the box as a heat sink...does that sound like an ok fix to you?
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
Print this post
