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.