catching up

hi everyone,  I have started a new position with a large company in the electrical field building some vary large systems. the training will continue for about  two years but has already started 3 new projects , on paper at this point. the blogs will be at a slower rate but will be increasing efficiency at most all points of most all systems and the pma design project is moving forward with mind blowing results, think about 58v and 15.8a per coil at 100rpm, the number of coils are only limited by available room for your project. I hope everyone is doing well and will update as often as possible but looks like about once a month till winter sets in, thanks to all for reading.

dump loads, not a good term

hi everyone, the term DUMP LOAD is not a good term because the hole point is to NOT waist ANY power produced. the extra loads applied over and above the set point of the battery charge must be used for an intended purpose and not wasted by them dam things called waist resistors . this is how many systems are designed, I would advise against buying from anyone that uses a waist type system, they don't have the buyers best interests in mind and mostly say its a safety , bull shit, its a lie. my system is mostly home made and I don't have one waist resistor at all. I'm also able to dump 1.7 times my production ability, also all power diverted is used to work some thing useful . I get a return on all power produced like the true wind system was designed to be. also I have a blog on dump loads that cost under 10 bucks and is capable of 4000w , can be used as water heater or used in a air heater. I'm also converting a block heater for my truck for the winter with this same ss threaded rod . your only limited by your imagination . all power produced should be doing some thing useful or its all a waist of time and effort. the point is not to DUMP but rather use the power for all the pleasures of life. food for thought. thanks for reading.

voltage sensing relays ?

hi everyone, I have tested and used voltage sensing relays, most are not suited to windmill control system. this is do to the operating voltage and cycle control type. I was called to check a problem with a guys system, he was using the voltage relay type control board. this was a ebay type unit sold for about 10 - 15$. these can be used but are not properly suited to windmill applications. they work by simply watching voltage and mostly to a single digit . they work but are crud at best. they do not watch the s.o.c  and most are again mechanical relay type, short life.  in a wind burst the system went dead. his system has vary easy access. we tested the output voltage of his mill on my test bench , the output voltage was 68 volts, this was a problem because the voltage sensing board specs say its voltage limit is 90 volts max. any wind bursts can increase voltage to failure point quickly and the relay on all boards iv seen are only 10 amp max. all in all not suited for wind use. if you burn 2 of these boards you could have bought a windandsunpower.com board and never have had any problems to worry about. ------- one piece of info---- many of the 440 amp systems being sold are controlled by these types of so called controllers. there a failure waiting to happen. this is food for thought. thanks for reading.

27amp alt type pma, wow

hi everyone, I was able to assist the build of a heavy equipment alt for wind use. I looks like a cataterpillar , it was yellow and no tags at all. this was given to a friend for wind pma build use. using the original stator windings the alt was converted like any other chevy alt for wind use. he dosn,t have a test bench but I was able to help to get some usable numbers to pick a starter set of blades. after mounted on a pole he recorded a charge amperage of 27 amp in 26mph wind with the blades he had already , blade type is unknown and its a 5 blades system. ether way its some ideas to try for the new people instead of getting drawn into the chevy alt type junk out there. the output is way higher and is the same work to build. I was asked about my build, IM SORRY, I have a third party paying for the R&D of these units and cant release any info until complete. once all done this info will be released with all specs and test info for all to see, this will be a year or so from now. the output of 27 amp is a mild build, that's all I can say. so if your building a pma, its simple, go big or go home. its the same price. food for thought. thanks for reading.

split the power

hi everyone, two of my small mills are on the end of the dock, one low and one high. the low one is at the same height as the high dive and would be a problem for swimmers. for these reasons it is removed for the summer from the pole. the other is at 21ft up and dosn,t  pose any problems. after removing the low mill the higher mill is rewired to dump from its main battery bank to the bank from the lower mill. the higher mills dump load is disconnected and the dump power now feeds the second battery bank, this helps to keep the batteries fresh and dosn,t waist any power to the dumps until both banks are up to charge, at that point the second bank will dump as allways. I only use my small system for l.e.d. lighting in the summer , this works vary well for my usage and duration used. this is a thought for anyone with the need to remove one of there mills for any reason, this also lowers the battery maintenance over the summer months on the second battery bank. food for thought.

pma assembly tips

hi everyone, these are some tips to help with the assembly of a pma for long term use. these tips are what works for me and has proved true time and time again. after all work and testing is done , this means any and all work is complete and is ready for install. at this point you need to completely dismantle the unit, the bearing need the grease removed and new extreme low temp grease installed, one vary small drop at each ball on one side and 3-4 drops of lucas stabilizer on the other side. if your rear bearing is a needle bearing, use the same extreme low temp grease and about 1/4 fill the bearing cup with lucas, at assembly you will use one strand of wire from a 14 wire placed in the seal while installing the rotor to allow any extra oil to leave the bearing. the inside of the casing needs to be painted to stop any corrosion . the rotor needs to be painted also for corrosion . if the pma is a 3 phase any conections must get a piece of shrink tube before being secured down, the wires from each phase needs to be long enough to reach the first connection at the slip ring without any splices. these wires also need to be secured to the pma rear housing after the stator is installed. if the pma is a dc type you also need to use dielectric grease on all bolts and electrical connections for the rectifier . the stator should already have a coating on it to protect the windings, if not you MUST coat the windings with something to protect them from vibration in the wire from the eddie currents and frequencies , these cause the wire to try to move around and rub together and cause shorts over time. I use 5 minute apoxy on the units with no coatings, let the stator warm in the sun or nere a heater before applying the apoxy and it will be drawn into the center of the stator core by the heat, no extreme heat only good and warm to the touch. try not to be messy because you will be cleaning a lot to get it to assemble again. now when your assembling the pma you need to coat all bearing surfaces with grease on the rotor, there is usually two types of casings used, two front covers, one front and one back, this is the better in my opinion because of the larger bearings on both ends , this type can only be used on the three phase because you cant install the rectifier in this configuration . the standard rear casing must be installed in the proper way because there is drain holes at the bottom and the wires should exit also at the bottom , look at the casing and you will see the holes I'm talking about. the wires need to be secured to the rear pma housing before the rotor is installed and checked for clearance of any rotating parts of the rotor. the screws for assembling the cases need to be greased with dielectric grease for corrosion and will fuse to aluminum from the field currents being absorbed through the cases when in service over time. after assembly everything should be checked for clearance and smooth operation, once everything is good you can paint the outer casing if you have not already. once complete the unit should be tested on a test bench for all the needed install data , these numbers will let you use the right parts for the install the first time and save any extra work and time. the blades need to be balanced, this is done with a string and a thimble, most thimbles have one dimple in the center on the top, drill this dimple to the string size and install the string, insert the thimble through the hub and to the ceiling, this should be done inside so any wind wont be a problem. take a measurement from the tip of each blade to the floor and add any weight to the tips as needed, flat washers work good, if you need any more than two washers for any one blade you should move blades around as needed to achieve the balance, this can be time consuming if your using home made blades, each blade should be balanced before assembly to help speed this assembly up.  this is the process I use and has given vary good results every time. I hope this helps anyone with the assembly of a pma, if any help is needed just ask. thanks for reading.

