Posted by wmbjk on January 21, 2007, 12:29 pm
On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:31:53 -0400, Derek Broughton
>wmbjk wrote:
>> On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:19:55 -0400, Derek Broughton
>>
>>>I have one - until the speed governor failed it never came close to 400W
>>>either. In high winds, a 403 should actually generate more power than an
>>>Air-X (by SW Wind's own admission). Now, I'm tripping my breaker
>>>occasionally (like last night), which makes the bearings scream.
>>
>> That's what mine did at first, so I reset the breaker. The second time
>> it tripped I shut off the turbine using the shorting switch, which
>> kept the rotor braked normally. After a few months of being switched
>> off during substantial winds, the switch no longer had any effect,
>Argh! I'm not looking forward to that. Rather than shooting it, are you
>sure it's not just a defective switch? What happens if you take the switch
>out and connect the wires together? Will it put a permanent stop to it?
Nope, first thing I checked. I also tried shorting it at the tower
base. My guess is that the rectifier inside the turbine is open. I've
been putting off lowering the tower because I want to replace the
Whisper's tail with a fiberglass one. Thought I'd do both jobs at
once. But we have sufficient winds here that the Air noise isn't just
an occasional headache, it's frequent. If I can't get that new tail
laminated in the next week or so, I'm going to lower the tower just to
remove the Air. It'll only take about an hour, but it's been cold and
windy outside, and nice and cozy in this office. ;-)
Wayne
Posted by Solar Flare on January 21, 2007, 10:36 pm
Why would you want to switch to a fibreglass tail? Is it for the
weather durabilty or the weight? Doesn't a lighter tail lead the
turbine subject to more instabilty?
> On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:31:53 -0400, Derek Broughton
>>wmbjk wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:19:55 -0400, Derek Broughton
>>>
>>>>I have one - until the speed governor failed it never came close
>>>>to 400W
>>>>either. In high winds, a 403 should actually generate more power
>>>>than an
>>>>Air-X (by SW Wind's own admission). Now, I'm tripping my breaker
>>>>occasionally (like last night), which makes the bearings scream.
>>>
>>> That's what mine did at first, so I reset the breaker. The second
>>> time
>>> it tripped I shut off the turbine using the shorting switch, which
>>> kept the rotor braked normally. After a few months of being
>>> switched
>>> off during substantial winds, the switch no longer had any effect,
>>
>>Argh! I'm not looking forward to that. Rather than shooting it,
>>are you
>>sure it's not just a defective switch? What happens if you take the
>>switch
>>out and connect the wires together? Will it put a permanent stop to
>>it?
> Nope, first thing I checked. I also tried shorting it at the tower
> base. My guess is that the rectifier inside the turbine is open.
> I've
> been putting off lowering the tower because I want to replace the
> Whisper's tail with a fiberglass one. Thought I'd do both jobs at
> once. But we have sufficient winds here that the Air noise isn't
> just
> an occasional headache, it's frequent. If I can't get that new tail
> laminated in the next week or so, I'm going to lower the tower just
> to
> remove the Air. It'll only take about an hour, but it's been cold
> and
> windy outside, and nice and cozy in this office. ;-)
> Wayne
Posted by Steve Spence on January 20, 2007, 9:31 pm
tg wrote:
>> I have an Airx403 to be used for camping.
>> It's rated 400W. I've never got better than 10 A (120W) in testing and
>> that's because I can't get clean air.
>
> Thanks for your feedback Norman.
> do you think it might also be down to exagerated performance claims by the
manufacturer?
> at http://www.wind-works.org/articles/sm_AirXtest.html it says:
> 'During these tests I noted that the AirX was not meeting its power curve.
Previous measurements of the Air 303h and 403 indicated
> that these turbines also failed to meet their advertised power curves.
However, the AirX failed by a much wider margin.'
>
> Is the AirX a plastic body turbine? Have you ever serviced it or replaced
bearings? Would you recommend the AirX or not? Thanks if
> you can give more info.
>
>
>
>
I had a AIR 303. It was a great disappointment. Much better luck with
our homebuilt permanent magnet axial flux units. Bigger blades, more
captured wind.
--
Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org
Posted by adm on January 19, 2007, 8:36 am
> I'd like to swap experiences with owners of home wind turbines. There's a
> lot of chatter on the newsgroups about wind turbines but
> it's mostly theoretical.. I own an Aero4gen-F 12v turbine and I'm not
> entirley happy with it and I'm thinking of upgrading so I'd
> value opinions from other turbine owners. Here is a picture of the
> installation I have:
> http://www.zen73857.zen.co.uk/turbine/situ.htm
> Here is a clearer picture of the Aero4gen-F turbine.
>
http://www.lvmshop.co.uk/item.asp?ls=&v~BA94CA50E743DAB4FA9CDA450CE787&id&40
> Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the aero4gen, it's a well made little
> turbine but it's too small for my needs. Not enough
> power for what it cost me. This is my first turbine and it's my own fault
> for starting with something too small. I was thinking of
> upgrading to the Aero6gen-F
>
http://www.lvmshop.co.uk/item.asp?ls=&v~BA94CA50E743DAB4FA9CDA450CE787&id&52
> but first I'd like to get some feedback from owners of other turbines for
> comparison. I use a stainless steel 38mm (2inch) pole
> (5mm wall thickness) for the turbine.
> The aero4gen 12v specs boast 10A max output but I've never seen it produce
> that. 5A is the maximum I've ever seen. In upgrading I
> can't go too big because the installation I have for a turbine isn't
> strong enough to hold a big blade machine, and it's the only
> location I have so 1.5m max blade diameter is my limit, and I want to stay
> with 12v. The pole is top clamped at 1.4m below the
> turbine. I could easily fit a stronger pole if need be.
> What I like about the aerogen turbine is that it's well made and it's all
> metal apart from the blades. It has nice big bearings and
> the moving parts are beefy and strong. This is one reason for staying with
> the aerogen brand but that's because I know nothing
> about other brands of home-based turbines.
> So, are you happy with your turbine? Tell me about it.
Looking at your picture, I'd say your turbine is way too close to roof
height to get decent output. See if you can get it 5m higher up so it's well
out of turbulence from the roof line, then see how the power output is.
Posted by tg on January 19, 2007, 9:15 am
> Looking at your picture, I'd say your turbine is way too close to roof height
to get decent output. See if you can get it 5m
> higher up so it's well out of turbulence from the roof line, then see how the
power output is.
You are correct in what you say but I don't think I can do that.
First of all the neighbours would probably raise hell at the intrusion into
their view.
Secondly the wall isn't strong enough to hold the stress produced by another
five meters of height. The greater the height of the
pole, the more stress on the mounting points.
I agree that it is too close to the roof level but I can't change that, this is
why I was thinking of a bigger turbine.
Do you have a turbine?
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>> On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:19:55 -0400, Derek Broughton
>>
>>>I have one - until the speed governor failed it never came close to 400W
>>>either. In high winds, a 403 should actually generate more power than an
>>>Air-X (by SW Wind's own admission). Now, I'm tripping my breaker
>>>occasionally (like last night), which makes the bearings scream.
>>
>> That's what mine did at first, so I reset the breaker. The second time
>> it tripped I shut off the turbine using the shorting switch, which
>> kept the rotor braked normally. After a few months of being switched
>> off during substantial winds, the switch no longer had any effect,
>Argh! I'm not looking forward to that. Rather than shooting it, are you
>sure it's not just a defective switch? What happens if you take the switch
>out and connect the wires together? Will it put a permanent stop to it?