 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. |
Forum Index : Windmills : My new garden ornament!?!?!?
  Page 2 of 3   |
|||||
| Author | Message | ||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie  Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
Voltage but no current.......... Current will not flow until the voltage gets over the battery charged voltage? Am i understanding this correctly? Apologies for all the questions, some are very basic. Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
JUst found this video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cJDr0b0XUY I searched for ARI-750 This is identical to mine Watching the video shows the blades facing back slightly and the turbine turning clockwise My blades face forwards and the turbine runs anti clockwise? In the manual it states "The blades will move counterclockwise if they are installed correctly." Any comments Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
I have found a few videos that show the blades stopped and I have compared this with my setup I am now 100% the blades are on backwards!!!!!! In my defense, I did not fit the blades, they where fitted by a crazy farmer balancing on the top if a tractor bucket. But as its my project I really should have double checked this! Please could someone confirm the following 1. This would create the problems I am experiencing 2. I am a idiot :-) And have just possibly wasted 3 weeks of tinkering and £200+ on new parts Ha Ha Ha HA HA HA HA! Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Example 1 
Example 2 
Example 3 
Mine 
 Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Well it looks like you need to take that turbine down after all. Yep, blades on backwards, and yep, that would kill the output power. And we've all done silly things in the past, join the club. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
yahoo2 Guru  Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
CRAZY FARMER!  OMG Does this mean you live near Andy "proper job" Barnes from Scrapheap Challenge fame ?
Couldn't get me his autograph could you? I want to be just like him IF I grow up. I...UM...  ....AHEM should have put it at the top of my list of simple mistakes, I didn't want to make it too obvious that I knew what I was talking about, you know, from experience....an all that 
OK..OK! So I have done it twice, but I picked it before I got it up the tower, that's got to count for something surely  I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
||||
| electrondady1 Senior Member  Joined: 12/02/2009 Location: CanadaPosts: 208 |
|
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
Hi Everyone Firstly, thank you for all your suggestions, ideas and comments. I have now managed to changed each of the blades around so they face the correct direction WOW! what a difference! The turbine now spins at least 10 times as fast! We had nice light winds this weekend 3-5m/s with gusts of 6m/s The turbine charged the batteries and ran the dump load for most of Saturday night and all of Sunday I have not taken any measurements yet, but I will post these as soon as I can I am just happy that my battery voltage is going up instead of down! I have another problem to deal this now, the tower. At low speeds, under 4m/s it wobbles, this creates a wave down the tower that increases and continues until the wind speed. I am currently bracing the tower to stop this. This is a interesting lesson in structural engineering. So my journey continues.......... But at least I am creating energy, at last. Lee Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Think you need to be looking at the mill to solve the wobble and not the tower. The wobble is due to the blades not being balanced and tracking correctly. If you dont balance the blades it will shake itself to bits in time. The little things do matter, and vibration will cause damage even with a solid tower. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
||||
| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Good to hear you got it running Lee. Pete's right, the tower wobble is due to an out of ballance turbine. And it only happens at certain RPM's. If its not too excessive, you can get away with it for a long time, but it will mean you need to keep an eye on tower moutings, fixtures and bearings. The long term fix is to try too ballance the turbine as best as you can. Gill wrote a very good article on turbine ballancing... http://www.thebackshed.com/Windmill/articles/TurbineBalance. asp Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
Im sure the blades are a little out of balance, but the main cause of the wobble is due the the tower construction I will post some images but it is basically a wigwam, made from 4 scaffold poles. Three legs and one center pole to which the turbine is bolted to. I have now learn that scaffold poles are flexible. The pressure of the wind on the blades cause the top of the tower to bend slightly, as the blades move round the pressure changes and causes the top to move bend back. While this bend at the top takes place, the centre pole bends in the opposite direction around the middle point. This creates a nice wobble. I have now spent a good few hours in -3C to add bracing to the tower. I am no where near finished but so far I have greatly reduced this effect. Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
Turbine and tower MK1 Pre correcting the blades and adding bracing 
Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
Hi Guys My original controller had built in "electro-magnetic brake control" or shorting of the 3-phase using transistors by the look of the board I changed the controller for a Tristar45, before I discovered the blade error, thinking it was faulty. We are having wind speeds of 12-14m/s and gusts of 20-22m/s at the moment. I am using this controller in load diversion mode, the turbine has "aerodynamic braking blades", I am using the original dump load. Is this enough to keep it from over speeding? Do I need to add a braking circuit? or should I use the old controller I like the live read out of the Tristar and this setup gives me the ability to add cap mods, boost, logging or whatever I want in the future The old controller has no logging and adding it would be a pain. Any ideas? I don't want to wake up one morning to a broken turbine and possible other damage. Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
[quote=Lowerstoford]Do I need to add a braking circuit?[/quote] I have both a diversionary dump load controller (downwind's construction) as well as a 3phase heavy duty switch that shorts the turbine windings. I find that when the wind gets too strong, even the dump load doesn't slow the turbine down enough - gets to around 1000rpm (frightening). Fortunately, downwind did a very good job of balancing the blades and gettining run-out to virtually zero. Have a look at my post on new use for old mill tower. When the wind gets way too strong or we go away on holidays we lower the mast to the ground. That way we sleep peacefully. david m. David M. |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
I have a brake switch on my setup I made a copy of this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-phase-brake-switch-and-rectifier-w ind-turbine-wind-generator-1250-watts-/290818453808?pt=LH_De faultDomain_0&hash=item43b6217130 for £8 less the rectifier But I do not want to turn the turbine off all night if we only have those speeds for a hour or less. If the forecast is for constant strong wind I will turn it off The claimed survival speed of the turbine is 65 m/s, but I imagine that is with the electro-mechanical brake of the other controller If more braking is needed to keep the turbine under control, I will make it, unless there is another way of controlling possible overspeed. Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
survival speed is with the original dump load and running. as long as your new dump load is roughly the same as the old one it should be OK. They seem to get to a certain speed then not get any faster, you can hear the noise change when to blades reach their rev limit. Can you read the amps that you are dumping on your controller? If you are not getting to the turbines rated maximum then the blades can go a lot faster. Should only need to switch it off in really high winds, I think without some guy wires your tower will fold over before you get to that point. cheers Yahoo PS you could wire the original dump load to your new controller! I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
Hi Guys I have just bought this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260838253252?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX :IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 I just want to make sure I wire it in correctly. Can I just wire it in series on the + DC from the turbine or do I need to use a shunt? I only read about shunts after buying this meter and hoping I can just use it as it is? Thanks in advance Lee Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
From zero to 20 amps you can use it without a shunt..no problems, as it already has a shunt built into it, but higher than 20 amp the meter wont like it. Sometimes it just works |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
great! Im off to wire it in :-) The turbine has a max of 16 A so if it blows then its over producing and i will be even happier Thanks for the info Lee Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Lowerstoford Newbie Joined: 30/11/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
I have wired it in but I have a problem.. Nothing happens? It is in series on DC + of rectifier When the volts get to 55.7 the dump load comes in normally But the meter has not moved off of 0 I have tried it wire both ways round The wind has stopped now (of course!) What am I doing wrong? I know the turbine is producing amps because the batteries are always changed and the dump load is running a lot of the time??? its been a long day so far and I must be missing something in my tired state? Some Energy is Some Energy |
||||
| Page 2 of 3 |
|||||
 Print this page |