adding 2 blades

hi everyone, today I decided to add 2 blades to a small test mill I have. it had 3 hemi blades and is 14 ft above the lake at the end of the dock. I'm in a low wind area and on a average day it seldom will use the dump system, now I added 2 blades for a total of 5 blades, the dump system was seldom used on a average day prior to adding 2 more blades, now it uses the dump system most of the time. in low wind the blade count and type are critical for success . I use hemi blades for all my smaller mills in low wind. plane and simple , they work and vary good for lowwind. one of the easiest ways to check your systems output is with the use of a watt hour meter, the average over time is the best way to test and make any adjustments with. pick a time frame of about 8 hours and a start time and check it every 8 hours for several days and you will find when you best power times are and also record the wind speeds as often as possible. the time spent will give the info to make any changes needed quickly and accurately. the smallest change to the right parts can give big changes to the output. food for thought. thanks for reading. you will also find with a watt hour meter that the wattage for your pma is not the advertised wattage.

l.e.d,s and wind mills

hi everyone, I was talking to a guy with a vary large l.e.d system for his property , it was wired directly to a battery system and a battery charger. he recently installed a wind mill and most of the l.e.d,s are now burnt. most l.e.d systems cannot be wired directly to a wind system because the voltages seen by the l.e.d. system will be the dc charge voltage , this is most often way higher than the battery voltage. a battery charge voltage at the battery might be say 13.9 or so but the in coming voltage to the battery can be as high as 60 volts , the l.e.d. system wired direct will see the 60 volts. these systems need a driver to regulate the voltage and amperage for the system when a wind mill is used. the charger system he was using will adjust the voltage to about 13.9-14.2 volts and never have caused a problem until the wind mill started to charge and the lights when out. if your using any l.e.d,s in your system make sure there on a driver circuit rated for the size of system your using to be problem free. most other components of a wind system like inverters are made to take full voltage and amperage and the unit will deal with any needed changes to the supply power as needed, the l.e.d,s will not and require a driver to do this adjustment to protect the systems as required. this is the largest l.e.d. system iv ever seen , it draws 23.5 amps continues and light most all of his property. food for thought. thanks for reading.

watch for the hologram effect

hi everyone, the hologram effect is alive and well, there are several sellers that over rate the ability of there parts and units for sale, if they told the truth you wouldn't buy them. in the blogs below several lies are uncovered, most of the sellers lie because if they don't they wouldn't sell anything , the experienced guy wouldn't buy because they know the lies and what to expect in the real world and also how easy it is to make there own parts and where to buy when they need to purchase anything. if I told you I have a chevy type pma for sale that putout 250w in 20mph wind you would think im crazy and would never sell that unit. BUT you didn't ask the right questions, because this pma,s rating is power production into the battery bank and is one of the best real world number you will see from a alt type pma. this pma has a sales pitch rating of 1400w, and would be bull shit to advertise this number because you could never reach this number in service in the real world, the facts are simple, its a 250w pma  and nothing more, any other numbers are lies and used for sales to make it sound way better than it realy is. I cant stress enough the importance of the home work and asking questions if you don't know or are having troubles. the rectifier is a simple piece and most are saying 90-100amp, if you go outside and look at the power line feeding a older home it would be 100 amp service, look at the size of wire, the RMS factor is .707 to get the dc power equivalent , then look at the little wires at the rectifier  and ask who is bull shitting who, these are the people selling the parts ? . I here every single day of people getting ripped off and would like to see this stopped. the blades is the area I see the biggest lies, people just don't know that much about blades when they start out in wind generators. its one of the easiest scams for the sellers, most will tell you they have the best blades on the market and not knowing much about blades many will agree with the sellers from lack of knowledge. this could be the area that needs one of the most study time if you don't want to be screwed, warlock.com has a good blade calculator and try to find as much info on any blades your thinking about before buying and ask a lot of questions with many different people and sites, low wind blades is the hardest because nothing is forgiving, with little wind it will work or not, there,s not much in between. try your hardest to not get a cogging mill for low wind, you will spend more to get it to work right and will still be down on watt hour numbers over time, a small amount of cogging could be acceptable but is not wanted. any mill that has cogging to the point that it feels like a steel gear with a bad bearing should not be used at all. I could go forever on things to watch for but the buyer needs to ask the rite questions and do the home work, help is never far away, your here now, if I can help just ask. thanks for reading.

alt type pma ?

hi everyone. I was asked witch type of alternator to use to build a pma. these are my thoughts. most people use the chevy alts because the parts are every where, almost any alt can be used, my thoughts are to use the biggest one you can get your hands on, it will have a larger stator winding and a higher surface speed resulting in higher output most often .keep in mine in most cases you will be rewinding the stator, most all alts use way to heavy of a wire for wind use. your looking for the biggest diameter across the stator you can find and the most slots in the stator you can find. if your lucky , you might find a skewered stator, this is when the wire windings are on a angle across the stator, this would be a awesome find, this saves the headache of angling the magnets. the magnets should be the strongest ones you can get for your application , the stronger the magnet the higher the output will be. there are several pics on the net for rotor design, there is a million ideas on this topic, just use as many magnets as you can fit into the rotor and as strong a magnet as you can get. most are using ether 7 or 14 magnets in there designs, I have seen as low as 5 and as high as 18 in a alt type pma, you will need to figure out the amount of magnets for the room your rotor has. so the chevy has the most available parts but is a smaller alt, the diesel transports and equipment have a lot larger alts to use and will net more power at the end of your efforts , these are my thoughts. thanks for reading.

info on low wind blades 5-15 mph

hi everyone, I was talking to a guy today about blades for low wind. he was under the idea that he would need 3 blade raptor setup because he needs speed and the lower the blade count the higher the prm would be, raptor blades ARE ONLY HIGH WIND BLADES and will not work in low wind areas. in a LOW WIND area most of the blade count and type rules DO NOT APPLY, wind power is not proportional to wind speed, its better than proportional. the amount of power in the wind at 20mph is about 8-10 times the power in the wind at 10mph. for low wind the blade count and type are critical for success. I have found the hemi blades to be the best blades by far in low wind, also a count of 5 blades minimum for the best results. 3 blades work but will be lacking some speed and torque dependant on the gen used. it is also important to have the gen on a 5 deg angle upwards, I have tried three deg but find a better start up at five deg, cogging can be a BIG problem in low wind areas, the start up is so much higher that your watt hours will be down a great amount over time, 7 blade hemi system can help a lot but costs more and no one to my knowledge no one makes a 7 blade hub, you will have to make your own. 2 three blade hubs can be put together to make a six blade if needed. im trying to make a vary good set of pvc blades for low wind but my design still needs some work at this point, the start up is almost perfect but the speed is lacking at this point, work will continue. when it comes to low wind and if your purchasing your blades you must get the hemi blades to have any chance from my 4 years and 8 sets of blades experience with the small mills. there is only so much power in the wind so you need to use as much as possible or all if possible, the blade type and count are critical to success in any low wind area. I use 3 and 5 blade hemi blades, the 3 blade system is used mostly for testing and the in use mills all have 5 blade hemi systems. I had a 11 blade raptor system I was sucked into buying and it didn't work half as good as the 5 blade hemi system. I don't care witch pma / pmg or gen you have the blades is the only chance you have to make it work properly, home work home work home work. remember that low wind is its own beast and needs to be treated as such, a hole separate type of wind mill. the most amount of lies are in the low wind end of things so use caution when you here the term LOW WIND. see the next post. thanks for reading. the hemi blades can be found at prestowind.com.

