PROJECT EARTHBILLY
Funded by:
Hadley Sawmill, New Stone Age Jewelry
All owned/operated by Mark & Rita Hadley
www.hadleysawmill.com
www.missouridreamstone.com
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PROJECT EARTHBILLY Funded by: Hadley Sawmill, New Stone Age Jewelry All owned/operated by Mark & Rita Hadley
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WIND TURBINE(S) PAGE 3 2010 Wind turbine page 1 2008 Wind turbine page 2 2009 The Whisper 500 failed back in early November '09', and SWWP never sent a truck to collect it for warranty repair, so I sent it back December 21, '09'. When it returns all repaired and with a new set of blades, new charge circuit board and new remote panel circuit board, I plan to grease the slip rings and brushes as per all industry standards except Wind Energy it seems, paint the stator with special PMA paint, something other wind turbine companies suggest for any long term operation, and possibly one other major custom change I will describe at the proper time. Also, I have researched the 12 blade Missouri made low wind turbine by Missouri Wind and Solar. I will add one or two to a tower mast I have near the house. If they work well and the Whisper 500 has another premature failure, I will replace the SWWP Whisper 500 with a stack of three 1500 watt 12 blade turbines by Missouri Wind and Solar. This winter we are really missing the generation by our turbine. We are using grid power to make up for the lost generation. 1/4/2010 Ordered most of the parts for my "Missouri Wind" wind turbine to be mounted at the house. It will have 12 blades, be on a 60'+ tower, and rated 1500 watts. 1/8 Assembled the new turbine with twelve blades. Pretty cool. Waiting on a new Missouri made PMA and warmer weather to start painting the mast and turbine. Still waiting on Wind Energy for the warranty repair of my Whisper 500. Bought electrical brush grease from our local NAPA auto parts store and it says use to reduce arcing of electrical contacts and brushes. Just what I want. Apparently arcing has melted the insulation on two yaw shafts and contributed to failures of my Whisper 500. Also have the stator paint ready for the returned and repaired Whisper. 1/28/2010 Heard from the shipping agent that our whisper 500 is ready to ship back, to be delivered February 2. I have some customization planned when it arrives; 1.) disassemble and paint the stator with special coating, 2.) add two more props the the turbine making it a four blade turbine. I'll have to coat the base of the cracked prop to do this, hope it seals the crack, 3.) lightly grease the slip rings and coat the brushes with grease to prevent arcing. The electrical brush grease works great until it dries out. I'll need to clean and replace it every two years when I take the turbine down for regular maintenance. I hope with the custom improvements it will last two years. all the problems with the turbine failing have been linked to stator shorts and slip ring burning. These improvements should help. We will see! 2/13/2010 Here is the repaired whisper 500 turbine with a coat of special stator coating and an extra blade attachment to have four props instead of two. If this works I'll buy two new props to replace the old cracked props that I painted with green sealer paint.
I greased the slip rings and brushes very lightly with proper electrical brush grease and the difference in friction and noise while turning the yaw shaft by hand is amazingly different. Whether or not it helps and holds up is yet to be seen. The power company warned me on over greasing and old grease fouls contacts. If the turbine works till the grease is old, would be a fantastic improvement. Five major failures in the turbine and the fourth charge control circuit board, and the second display circuit board, and one cracked failed prop in two years. If the Whisper 500 fails again in the next year it goes into the scrap pile and three PMA's will replace it. This is my last all out effort to "fix" the Whisper 500. 2/19/2010 The extra blades went up perfectly and spun up generating about 40 watts in light wind, 8 mph, two mph lower than before. No shimmy or vibration detected yet. The turbine was spinning well enough to test 240 VAC across the poles at the main switch in my control room.
2/20, Winds at a calm 4 mph and the turbine is spinning just below charging RPM. It just figures the lightest winds in weeks are forecast for today and tonight. Worrisome note; The turbine makes a noise that can be heard 1.5 miles away. Don't know yet if it's the prop tape is loose, which it is on the old props, and vibrating, or the bearings are growling. Zero generation today. 2/21 Higher winds forecast tonight. 2/22 The brand new charge circuit board is faulty, it records generation low by a factor of ten, or shows 10 watts when it sells 100 watts to the grid. I had to take it out and replace it with the old charge circuit board that is faulty in a different way, but working better than the new one. I also think the extra two props may be a problem. They may be slowing the turbine at higher wind speeds even though they speed up the turbine at slower wind speeds. Over 5 KWh today from the turbine. 2/23 The verdict is still out on adding props. There seems to be no wind and we are charging 400-700 watts. Coarse it did that anyway sometimes. I've had a couple peak moments of 1700 watts over night. I need a good windy day to see it furl and record the wattage.
WIND TURBINE(S) PAGE 3 2010 Wind turbine page 1 2008 Wind turbine page 2 2009 |
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Earthbilly Organics
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