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.