1000w worth of lies

hi everyone, today I was able to test a 1000w pma , brand new and out of the box. this was sold as a 1000w 3 phase ac low wind pma. so lets see what the test bench has to say. first we checked the open circuit voltage, this is how they sell them. we got 88.6 volts at 800rpm, next we checked the dead short amperage, we got 14.81amp and it was stalling the test bench motor at 325rpm. so far the numbers were not what was advertised but the use of these numbers gives a wattage of 1312watts. so lets see the real word numbers. we installed the pma onto the test bench, the controller was set for a dump of 13.9 volts into two 1000cca auto batteries, the batteries were at 12.81 volts at the start of the test, the dumps used were 2 200watt waist resistors. so lets see the real world at work. first we tested for cut in rpm, the batteries started to charge at 290 rpm, just a little high for low wind, next at 500 rpm we were seeing 3 amp =41.7 watts, next at 700 rpm we were seeing 5.5 amp = 69.5 watts, next at 850 rpm we were seeing 7.6 amp = 105.64 watts, next at 1000 rpm we were seeing 9.7 amp = 134.83 watts, next was all out for the test bench with this pma and direct drive gearing, 1565rpm and we were seeing 11.4 amp = 158.46 watts. so after looking at the wattage the pma owner asked , where the hell is my wattage that I payed for, like I said at the beginning of the test, this will show the REAL WORLD USABLE WATTAGES. the advertised wattage is almost allways derived from the open circuit and dead short numbers and do not mean any thing at all, JUST A SALES PITCH. this is a reasonable pma and has cogging witch will cost more for blades to make it run properly in low wind like it was sold as, a low wind pma ? . from experience you could expect to see a average of about 4-8 amp from this unit, a far cry from the sales pitch of a 1000 watts they made it look like. it all comes back to home work, the scammers are everywhere, this type of wattage calculation is almost a standard and is a flat out lie and deceiving to the buyers. the only numbers that matter are the numbers that are going into the battery bank and are useable, the rest is all bs. add the numbers and do the math, you will find so many lies so fast it will make your head spin. this pma was from the southern states but all most all the sellers calculate the same way, food for thought. thanks for reading.--------------------------------------------------------------- a update, this pma has been in service for only one week and has failed , it has one burnt phase and seems to have burnt in the center of the windings in one phase. this would be a manufacturing problem. not shure if this type of problem can be found but buying quality parts will help. try your best to get quality parts, there not always from the biggest sellers.

wind mill crazy things that work

hi everyone, just looking through some old notes. heres a couple crazy things iv tried that work or improved the wind mills. using a standard 1/4 hp electric motor, I drilled 3/4" holes x 2 wide and in 4 places around the rotor, { each quarter turn } pressed in some magnets and reassembled the motor. it made 220w on a test bench. no other specs were recorded, sorry. when rewiring a stator I goofed and made a 2 phase, so I wired each coil to its own rectifier and they wern,t evenly spaced in the stator, it still made 190w at 1100rpm. I converted a dc unit for a guy with no parts, removed the rec and used extension cord and used the rec that was removed from the mill at the other end, the rectifier ran hot but worked for over two years in the rain and snow and sun, he sat the unit on the porch roof ? . I had no controller for a small mill at the camp and used a voltage sensing relay and a burnt heater coil, the batteries never over charged for 5 months till it was fixed properly. one mill I was given had a burnt phase, just cut the wire out of the star connection and deleted that phase and it used to output about 12 amp and now put out 7.5 amp but at 200 rpm higher . just added 2 caps across the three phase rec poles ac side { 50v 2200uf } and amps when up 10%, not bad for 2$. hub spacers are expensive to buy, just use thick washers, one on each side. any nut and bolt company will have these and I get 10 for 5$ and don't own even one purchased hub spacer, I only use the thick washers. if your mill puts out 10amp or less don't buy a controller just use a motorcycle reg/rec from a 600cc or larger bike, no dump needed and will work for ever at 10amp or under but you need to run a ground wire from the reg/rec housing to the battery ground. a 1/4" stainless rod 36" long has 4000w dump load ability and cost 7.89$ at lowes, just a little food for thought. thanks for reading.

charging current ac / dc ?

hi everyone, I was asked witch is better, ac power or dc power. a local is trying to figure out which to use and any advantages to ether one. these are my thoughts from my systems at my location. ac / dc are both a good system but the run length of the wire needed to reach your battery is what I use to decide witch system to use. on any length over 45 - 50 ft I  use ac 3 phase and any thing under 45 - 50ft I would use ether one, dependant on the parts I have at the time. the system it self is the same build less one wire but the ac power travels a longer distance for the same loses and can use a smaller awg wire saving a little $ . I find ac power lets the slip rings live longer again saving some $. also the ac power system puts the rectifier at a easy access place off the tower for easier maintenance . at the end of the day its not a major difference unless your wire run is a long one, if so use three phase ac , easier and cheaper overall . this will also let you play with voltage doublers , amperage enhancer systems , or voltage reducers for other systems like 6 volt charging and l.e.d. systems without climbing a tower for any changes. my preference is the three phase ac but there is nothing wrong with the dc type systems, just watch the wire distances. for any calculators go to { the12volt }. thanks for reading.

pma mount lower bearings

hi everyone, I was asked what I use for a lower mount pivot bearing on my smaller mills. many sites are selling the needle bearings, every time iv tried one it failed in a month or less. I use bearing # 51110 , and a pipe plug cap over the bearing to protect it from the weather. the pipe plug caps can be found at any hydrolic repair shop. cut the inside to fit over the pipe, tight fit is preferred. grease the bearing with extream low temp grease and place the pipe plug over the bearing and reinstall the pma. I have two in use now and one has 2 years on it and has never been touched since installed and works fine. these are cheap on ebay 5$ give or take and work way better than the needle bearings. smoth spinning everyone. thanks for reading.

low wind secrets

hi everyone, today I was talking to a guy in town about wind mills, he had many questions about many topics. we talked for about 2 hours and I told him about my blogs, he has been doing research and thinking about installing a system but has concerns and many questions so has been talking with he says 10-15 sites and getting the picture that a wind mill system will cost about 2500-3500$ plus the batteries and the tower, witch he was told will need to be 75ft or taller ?. well I told him to start his research over again and gave him 6 sites to start with. later he called me and is excited now and cant believe all the lies and misconceptions from the people and sites from the first study he did. he calculated the cost from the new studies and came up with 800$ all in less the 41 ft tower that he really needs. home work again is the key to a good and cost effective system. he also got a eye opener about the real wattage to expect in the real world. he was told by several sites 1000w and up was no problem at almost any time, this was a big lie anyone will tell you that has a system using altenator type wind mills, this was the type they all wanted to sell. many have started out like this and this kinda angers me that there are that many sites tring to rip people off on a daily bases . please people do the home work on every step of the way, everyone seems to want to rip you off. the sites to start with are { windandsunpower.com  -----  poorman guides ----- toppentech.com ----- thegizmologist,s lair ------ the12volt ----- gadgettswind.BlogSpot.com----- 6pie.com -------- and ebay ------ note on ebay, this is for parts only and be cautious with the sellers. if your handy at all you can build a good system for a reasonable price that works good and is useful . do the research and ask a lot of questions and verify all answers to find the truth and lies, there will be many lies, the time spent studying will be well worth the outcome. I hope this helps with the project, if I can help, IM IN . thanks for reading.------- there are several secrets are in the blogs below, read on and see.

charge controler, too easy

hi everyone, I just finished working on one of my small battery banks. every time I work on one  of my banks its so easy because of the controllers and its configuration , vary simple 4 wire install-- pos / neg and the pos / neg for the dump, 18 awg that's it. no cables or anything else to play with.the controller is made by windandsunpower.com and is also the cheapest iv found. I use the ssr relays and it makes every thing so easy. if your using one of the 440amp mechanical relay type controllers ,you really need to check this out, you will never go back to mechanical relay type again. the accuracy is amazing and will hold to .04 volts on the smaller systems and .06 on a 55amp system, iv never seen or herd of any better. I love this controller and would never think of using any other. check it out. thanks for reading.

