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Forum Index : Windmills : Shouldn’t it be making more?
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terrapinlogo Newbie  Joined: 26/10/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 21 |
i have built a windmill out of a smart drive motor and have it up in the air and it is only producing 5v in 15km/h winds. shouldn't it be making more? i have re wired it as described here: http://www.watchtv.net/~rburmeister/smart%20wiring.html anyone have any ideas? Damian If it doesn't work hit it with a bigger hammer. If it still doesn't work you probably shouldn't of hit it. |
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Dingdoc Regular Member  Joined: 23/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 76 |
Where are you measuring the 5V? Is it ac from the fields, dc out of the rectifier? What do you have it connected to? Some more detail might help. Trev |
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| terrapinlogo Newbie Joined: 26/10/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 21 |
i get 5v from between any two phases and from a rectifier when i connect two phases to it. at the moment i don't have it connected to anything (yea i know it could spin out and bust its self up but its been up like that for three months and hasn't done it yet) If it doesn't work hit it with a bigger hammer. If it still doesn't work you probably shouldn't of hit it. |
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| Dingdoc Regular Member Joined: 23/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 76 |
Sorry I can't be of much more help at the moment Damian. My wind gen is only half finished and I keep getting side-tracked with other projects. It looks as if your alternator rewire is OK but you are just concerned about the low end output. Have you measured the voltages at higher wind speeds? Hopefully someone with a similar setup can give you some info on their output at low speeds - I had a quick look for output graphs but couldn't find much. Trev |
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KarlJ Guru  Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
only take one stuffed up wire (in the re-wire) to ruin your day. is it a 60, 80, 100 series? what size prop? how big is the tower? what sort of site is it on? Might want to connect all three phases to the rectifier! Karl Luck favours the well prepared |
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| Dingdoc Regular Member Joined: 23/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 76 |
Damian I did a 'quick and dirty' check of the no load output voltage of my rewired F&P handcranked gen and found it was producing around 5Vac at 60 rpm (across 1 ph). If your prop speed is around this rpm at 15kph (4m/s) it would indicate that your alternator wiring is probably OK. Perhaps you could experiment with a voltage doubler circuit to see if you can get a useable output at low wind speeds. Trev |
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| terrapinlogo Newbie Joined: 26/10/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 21 |
KarlJ: off the top of my head i think its an 80 Trev: Voltage doubler circuit link or schematic please and yea at a guess it was probably about 60rpm If it doesn't work hit it with a bigger hammer. If it still doesn't work you probably shouldn't of hit it. |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5119 |
Hi Damian Can you try shorting out any two of the 3 wires on your windmill next time its running. If its wired up ok, you should get a little spark and the windmill will shudder and grind to a halt. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| terrapinlogo Newbie Joined: 26/10/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 21 |
yep it defiantly grinds to a halt i don't rember seeing a spark though was probably there i just didn't see it If it doesn't work hit it with a bigger hammer. If it still doesn't work you probably shouldn't of hit it. |
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| Dingdoc Regular Member Joined: 23/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 76 |
Damian Try this- http://www.thebackshed.com/windmill/articles/GordonsCapMod.a sp Trev |
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