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Forum Index : Windmills : PicAxe Logger power used vs generated

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WarwickR

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Joined: 08/01/2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 3

Posted: 09:19am 08 Jan 2008

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Firstly I know its not an original post, but I've got to add how impressed I am by the level of detail on this site. I've already found in a few minutes information that I thought I'd have to spend weeks pulling together!

Questions
I've been reading your article "PicAxe Logger Controller" and it talks about using a computer to log/monitor the outputs from a wind generator.

Are you running a PC at the base of your generator, or is there some sort of (wireless) comms link?

How much power is being used in monitoring and/or controlling the system versus the amount being generated?

Maybe

Gizmo

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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5116

Posted: 11:10am 08 Jan 2008

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Hi WarwickR, thanks for your comments.

OK, about the piclog. The piclog is used next to your battery bank, so no need to be at the tower base. And yes, it does need the PC running to do the actual logging ( The PicLog itself isn't much more than fancy multimeter with a data transfer to the PC ). Having a PC running to record the data does mean an extra power drain on the system, but thats not what the PicLog is all about.

When I built the PicLog I wanted something to take measurements of my windmill setup, then I could make changes to my windmill, and use the PicLog again to record a new set of data results. Then the data sets could be compared to see if my changes improved the windmill performance.

Its was not meant to do much more than that, just a fancy test box to get some performance data on my windmill. By recording the RPM, windspeed, power, etc, I could see if a change I made to the windmill, eg, change blade angle, actually improved the windmills power output for the day. Its like a lot of the projects on the site, I built them to perform a task, but that doesn't meant they cant be developed further. I provide the circuits, software, etc, and then others can take the building blocks and develope them further. As an example, the PicLog has been used as a logger on a exercise bike, where the idea is to improve the users watt hours per day.

For long term logging, yeah you would need a more advanced logger, with its own RAM and low power operation.

Glenn

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
JAQ

Gill

Senior Member

Joined: 11/11/2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 669

Posted: 11:21am 08 Jan 2008

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G'day WarwickR,
Firstly, welcome to the forum. Like you, I have got an awful lot of answers and inspiration from participating in this forum. Sharing ideas and experiences saves a lot of individual ground work and rediscovery of what has already been done before as well as reducing pitfalls in new design approaches.

Enough of the that stuff, now to your quires.
The Logger Controller will draw (I'm guessing)in the ball park of 100ma. I think it's about 58ma for a PICAXE 08M and there'll be a 5V voltage regulator as well to name the major contributors. Very small really.

When logging, it's the computer that draws heaps. As we know, laptops draw far less than desktops, so what power gets used here depends on what you use.

I have this last week been working on a project to log Picaxe data via a radio link instead of the current serial cable. Unfortunately the receiver if prone to interference so don't hold your breath waiting for me to get this running. Lots of applications in mind for this one. Power for that, if successful, will be an additional 70ma say.

With the serial cable, the logging computer cannot be to far from the device being logged. Typically this will be in the battery area.

So You can answer your own question by saying how much power your particular mill puts out and how much power your particular computer draws + 100ma.

Well that's about the best I can answer.
Hope it's helped.

was working fine... til the smoke got out.
Cheers Gill _Cairns, FNQ

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