pma/gen lining, more power

hi everyone, im not done testing yet but the results up to now are amazing, im testing a lining around the inside of the pma, a sheet metal / tin lining covering all the aluminum outer casing and up and around the ends of the windings extending almost to the rotor shaft. the gause meter before and after readings on the outside and ends of the pma , they were only 1/4 after the lining was installed and the output of the pma was 12% higher. like I said this is still being tested but looks vary promising upgrade. I found this idea on the net and adapted it to the pma. the lining must fit tight to the stator and not touch the windings or the rotor shaft. I will be updating this post, I am tring a different type of gen to verify these findings will improve other types of gen/pma . if anyone knows of this update or mod , try this . thanks for reading.

battery maintenance, longer life

hi everyone, I use 4 1000cca automotive type batteries on my blade test stand, also to test battery life and any ideas that might be a problem to my main system. over the last couple days I drained the batteries down to a stable 10.5 volts and recharged using a home made battery desulfator { see poorman guides } on the net. I decided to do this because they wouldn't hold a 12.7 volt or higher charge anymore. the batteries were separated and drained to a stable 10.5 volts and recharged to 15 volts using the home made desulfator , when each battery stabilized at 12.7 or better I take it as good to go. one battery needed to be charged three time to get it to stabilize at the 12.7 volt or higher, the problem battery, the one that took three charge cycles was draining the other three batteries , this has now been fixed with the desulfator and should have a good charge up ability and hold the charge as intended. these batteries have been in this bank since august 10 2015, not even a year but were used when I got them. I did desulfate them before they went into service on the test stand, this shows how short the life of auto batteries can be in a wind system, close watch and maintenance will lengthen there life , the system was then fully charged to 13.8 volts with a battery charger and connected back into the system as used in service, until the dumps were being used. then the charger was removed and the batteries stabilized at 12.82 volts like they should, my bank is back up and operating properly again, this should be done when the batteries are not taking the full charge any more, this will lengthen there life and give a better service ability while in use. food for thought. thanks for reading

need help

hi everyone, I was asked if I would help a vary nice fella, the answer will always be YES. if im able to help with my knowledge or experience I will. im no expert by any means but will always try to help. I will help to compare info or parts specs or just advice,  if your new to wind please ask any questions at all, there are no stupid questions , the questions not asked will be the most damaging, I know , iv been there . so if your not shure just ask, the worst that can happen is I don't know the answer but might be able to help find the answer. thanks for reading.

wind mill magnets, magnetic lines are crooked ?

hi everyone, look at these pics first, see what you think.

 pic #1

 pic #2

 pic #3

 pic #4

 pic #5

 pic #6

 pic #7

pic #8   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------can anyone find a straight line of flux in any pic but #4, me ether, none to be found. so why is all gens set up that every thing is about straight lines ? , the magnetic flux is not in straight lines in any testing that iv done or seen . the only straight lines you will ever see are drawn in and not actual lines of flux. the only time I ever seen straight lines of flux is when two magnets are beside or above each other and not in motion and not with any conductor between them. everyone knows that on the smaller pma,s to angle the magnets to lower the cogging, but doing this gets away from the straight lines, so why dose this work ?. maybe its no about straight lines and more about fallowing the lines of flux in there natural motion or curvature, just a thought. magnetic lines of flux cannot be cancelled or ended but only diverted or rerouted, when angling the magnets in most cases your effecting two coils at once and reducing the amount of magnetic pull by the number of effected coils, the more coils effected the lower the cogging effect, but the more the lines of flux is distributed between other coils and not as much on the coil its effecting directly.  also the lag effect as I call it is not falling behind but rather pushing forward on the lines of flux also effecting when and where the lines of flux are in proportion to the magnet it self. these are the reasons I believe there is so much more to be found in the magnetic end of the wind mills, also why I think the shapes that are being used need to be revisited , some of the hawt gens out there are a work of art, hats off to most of the guys building them. I just think there is still a lot of room to improve, remember some thought tesla was nuts too, could you imagine if tesla was still alive what the world would be like. anyway these are the thoughts that keep me and many others up at night. food for thought. thanks for reading.    the top pic is what comes to mind when I here the term eddie currents.                                                                  

small mill, easy to find parts

hi everyone, I just got off a 55 minute phone call with a guy having trouble tring to figure out all the info from 4 sellers on a controller for a 5-9amp output pma. his comment was, each sellers info conflicted with each others info and I feel like its all bull shit. well after talking for a few minutes he was right, all bull shit, they wanted to sell him a 440amp controller and 500w waist resistors for the dump , this was a rip him off sales pitch. the other wanted to sell him a 60amp controller, a little over kill for a 9amp max output pma. im glad he called because he dosnt need to buy anyones controller . at this output of 10 amp and under all you need is a motorcycle regulator/rectifier unit from a 600cc or larger motorcycle, these units can handle 20amp all day long when mounted to a heat sink. they rectify and regulate the voltage to battery charge voltage just like the bike would only at a lesser rate because of the incoming charge is lower than the bike would be. I have used one for 2 years and was removed and the mill was wired to my newer system. the unit still works fine and is used regularly on my test bench for the smaller mills. the guys mill is 9.1 amp max output at 1495rpm, I know I built and tested this unit, he knows to overdrive this unit as was told when he bought the unit. but like many are new to wind and need to ask as many questions as possible and weed out the bs. one note if your going to use the motorcycle regulator you MUST run a ground wire from the reg mount bolt hole to the battery negative post, this is how they sense the regulation voltage. the small mills only need small controllers . no dump loads needed with the small ones and the motorcycle reg at 10 amps, like my rule to live by--home work--home work-- home work-- and when not sure ask a lot of questions. hope this helps anyone in this type of problem. thanks for reading.

blades for low wind 5-15 mph

hi everyone, finding good blades for a low wind area { 5-15mph } that work can be hard. these are what works for me. if your buying blades then you WILL need the hemi blades or ones similar , I have tried 6 different purchased blades and the ONLY ones that work properly and on ALL my alt type pma,s are the hemi  blades . the raptor blades DO NOT WORK in low wind, I hade 11 blade raptors and did not work half as good as the 5 blade hemi blades, these are ONLY high wind blades. I also make a lot of my own blades now and there is a lot of info on the net about making pvc blades. from my findings and some vary good advice, you shouldn't have any points or corners at all on the blades, this causes turbulence in the air flow around the blade, always rounded edges and the leading and trailing sides need to be contoured as the following pics. the pvc blades should always have a leading edge equal to the mount bolt line because of the curvature of the pipe, this edge causes a hugh drag . the hubs need cooling holes, if the hub you have for your blades doesn't have cooling holes you NEED to put in some cooling holes, the gen WILL run hot in summer. I have recorded 95deg on my small one more than once, and not that windy of a day. with the cooling holes I have not recorded more than 64deg in july heat , that one puts out 14amp on a good day. cooling holes are a must. balancing is also a must on any and all blade assemblies, this will also give longer bearing life and less or no vibrations = less noise. I always paint my blades and wax them, they look better and clear any snow off in the first turn at start up. I hope this helps with the hard to find low wind blades that work. thanks for reading.

