Stalling Issue on turbine

[NIFE]

ok, feed has been restored to the building, I rewired the spare dump load into the feed line just before the junction block that feeds the batteries and the dump load solenoid. Brought both meters out there and left them by the controllers. Just waiting on the wind now. Expecting 30-40 mph tomorrow, should be interesting. For now, just staining some new traps on the woodstove getting ready for woodchuck season.
Hopefully the wind will be coming from the north, since I limited the rotation, it wont furl if the wind comes from the Southeast, maybe I will cut it loose in the morning, at least one more quadrant t give it some room to furl.

Can't wait to hear the results. With a wind like that, hope it starts on it's own. If it doesn't, will disconnecting a charge wire momentarily allow it to spin up and stay turning when the wire is reconnected? I would expect the current to be around 12 amps when the battery voltage is 13.1 volts.
Did the dump load relay ever turn on with the old batteries?

 

[NIFE]

I think a simple Voltage divider circuit powering a transistor to operate an appropriately rated ice cube relay may accomplish want you want to do. There may be a not-so-sweet spot when the wind is just right that may cause relay chatter.

This should work for the relay: https://batteryhookup.com/products/te-connectivity-ev200aaana-500a-0-900vdc

It would have the "not-so-sweet spot" but is a pretty indestructible for this application. There is a video that shows it's operation.

 

[NIFE]

FYI - TYCO relay specs.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

Dump load has worked before, but not from wind overcharge, but worked because solar settings were higher than wind settings, triggering the dump. I had to reset both to play nicely together. Good info on the relays, will be exploring them and learning some new things. Snowing already (still dark) but no wind yet, still may get some time to unpin the rotator.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

Spent the day shoveling snow and plowing, only a light breeze blowing, wind didnt even knock the snow off the trees. Weather radio still calling for 10-15 mph NW winds with gusts to 25. No clue when that will actually arrive, if it does. Probably at night during a heavy snow.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

Got the winds this morning, at first light I saw it spinning and there was just a medium breeze, so a good sign. Since I had to leave for work I locked it down facing west as I dont want it spinning up with no one around just yet. More worried that if it comes apart it could short the batteries, and I have no fuse protection on those cables yet. Maybe when I get home I can free it and see what it does.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

Freed the turbine as the wind kicked up, howling pretty good now. Not spinning up though. Will turn slowly for awhile, but will stall after a minute or so. Probably didnt have to even tie it off today. Debating whether to brave the high wind and pitch black to go out there and play with it in 28 degrees and a nasty wind chill. Maybe I will see if I can get some video. But its awful comfy here by the woodstove right now.

 

[NIFE]

So this morning it was charging in a light breeze and tonight stalling in a howling wind? Does stall mean it stopped completely?

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

I dont know if it was charging, just saw it spin from the house in a pretty light breeze, didnt stay up as the breeze was variable. In the wind last night it was stalling, spinning slowly at times then stopping. Didnt measure the wind speed but clearly was >15 mph and fairly steady. Wind was not variable last night and the turbine wasnt hunting, wind was straight from NNW. Glad it was tied off during the day though as we had some large gusts I saw on the security cameras.
Left it free to run today as no real winds are expected until tonite, they predicted 25-35mph winds with gusts to 50mph, so maybe I can do some testing later. I still have the light bulb cable with the MC4 clips so I could swap that back in the line and jump the resistor with some jumper cables as a test. I really only can get to serious testing on weekends when I am home, or evenings after 5.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

High wind warnings out for tonite. If they roll in within the next few hours I will go out there and see whats going on, if not I will have to tie up and lock it facing east-notheast. Strong winds are supposed to be coming from the SE. Good news if the winds are staying high through Monday, so I will have time to work on it over the weekend.
I did test the resistance of the bulb jumper line tonite, I got 21 ohms on that line. Thats with the 40w bulb.

 

[NIFE]

I dont know if it was charging, just saw it spin from the house in a pretty light breeze, didnt stay up as the breeze was variable. In the wind last night it was stalling, spinning slowly at times then stopping. Didnt measure the wind speed but clearly was >15 mph and fairly steady. Wind was not variable last night and the turbine wasnt hunting, wind was straight from NNW. Glad it was tied off during the day though as we had some large gusts I saw on the security cameras.
Left it free to run today as no real winds are expected until tonite, they predicted 25-35mph winds with gusts to 50mph, so maybe I can do some testing later. I still have the light bulb cable with the MC4 clips so I could swap that back in the line and jump the resistor with some jumper cables as a test. I really only can get to serious testing on weekends when I am home, or evenings after 5.

Don't need the light bulb anymore. I suspect the internal resistance of your old battery was higher than the 2 new ones in parallel causing it to no longer work as it did before. Adding some resistance in series with the battery will make it work again. It is the cheapest and quickest fix but not the most efficient. Some of your power that would normally go into the battery will be wasted by the resistor. I always knew the light bulb resistance was too high, just wanted to know what the current flow was with it in series as an initial test. The single load dump resistor is too low. Need to get it up a little higher. Next step to consider is taking your other load dump resistor and putting it in series with the existing one. This would double your resistance. Did adding the single resistor make it better, no change, or not sure?

