Green 1kw wind turbine in Northumberland

[Adam]

Hi all, just a few pics of a Navitron 1kw wind turbine in northumberland, it was painted green (Hammerite) to help it blend in to its natural background, youve got to admit that a blue yellow and red turbine would be an eyesore here!
Silent blades fitted, they make a BIG difference!

[Adam]

Another pic the old coal house, houses inverter, controller, timer, relay box, isolator switch and batteries, you will proberbly notice there is only 4 110ah batteries, more batteries will be added later once the system has proved itself.

[Adam]

Pic of controll panel in the house.
Inverter is connected to the house 5amp lighting circuit with 6 sockets also connected to this circuit to run tv, travel kettle, table lamps and to supply central heating pump (for woodburing stove) in case of power cut.
Controll panel can change between mains, inverter or automatic.  Auto simply swiches between inverter and mains via a immersion heater timeswitch, this can be set to switch the inverter on when we are most likley to be in the house ie, morning and evening.
The meters on the panel are; amps in (as you can see it is a healthy 20amps) from turbine, amps out (to inverter) and a battery voltmeter.
The brake switch activates a three pole relay in the controll box. I have'nt found a sutable load to use as a brake yet, ANY IDEAS??
You probably noticed the Morningstar solar controller, controlls battery voltage by activating the dump load, works very well !!!

[Dryjoint]

Hey Adam.  Interesting installation!  I picked up a 1kW unit some time ago -and a tin of dark green Hammerite for exaxtly the same reason as you.  I'd like to know whether you removed the original paint first, or just covered over it?  Mine's got a heavy, but chipped grey finish.  Anyone else repainted their pole?

All the best.

[martin]

nice setup and pics!
My only slight worry is whether the turbine pole is exactly vertical...........it's probably an optical illusion, but in the photo it looks like either the gateposts or tower aren't vertical!

[Adam]

Hi, sorry not been on for a while.
Painting the turbine; i simply just put the green hammerite ontop of the existing paint, plan to take the turbine down every six months or so to check the brushes, fatigue, and to touch up the paint.

Yes Martin you are right! the turbine does appear to have a lean but i assure you it is straight, is was very windy & gusty when i took the pic.  When the wind blows hard it does tend to lean slightly.
The turbine has been running fine for the last few months, but previous i had a prob with the charge controller wich led to me temporarly shorting the wires from the turbine, unfortunatly it picked up & burnt out the windings .  Luckly i still had my old turbine that blew down so i swapped over the windings only to find that the spare windings are only putting out two thirds of the power (i thought that my new turbine was putting far more power out than the old one) i have checked all connections, phases ect and and with some rough calculations ive come to the conclusion my new turbine could eaisly put out 1000 - 1200 watts in a good wind and runs much slower than my old one that can only manage 750 watts in a good wind & possably 1000w in a gale & runs at a much higher speed.

Does anyone of a good rewinder in the northeast? Any idea of cost?
Thanks Adam

ps The aftersales service of Navitron has been excellent, putting this second turbine up would not have been possible without their help

[Alan]

Hello Adam

Have you checked inside the alternator on the three phases going from the brushes to the alternator winding. For the 1 K.W.  – 48 volt machine they should be about 1.8 ohms between any two wires. When the blades are completely stopped. Shorting the out put wires at ground level should not have caused a problem as there are resistance losses in the slip rings and undersized cable. If you wire a three phase bridge rectifier across the phases. And then measure the D.C. voltage on an analogue meter while it is turning this will vary up to 60 volts depending on the load, the needle movement should move slowly and progressively. Any sudden movement indicates slip ring  / brush problems. On the alternator your suspecting of having winding problems, if you wire three 12 or three 24 volt bulbs across the wires coming from the alternator  before the slip rings, you should see them illuminate equally when you turn the machine by hand.

Regards

Alan

[Adam]

Hello Alan
 I have checked the brushes which i first appeared to be problem, the slip rings were black & burnt, after cleaning & reassembleing the voltage was a little higher, but not enough, i then checked each phase, two were low & one seemed ok, i then removed the windings & found them completley black and smelt badly of burnt motor smell.
Thanks for post, adam

[Dryjoint]

Hey Adam,  thanks for the answer.  In the meantime, I've rubbed it and given it 3 coats; looks V. sleek now.

[Adam]

I'm afraid it's caught that snapped bolt disease







Has also bent vertical shaft (one turbine turns on)

[chaso]

Hi Adam,

Could you confirm what the cause of the broken hub/blades was due to.
Was It because of the sliprings failing and overspinning the blades?

Would be interesting to find out.

Thanks Chas

[Panda_Badger]

Hi, sorry to see that the wind has spawned yet more blades of doom. Hope you can get it all sorted.

If this wind continues (as it probably will ) these wind jobbies are going to have to be built like brick outhouses. There must be a furling solution out there somewhere.

All the best,

The Panda.

[Adam]

Hi Adam,

Could you confirm what the cause of the broken hub/blades was due to.
Was It because of the sliprings failing and overspinning the blades?

Would be interesting to find out.

Thanks Chas

Hi Chas, the broken blades are due to faulty hub/snapped bolts, the sliprings were a previous problem which burnt away about 3 weeks ago so i just removed them (second set)
If i were installing a new turbine up i would remove the sliprings pre installation

I have had the turbne 2 years and had a quite few probems (1 caused by me)

I am just a little worried that my site is just too windy for the Navitron turbine and a little concerned about putting it back up

[Alan]

Hello Adam

How long was the casting exposed to the water before you took the picture. One patch of rust is much darker in colour than the others suggesting a defective cast iron casting. As per previous posts cast iron is not a suitable material for that application.
I have made my mounting shaft for pole mounting and the hub from steel which is a much better material.

Regards

Alan

[Adam]

Two days, it's exactly what i thought but on closer inspection those cracks seem fresh they just seemed to rust v quick.