balancing

vary good blades

hemi blades

blade profiles

blades drag area

good home made blades

good blades

Next post explained

hi everyone, I,ll give my thoughts on the pics in the next post as asked. the first pic is a pma mount, I have built one like this in 45 minutes. I used 4.5ft of 1 1/2" square tube, 4 " of  1 1/2 angle iron but instead of the bolt I used 3/4" water pipe , this lets you run the wires through or a slip ring. they work well and vary cheap. the second pic is a hawt style gen, a vary nice design, compact and simple. also built with a lot of thought, magnet support, cooling holes, assembly holes, easly sourced hub mounts and a magnet worth using. the next pic is a idea for a adjustable pitch design or at least a good starting point. the next pic is a overdrive system similar to the one I use and can work extremely well on low output units or high rpm motors. the next pic is one of a million ideas for a rotor assembly, this one is easy and can be built with only a little machining needed at the end before the magnets are installed, the next pic is a simple but genious idea, all blades should be checked for balance before install, this system can be made for about .50$ and 10 minutes of time and works vary well. the next pic is a vary good idea for a adjustable pitch blade system, this one is manual adjust but will let the user find the proper blade angle easily and cheap. the next pic is a vary well though out set of home made blades, nice job. I built a set similar to these and they work vary well in most wind 10 - 30 mph on a 16amp output pma, home made blades are cheap and easly made. the next pic is a bicycle speedo used to reed the rpm of the pma, cheap and easy, set for 27cm and now its mph x 100 = rpm, that easy. the next pics are other types of the same things done a different way. the net has many vary good ideas, spend some time , you will fine neverending possibilities . this is food for thought. thanks for reading.

wind idea,s good ones

pma mount

hawt type gen

adjustable hub

over drive system

home made rotor

balancing

adjustable pitch system

hawt style rotor

vary good home made blades

tach system cheap

pma mount home made good job

home made blades

just frigging cool

best blade design practices

vary good pma mount

below-- home made slip ring, nice job

idea for test bench

bearing mounted pma mount, best for long life

good home made blades

hi everyone , just thought might like a idea or two, I found these on the net. these are some of the best ideas that are easy to make by the home made wind mill type guy,s. enjoy.

new to wind dont get screwed

hi everyone, if your new or trying to figure out what parts or system to buy for your wind system LISTEN UP, these bits of info are from experience and from getting screwed . I,ll try really hard to not point fingers. so here we go. if your looking at BLADES don't buy from any jack asses driving a truck with a wind mill mounted in the back for blade testing, they don't no anything about blades if they test like that. if there the sword type they are ONLY for high wind areas, make sure you know your average wind speed for your area. most all blade sellers will tell you they have the best blades on the market, the truth is that each wind zone needs a different blade and gets harder the lower the wind zone. check into home made blades, there is a lot of good to great designs on the net and are vary cheap to make. do your home work. STATORS many sellers claim 1000w or 1800w from a altenator style stator, BULL SHIT. add the numbers and see { 1800w / 14v = 128.5A } never in a million years so { 1800w / 24v = 64.28A } again never in a million years, so { 1800w / 100v = 18A } so might be possible just not likely , the rpm needed for any of there numbers to be any good would never be reachable by a wind driven anything. the alt type units are lower output and that is fine but are sold as a lot higher output than they really are and that's the part that pisses me off, don't lie I got big shoulders, I can handle the truth., but they no they cant sell them if they tell the truth. again do your home work. CONTROLLERS this is almost mystical to find a seller not bullshiting about there controller, there are some good controllers out there but this is one of the hardest to figure out the bs. any of the good controllers DO NOT have a pretty enclosure and a bunch of digital gauges and buttons all over them. the good ones are a simple unit because once set it is left alone and no longer needing to be screwed with. and are not mechanical short life units. there is only three I would even consider using and none have gauges and a prettied up enclosure, they are down to business only, no bs .home work home work home work.  MOUNTS the c type mounts used for the altenater  style are a complete waist of money, there are several vary good ideas on the net. look up pma mounts there easy to build and some can be purchased, the c chanel type will piss you off guaranteed , are noisy and poor all around units. RECTIFIERS everyone iv tested was over rated to way over rated, the basic is to use at 1/4 of its rating believe it or make sure its in a fire proof area, one of my tests set the chines ones on fire in 10 seconds at 2/3 of its rating. the most known wind and solar sites are selling the chines ones at double the price to buy from ebay. these rectifiers are ok units but for 20a or less, there labelled  as 90-100a and will never handle this number I guarantee you. I recommend buying a lot larger than needed, you will be safe and have room to expand later if needed. DUMP LOADS stop and read this. do not buy any dump loads from anyone, there all vary expensive and low wattage for there price. all you need is a 1/4" stainless all threaded rod, it come in 36" length and is good to handle 4000w reliably , can be cut to different lengths if needed and bent to shape as needed, cutting to a lesser length will change the wattage abiliy. can be used in water or in open air and costs 7.89$ each at lowes. one of my blogs is a test on this type of dump load. vary durable. CABLES don't listen to the welding cable garbage, also mentioned in one of my blogs. I have used extention cords from day one on my smaller mills and never had a problem, use the right awg for your power output and length and leave the ends on, my cords are 100ft long, also a blog on this. the home work is the key, there is a lot of lies and misconceptions from sellers that cant sell if they don't lie, no one would buy if they knew the truth. leaving out any info is the same as lying isn't it. I have purchased from allmost all major wind and solar sites and will warn you to be cautious , I have been screwed by all but one from Michigan . the biggest in the southern states is also the biggest scammer. BE CAUTIOUS and do the home work. I hope this saves someone or everyone the getting screwed part. thanks for reading

boost the little ones

hi everyone, the smaller mills could use a boost in the amperage end of things, most are lower output 8-15 amp and on the edge of even being a usable stand alone system, more of a small battery charger for the shed. the output can be raised 10-20% with a simple mod. this mod is from { toppentech.com } you will need to separate the connection at the stator were the three wires for the star connection is, attach a new wire to each and run them out with the original three wires. you will have to identify each coils wires and separate .re assemble the p.m.a. . the new six wire pma wires will all go to three small rectifiers, single phase one,s . the positive wire WILL be the original wires and the negative WILL be the new wires added . one rectifier for each phase, you will be adding a 60v 4700uf capasitor across the positive and negative poles of the rectifiers. the END wires will be the new pos/neg as per the rectifiers poles. this works well every time on all units tested to date, output has increased every time. im working on a system like this for the large output hawt type units, at this time I have burnt several parts and the system is not the same as size and output increases but am moving forward . as of now the lower end of power cut in has been lowered 22% but as production increases the system at present fails the amperage ability. work will continue, I will get this working, its free amperage and I want it. if you decide to try this go to toppentech for the fine details, he really is thorough in his explinations. thanks for reading.

test stands, and benchs

hi everyone, when a gen is bought , built or made it is a must to test before mounting on a pole and guessing what should happen and at what rpm, the output must be known to select the right parts for the install. a test bench is a valuable tool and priceless especially if there is any problems that will need to be corrected before mounting, the cut in speed under load is a must to know, any guessing when it comes to blades will cost a lot of money and or a lot of time, knowing this number will cut down the guess work. I made a gen test bench with a piece of ply wood and a 3/4hp motor and a chain and a selection of sprockets , I use chain on my test bench to not worry about belt slip and tension , the motor is also adjustable for rpm and with the gear selection im able to drive the gen,s I test at, direct, under drive and over drive, and do in most testing because I want max amps from every install { that is the point isn,t it } knowing the cut in rpm, the max amps and what rpm there at will let the builder select the proper , slip ring, rectifier, cable size and a vary good guess for blades before any assembly time is wasted guessing. if the rpm numbers are high a test for a over drive ratio can be calculated , a amp meter can be installed on the drive motor to see the start up needed especially if the gen has cogging, this will change the blades needed for a over drive system by a lot . a blade test stand is also a valuable tool, I use one gen only for blade testing {the ONLY factor change is the blades } and never move the test stand. this has worked vary good for me and I find a good set or a poor set of blades quickly. my blade test stand has a hall sensor tach and a amp meter, also I have a wind speed meter . all my blades are numbered and are recorded with the specs so when I need a set of blades I have the proper specs for that set of blades. the time spent to build a test stand and test bench is priceless and a hugh problem and time solver . I talked two people into building them and now wont do anything without them and the recorded results, once you build one or both you wont want to do without. NOTE ; do not listen to the bs open voltage and dead short numbers, these numbers only mean that if your cable is cut you will see a set voltage and if your cable or system dead shorts out you will see a set amperage. both are stupid numbers that are not useful in any way unless you are not connecting any cables or connecting all power lines together and are used as a sales pitch to make it sound better than it really is, these test stands and test benchs will prove there numbers wrong every time, THERE ALL LIES. thanks for reading.