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

Appears to have made it not want to start. I could put the other resistor in series this weekend, wind is supposed to cooperate. I read up on Ohms so I could understand what we are doing, it seems I can use the bulbs to find the sweet spot of balance between the ohms and the amps coming through, and the 21 ohms on the bulb likely cuts off current allowing the turbine to spin up easier, but will not pass many amps (if I understand correctly). A higher wattage bulb (100w) may be better, or at least something to try. The big resistors at 1 ohm seem to be allowing the amps which drags on the motor. Probably not the best understanding of it all, but trying to learn. Turbines are so much more involved than solar panels.
Yes, the previous batteries were old car batteries, recycled after they wouldnt reliably start the cars anymore.

 

[NIFE]

Appears to have made it not want to start. I could put the other resistor in series this weekend, wind is supposed to cooperate. I read up on Ohms so I could understand what we are doing, it seems I can use the bulbs to find the sweet spot of balance between the ohms and the amps coming through, and the 21 ohms on the bulb likely cuts off current allowing the turbine to spin up easier, but will not pass many amps (if I understand correctly). A higher wattage bulb (100w) may be better, or at least something to try. The big resistors at 1 ohm seem to be allowing the amps which drags on the motor. Probably not the best understanding of it all, but trying to learn. Turbines are so much more involved than solar panels.
Yes, the previous batteries were old car batteries, recycled after they wouldnt reliably start the cars anymore.

You are correct. A higher wattage bulb does have a lower resistance but keep in mind it increases as the filament warms up resulting in the current going down. Hot filament resistance is voltage squared divided by watts. The hot resistance of a 100 watt bulb is 120x120 divided by 100. That would be 144 ohms. Check the resistance of a cold 100 watt bulb with an ohm meter and you will find it to be much less. Great for learning but complicates further testing.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

So the hot resistance may not be a bad thing under certain circumstances. At high rpm and high voltage output (75+v) it may heat the filament and "throttle" the incoming amps, but i imagine at lower "normal" voltage (say 25-45v) it would likely "cool" back down and ohms would decrease allowing it to increase the amperage but prevent stalling. Maybe function as a current control and easy-start device?
Winds were very high after 10pm last night, I had tied off facing east, looks like that was a smart move, winds are still too high to play with today plus I have to work, but maybe later they will be in a range I can experiment with. I will order another pair of dump loads as I need something in place to act as a brake on the system when it winds up.

 

[NIFE]

So the hot resistance may not be a bad thing under certain circumstances. At high rpm and high voltage output (75+v) it may heat the filament and "throttle" the incoming amps, but i imagine at lower "normal" voltage (say 25-45v) it would likely "cool" back down and ohms would decrease allowing it to increase the amperage but prevent stalling. Maybe function as a current control and easy-start device?
Winds were very high after 10pm last night, I had tied off facing east, looks like that was a smart move, winds are still too high to play with today plus I have to work, but maybe later they will be in a range I can experiment with. I will order another pair of dump loads as I need something in place to act as a brake on the system when it winds up.

Low resistance increases current resulting in more load on the turbine. As resistance increases the turbine unloads.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

I see, I had it backwards. I understand the resistance is blocking the current and the turbine will spin up. So a "cool" filament allows current flow and a "hot" one restricts it. Odd that it started and spun up with the bulb (21 ohms-cool) but wont spin up with the resistor (1 ohm). I guess I need some testing data during some wind with it spun up. Maybe later this evening or this weekend. Maybe the filament in the bulb heated rapidly and the resistance increased quickly allowing the spinup? I couldnt see the bulb as that last front came through with rain and I had the bulb covered with a 5 gallon pail to keep it dry. Something for me to look at this weekend.

 

[NIFE]

I see, I had it backwards. I understand the resistance is blocking the current and the turbine will spin up. So a "cool" filament allows current flow and a "hot" one restricts it. Odd that it started and spun up with the bulb (21 ohms-cool) but wont spin up with the resistor (1 ohm). I guess I need some testing data during some wind with it spun up. Maybe later this evening or this weekend. Maybe the filament in the bulb heated rapidly and the resistance increased quickly allowing the spinup? I couldnt see the bulb as that last front came through with rain and I had the bulb covered with a 5 gallon pail to keep it dry. Something for me to look at this weekend.

It spins up with the bulb because 21 ohms doesn't load it much. It bogs down because 1 ohm is too low. You either have to work down from 21 ohms or work up from 1. Because it used to work, I think it will be on the lower end.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

I ordered another 2 resistors. will look for some 20w incandescent bulbs, or maybe something low wattage I can screw in there. I can add the other resistor tonite or tomorrow by jumping it into the circuit.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

Second resistor is wired in series with the first one now, but wind has died down, so I guess a 2 ohm preload on it at this point. I will wire in a 4000 w water heater element as a dumpload tomorrow.
update - I purchased a 7.5w nightlight filament bulb and a 20w filament bulb to test as well.
For now (with the two resistors now in series) will splice in the jumper with a 30amp fuse as a bypass, that way I can change things up on the fly...
Wind predicted for this afternoon, as soon as the snow stops.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

quick update - i did get the two extra dump load resistors in, and started a set of tests last weekend (which appeared promising even) and the wind was cooperating as well, but real life got in the way for now, so had to stop for now, but hopefully will continue soon as things should even out some in the coming days. I did find another sparrow nest inside and cleaned it out and placed more screening, I also noticed what appeared to be a blade wobble while staring at it in a prestart breeze (6mph) and found the hub had loosened slightly in the past year, so climbed up and tightened that (and found the bird nest). Tied it off facing east for now until I can get back to it.