gear up the small ones

hi everyone, one of my small gen,s is a low output one, { I have trouble getting rid of this one, it does everything perfect but the output amperage is low } and oddly is almost perfect. these are the results of gearing it up 2/1. ok this is a modified alt, it has NO cogging at all. it uses a larger bearing on both ends, and is silent when running at any speed. what more could you ask for, maybe some amperage would be good. this one puts out 3.5amp in a storm, low output I know, but it does everything else vary good and has been on a pole for two years and works perfect except the output. so I thought I would try to gear it up, well it was a vary good idea. I added a lay shaft and two to one over drive gearing { #35 chain drive } turned the gen backwards on the mounts , and made a new hub mount to accept the standard hubs I use. I did change to a five blade from a three blade. back on the same pole and its only at 14 feet above the water on a lake at the end of the dock. yesterday we got the wind needed to see if it was worth the efforts. before any changes the highest amps seen by this little one was 3.65amp and you would of thought the house was going to move in that much wind. the new numbers are 8.99amp, WOW and the highest wind I seen on the wind speed meter was 22mph, not a really high wind. a huge change for such a simple modification . I watched the amp meter for 2 hours to see if it would hit a solid 9 amp and no go, it just wasn,t giving the 9 amp to me, no way no how. anyway the amps over doubled by a simple gearing to 2 / 1 or doubling the speed and adding 2 more blades. the start up was about the same but wasn,t able to see or record the speed that charging started at, the noise level was vary low but was a little noisier than before, vary minimal though, I don't think this would be a good mod for a cogging mill though, the start up would need such a high wind it wouldn't be any good without a big storm on the go. im already thinking why not 3 / 1 in the future this will be tried and we will see where this little one go,s from here, till then its food for thought. thanks for reading.

components area / room

hi everyone, when a system is being thought out, there are many things to decide on, these decisions can help or hurt you in the long run. take the time to look at all options and make an informed plan before you start. these are my thoughts on the components and there placement within the system. first the yard and house and house layout all need to be considered as one workable area, the closer components the lower the loses and the better the efficiency . this can prove to be vary hard in many cases. remember that ac power has less loses for length than dc power . also the components area  / location should be as close as possible to the heavier drawing systems like the dump loads { water heaters, space heaters or any other heavy load }. this will help minimise the dc loses. I think the disconnects and rectifiers should be outside , easier access to the disconnects for the emergency crews if needed and the rectifiers can burn up in an extreme storm, this is much safer in my opinion. these need to be near the battery bank. the battery bank I like in the house or a warmer area, the bank / s will be in there own enclosure and vented with fans and ducting to outside as needed. the battery should also be as close as possible to the 2 buss systems but should have a separation of some kind { keep batteries from any sparks or high heat source for safety }. the mounting area for the components should no be flammable { I see ply wood used often, this is a fire hazard } to mount the shunts, ssr relays , relays, cables, controller and any other system components you will be using in your system. I like to use fire board backed by a piece of dry wall on a piece of ply wood, this configuration exceeds code in my area. the dry wall is all that is needed in many location, this will need to be checked. the controller and any electronics should be in an enclosure then mounted to the board. the dump system and the draw system should be mounted so there separate on the board, easier to identify . the ssr,s all need a heat sink this can use a fair amount a space. the shunts if used should also be in a separate area on the board. do not mount any of the dump loads them self to the board only the ssr,s or relays. the dump loads if there resistors, should be in a enclosure to protect people from getting burnt and for fire protection, follow manufacture recommendations for mounting all dump loads. mount the breakers and any fuses to this board also, they should be setup as to have the dump ones and the draw one organized with the layout of the board. the ssr,s should be organized for a cooling fan in my opinion, added safety and better efficiency overall . this board should be as close as possible to the main breaker panel for the house if you will be using inverters, this also can be vary hard in many cases. the ac loses will usually be minimal in these inverter parts of the install. all connections to the ac of the house will need to meet code like any other ac connection. the dc side will need to meet the low voltage or dc code for your area. on the dc code you will need a fire ext within 10 feet in my area. also I like to paint the board with a standard interior house paint because any high heat areas will dicolour the paint { use a lighter colour paint seems to work good } and show a possible problem area . the board can get large dependant on the system size, my board is 4 feet by 5.5 feet and houses all components but the inverters and dump loads. I hope my thoughts help anyone building a system. thanks for reading.

know whats happening at a glance

hi everyone, most systems I go to work on is a pain for me, only because my system tells me what its doing and im just to used of all info at a glance. these are my thoughts on a simple automation system. im used of looking at a clock on the wall and seeing the l.e.d.,s in the background of the clock and seeing one of these bits of info== charge voltage--if it,s dumping--if water system is up to temp--low gen output--one led for every ssr in the system and battery voltage. each led tells a tail, the charge voltage is coming from the rectifiers and the voltage is a little board that reads voltage and set a relay when it reaches a set voltage, this turns on the led and all leds only have one wire to the clock and a common ground or earth. the low gen output is the same type of board but to read ac power and connects to the rectifiers ac side. the temp switch over system that switchs from water heaters to air heaters also light that led to tell the story on that. the led,s for the dump system are wired to the ground side of each dump , if a dump has a falt the led, dosnt light up, one for each ssr in the system. the same thing for the draw side of the system. this puts 10 led,s x 2 rows + 4 led,s in a row on there own. the led for the battery voltage is from the buss bar for the draw system and lights until 10.5 volts and then go,s out. there is 30 led,s in the clock, room to expand if needed. the wiring is a 15 db cable from a computer x 2 . and sent to the componants room. not all that hard to do but the time can add up. when done and a small time with use go,s by you will look at the clock and know in a glance your complete system stats and I feel safer knowing this info and at a glance. I would like to install a arduino system once my system is complete and no more testing will be done, im a ways from that at this point. I would have a hard time without this system now that im used of it. thanks for reading.

wind mill tach, easy

hi everyone, this is a short one, but too easy to not mention. if your trying to read the rpm of you gen just use a bicycle speedo, can be had for about 12-20$ and is easy to setup. install the wheel sensor on your hub and set the meter to 27cm and that's it. now rpm is the mph x 100. 28.1 mph = 2810rpm  --- 20.0mph = 2000rpm ----- 5.0mph = 500rpm , you get the picture. the meter can be mounted to the tail mount bracket and facing down so it can be seen or seen with a set of binoculars . thanks for reading.

terminal amperage

hi everyone, installing wire terminals is a easy job,. I worked for two days on a friends system to find a cold solder at a battery connection. do not solder any wind and solar connections, this only raises resistance. this type of problem can be vary time consuming and costly. these are my thoughts on wire termination . first, wire crimpers that squish the terminal flat should be band from sale everywhere, they are the poorest excuse for wire crimpers ever made. there are several vary good ones out there but are not cheap if there any good. the ones that put a punch hole in the center of the connector seem to work vary good for me, iv tested the pull hold ability on many connections with great results. on a standard 14awg wire and a standard 1/4" connector I can pull until the connector breaks and the wire and terminal don't come apart. on the same crimping tool it has a wire stripper, cutter, crimper , plier, small bolt cutter and stripping gauge, all needed tools in one plier but cost 24$ each, and are princess auto ones, iv had them for 8 years now and still work perfect, money well spent. the larger cable type connections are vary expensive, you should use the coated ones for a wind and solar install,. when you are using a lot of larger ones the cost is vary high 3-20$ each and not in the budget for most, a good system can need 15-25 of these big ones. on the big crimps I use a hydrolic crimper I purchased on ebay for 50$, money again well spent, these big connectors can take a lot of pressure to crimp properly and have never seen a good job with a hammer, looks like crap and is a poor connection. I make a lot of my own from copper tubing, select the right size tubing for the wire size and crimp the end of the tube closed with a vise to the needed length and cut the tube off a least twice of the length that you crimped in the vise, install on the wire before drilling the bolt hole , again I use a hyd crimper for this and is vary fast and easy. once crimped it can be held in the vice by its sides and the hole drilled. iv made about 80-100 cables and had 0 problems to date, the main bus cables use 0000 cable and never a problem. I coat all negative cables with the plasticoat brush on rubber coating, this seems to work good, can also use the shrink tube, ether will be good and trouble free for years. if you don't or cant afford a hyd crimper this is what I did before I bought the hyd crimper. I had a vary thick piece of angle iron and a  punch set, one and one only punch in the centre of the area holding the cable, punch the same spot until the copper gets a v shape forming on the opposite side and stop, that's it, never had any problems like that ether but dosnt look as good after assembled and the bigger the cable the harder this is to do. starts to take some time with the larger cables. the coating can be shrink tube or the rubber coating, I don't think there is any advantage to ether one. all cables and wires should be secured down after installation and the high amperage carrying ones should have a protective cover over them and as always the battery should be in a protective box and vented with fans .a good SYSTEM can be built for 600-700$ complete and be built properly, and putout about 600w on the high side of output with the proper home work and efforts done. the net can help a lot but beware of all the bs, you will need to be a investigator and checkout all the stories to see the truth and lies, there are many lies by many people selling junk that don't work as intended . im selling nothing and gain nothing from my info given and hope to see more and cheaper cost systems out there. thanks for reading

wiring it all together

hi everyone, iv fixed a lot of wiring mistakes and problem that were dangerous , these are my thoughts on wiring up a system { these are general thoughts, each system will be different }. lets start at the mill or gen end of things. I will assume the mill is three phase, the wire size from the mill to the disconnect must be the proper awg that is needed for your output current and voltage rating , there are many good calculator out there, I use { the12volt } they have all the calculators you will need in one stop. the cable coming from the mill will go to the disconnect first, from there to the rectifier, I mount my rectifiers in the same enclosure as the disconnects and outside of the house for safety and quick access if needed. from the rectifiers dc side the wire size must again be calculated for size and distance to the battery. at the battery there WILL ONLY BE TWO CONECTIONS PER POST , do not listen to any other garbage on this critical connection. the incoming wire and the wire to the bus is the only connections at the battery period .  SO you will have one in coming  positive wire and one out to the bus wire on each post, the positive and on the negative. the wire going to the bus must be large enough to handle the amperage you will be using from the entire system ,this means the dump system and the draw system together, on larger systems the good ones iv seen use a copper flat bar system, vary heavy duty. I install a breaker between the bus wire and the bus for added safety, the breaker will need to be rated at you system amperage draw also. the buss itself must be rated for the amperage draw of the entire system also. from the buss you should wire the same as you would the house and to code, the low voltage code is different than the ac grid code for me at my location, this should be checked out before wiring. this will vary in different locations . if any thing happens the fire dept will check your system and take action as nec. the dump system should connect at the same point as the lead from the battery connects to the bus breaker and on the battery side . this wire also needs to be rated for the amount of amperage the dump system can possibly see, I don't use any fuse or breaker on the dump feed wire because this is also the only possible safety for over voltage, amperage and must not fail for a system to be safe, if the wires and system is designed properly this  wire will be over rated on purpose. the buss also needs to be rated for the amperage of the buss system, my system is capable of  four time the highest possible wattage I can use from my dumps, from the buss I wire the ssr,s as needed, I have 10 in my system and all work flawless always. this is a basic complete system , I would like to get more detailed but there is a million possible combinations . one must do the homework with the parts your using in your system build. this doesn't take a lot of time but will help to build a system that has no issues  and will last a log time trouble free and safely. thanks for reading

slip rings are getting a bad rap

hi everyone ,  iv herd the discussions to not use slip rings several times, I don't think all information on the slip ring is being used quite right. these are my thoughts from testing the slip rings. many people have a smaller system, 10-30amp out put max, and they say to not use slip ring, they fail. like all parts of the system, they must be sized properly. a 30amp slip ring is capable of 30amp at max, this is also the point that the life is drastically reduced. 30amp times the voltage of 12v is 360 watts, not much if a storm is on. the question is what is your gen capable of producing ? . iv found most of the home made mills have under rated slip rings. like most parts, there rating is absolute max before failure, to live a long and happy life there needs to be a safe operating rating , iv never seen this number advertised. I would think it would be about 60-70% of max rating being the highest operating amps applied for long service life. IF this is so, that would mean that the 30amp slip ring is only good to handle 19.5amps max properly, this could be the reason there failing. properly sized slip rings for a larger system are not cheap, iv seen 250-650$ for one slip ring, just not in the budget for most people me included, this much is better spent other places. making slip rings is not hard and can handle 50-100amp properly {  toppentech.com  } can help with his design, its what I use, I alter sizes for amps but these slip rings are easy to make. smaller systems can use the { moflon or senring } slip rings, these can be had for 30$ on ebay. the brushes can be purchased from most any altenator or generator shop, I use the biggest ones they carry in stock for ease of not having to order them. the idea of using a welding cable although might be tough is crazy, the weight of the cable is a extream overkill in most cases and vary expensive. they say to anchor the cable to carry the weight but if you anchor the cable the twisting factor there saying it will withstand will be gone once anchored and handle about 400amp, does anyone know a home system that is putting out even 200amps per line ?. dosnt seem vary sensible to me. iv never had a slip ring problem of any kind ever { when properly sized }. my three phase lines from the poles or tower are 12awg for 500w and under and 10awg for 1000w down to 500w, the larger mills all have 6awg secured to the tower { purchased a large spool in a auction } the 10-12awg are extention cords and I use the ends in place, I buy the matching ends from a electrical supplier that fit into the 1 1/2 pipe, all are soaked in dialectrical grease. never had any problems with this arangment since day one. to anchor the ends simply drill a 1/4" hole at the proper location down from the top of the pipe { this will vary with design } once the cord is fed through the pipe the 1/4" bolt is installed and that's it. now when you install the slip ring you just plug into the core and slid it down to the bolt easy and tighten the slip ring. there is a lot of realy good home made designs on the net, look at the pictures and you will get the idea quickly, they really are not hard to build and can handle way more than a lot of people think, if this was bs then ask your self why the mega watt wind mills use slip rings ?. the key is as always, they must be sized properly to work properly. I hope this helps to remove any of the welding cable misconceptions , this might work but dosnt make any sense to me. over kill can also lower the efficiency of your system bolth mechanical and electrical ends of the spectrum. thanks for reading.
 --------------------------------------------------------------- update, today I replaced one of my slip rings. some birds needed some wire covering and plastic for a nest more than I needed a working slip ring I guess, this is the oddest failure iv ever had I must say. this is my 2 year in service slip ring and pissed me off, I now need to start over on the service life test of the smaller slip rings. this was a moflon slip ring and had 2 full years of service with no maintenance at all. I would of liked to see how long the life could have been. so back to the beginning .

rectifier, the temp rise

hi everyone, iv seen 4 burnt rectifiers and all where way over rated. there are my thoughts from experience and testing. there are many sites selling the Chinese 90-100amp rectifiers { there not a bad unit just over rated } for a price but, I tested one 90amp at a controlled  { using a shunt on the dc side } 60amp draw and it burnt in 10 seconds and was in flames before I was able to disconnect the load. I was given one to test the same way { the fella up the road heard from a friend that watched the test } and the results were no different, 10 seconds to flames. testing one more I controlled the dc draw 10amp at a time until the unit was 40 deg c . I was drawing only 50 amps at the 40 deg c and as time spent at 50amp lengthened the temp continued to rise, I stopped the test at a recorded 69 deg c , this was 15 minute test. between 50-60amp seems to be the point where it gos from overkill to failure. WOW in no time this thing could burn the house down. after cooling I lowered the amp draw to a steady 35 amp draw, although better the temp still reached 50 deg c but stayed there for 30 min test. I felt that this was still to close to burning the house down because my test controlled the voltage and amperage, the wind system would not. I lowered the amp draw at the 30 minute mark while still continuing the test and the temp dropped to42 deg at 23 amp. I felt that this is just short of being liveable , I would like to see 40 deg or less but this would mean lowering the amp even more. from my tests I would say these are a constant 20amp useable rectifier . for these reasons there is none in my system, to risky. I purchased four 200amp unit and they tested at 85amp constant at 39 deg. none of my gen,s will produce that much power without failure so I feel safe at this rating. I paid 44$ each and was less than the common wind and solar sites where charging for the Chinese ones. when it comes to rectifiers I would feel safe to say to only use at 1/4 of its rating for a long and happy life. the Chinese ones would prove ok for the smaller system that produce 20amp or so in a stormy condition. also my rectifiers are outside with the disconnects . and a temp controlled cooling fan for the summer, they never seem to run in the cooler months. all rectifiers should be mounted on a heat sink at minimum, but should have a temp controlled fan I think, when they start to heat up the heat will rise vary quickly on these rectifiers. like all other part of the system, they must match the intended purpose properly to live long and safely . I hope this will help rectify any concerns . thanks for reading.

batteries, a shocking charge

hi everyone, the batteries seem to be ether under thought or over complicated from my experience . these are my thought on batteries from my system and helping others. first and foremost the batteries job is to absorb the incoming charge and smooth voltage pulses, all of the generator in the system must connect to the battery first. anything leaving the battery can then be taken from there { it is a good practice to have leads to a bus bar type system to take any power from } DO NOT take power directly from the generators, the load applied can stall and or burn the generator and will vary voltage to much to be usefull. on my system I also have a fuse on the in coming positive of each generator rated to 10% higher than my test output, or your generator rating { just added safety }. each gen will be on its own disconnect, this is code in most all areas and just safer. I also have 3 300amp breakers, one to each bus system { I have 2 3400 amp hour batteries and a 2100 ahr battery } these might not be needed but also are rated 20% over the draw from each bus. my dump load power is taken before the bus breakers and operate from the dump controller system. my dump and my drawing systems are separate on each bank. this might not be nec but I think is safer. for most it dosnt need to be this complicated, power from the gen through a disconnect to the battery and then to your controller is all that is needed, always fuse or breaker your systems as needed for safety. I also find a proportional battery to output problem more times than not. having to much battery and not enough charge means that the batteries will take for ever to charge up or never see full charge, bolth are no good, if your system is small then you can { in most cases } only get away with a smaller battery bank { 200-500ahr } if your system is larger you need a larger bank, you will need to check how long it takes for your gen to charge the system without any use and again while in use. if you can charge your system in one overnight storm with use this is a good point, as long as your dump are not maxing out. if so you need a larger battery bank, if not you might have a bank to large already and will have trouble reaching full charge and damage the batteries. in my system at the beginning I thought the having it set up for 14.4 volts of battery , this would be better and give me more power available , NOT the case, it took a lot longer to charge and almost never got to full charge. I removed one cell to get the voltage to 12.85v and the batteries would charge almost twice as fast and would use the dump controller in a small storm, a BIG change for a voltage change of only 1.55 volts at the battery. the charge output of the gen can be a huge factor on the smaller systems and to much battery is a KILLER. one should take time to test the charge time of the assembled and working system , and adjust the battery size as needed, your system will work much better and charge much faster. a vary good system in my opinion will when in use , will dump in a storm most all the time BUT only at about 20-30% of dump capacity , if your dump system feeds water heaters, I think there should be a change over temp switch to dry or air type heaters to avoid to high of water temp and the dangers that go with it, this works good for me, I also know when bolth of my 60 gallon water tanks are up to temp. the dump systems can be almost anything you need if you put your mind to it. a buddy has one running a dc block heater in his car most of the winter. if your using the smaller car batteries, you know they dont  last that long, a year maybe. the doubled up 6volt batteries work way better and would be deep cycle, most all are. the ahr rating will be over double and discharge rating is 10 time better, but we all use what we can afford . check out  { xtrapowerbatteries.com } good prices on recon forklift batteries }  all the power to you. thanks for reading

slippery wind,lubes and surface prep

hi everyone, lubrication is one major key to long life of a wind mill. these are my thoughts from my testing. every gen iv purchased and bearing iv purchased for a wind mill has hade way too much grease in the bearing and the wrong type. the grease in the bearings can be a huge drag in the winter, iv had a couple freeze ups happen until the grease was changed. this is what works every time for me. the seals need to be removed from bolth sides and all grease cleaned out, if your going to use grease it must be extreme low temp only, NOT just low temp. this type of grease stays soft and sticky at -45c and dosnt cause much drag in the winter. only put one drop at each ball on one side and 2-3 small drops of lucas on the other side, now replace the seals and your good for a year to a year and a half before you should check them. if your mounts use oil like most of my mounts, I only use a.t.f. fluid with 10% lucas, do not exceed 10% or the tracking will slow down in the colder months. my oil im changing every two years now because im testing the design, I should be able to go to every five to seven years with no problems but im checking bearings and slip rings at two years for now { the oil has been change twice and was clean and clear bolth times, unit still has the original parts as designed.} im planning on testing hyd fluid in my next install . all bolts should also get a coat of grease to protect them from the weather , every bolt I didn't grease has come out rusty.not shure to say yet but my blades all get painted and a coat of wax, my blades never get a ice buildup and clear off any snow on just about the first turn at start up.  I use a wind sock on my tails also for a visual , you can see a unit not fallowing the wind easily this way. all electrical connectors should be coated with dielectric grease to stop corrosion and weather related problems. I don't at present do any thing more than clean the slip rings, im looking into some kind of lube for them , longer life maybe ? . I like to paint my units, I find they just look like they work better when there customized. I probley do way to much maintenance but some is testing. im trying to get a TRUE 10 years without any servicing needed unit at the end of all my efforts, might not be possible but ,  im going to try. smooth spinning to everyone. thanks for reading.