Leamy Electric grid tie wind system

Thanks for the pictures.
How far is your cord run from the turbine to the rectifier?
What size is your extension cord? Looks small?
Where is your wind meter mounted?

Thanks

 

Should also tell him that we are now using a switch to disconnect the lower GTI at a set voltage to get more power. Since the smaller GTI tends to dominate the turbine before giving it up to the higher voltage one.

 

Hi Tom,yeah i was going too but i wanted to make sure the basics are working first. He should be getting more then a few watts at 16 MPH even with a 10-30 GTI which was my concern to try to help him with.I was hoping to make sure his wiring is all right as most seem to have that problem the most.
Thanks for the advice

 

Hi Tom,yeah i was going too but i wanted to make sure the basics are working first. He should be getting more then a few watts at 16 MPH even with a 10-30 GTI which was my concern to try to help him with.I was hoping to make sure his wiring is all right as most seem to have that problem the most.
Thanks for the advice

 

I was away for the weekend!!! Thanks so much for talking this trough with me...
Yes, the cord length was something I was concerned about, I'm not quite sure where I want to put the turbine so I left the cord at 100 feet long, it 's a very heavy duty extension cord, but I do not know exactly what gauge it is, not labled, but it look like 10, so 100ft at 10g, I also have it going through a plug, and each phase through a 3way wall switch to do a brake function, each will add some resistance.
Wind meter, OK my bad here still looking for one maybe you can recommend one. I just used my hand held meter, seamed to be pretty constant and I went in and looked at power, not the best method I know...
Funny Tom, I actually spent some time looking for a voltage controlled switch the other day. I just made sense to remove the load of the other inverter when one is working, do you have a source to buy one of these, and is it a solid state switch.. Reminded me of a circuit I designed and built with op amps a bunch of years ago to sequence power up some computers.

So quick recap:
100' of 10 gauge wire between turbine and rectifier.
I also have a plug, and switches in the line.
My board wiring is all 10awg, bus bars, no fuse on the DC side..
My rectifier is rated for 150A at 1000v would this beefy rectifier add some losses??
Can't think of anything else to mention.

 

For disconnect I would have to order more boards. The one with caps and dip switches . I have one more of those. bought my SSR and heat sink from ebay. Here are the current listings.
SSR:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SSR-60DD-DC...649?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac286a421

Heat Sink:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Replacement...083?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35c39a7fdb

 

Welcome back buddy, here's some of my thoughts.
Thanks for the update.
Yeah starting with the basics is where we need to discuss so all is right from there. I get you on your brake switch. I have that same set for mine so no harm there in power loss. Your power cord at 10 gauge (30 amp) and running 100ft will still suffer a voltage drop. I did a quick calculation for 100ft run at 20 amps at 48v volts and it came out to 9.1% voltage drop. Running the same at 28v @ 20 amps came out to a 15% voltage drop. Try running some numbers with this link. http://www.nooutage.com/vdrop.htm . If your cord is less then 10 gauge then the voltagee drop will be worse. A 100ft 10 gauge extension cord is about $135.00.

Again, the basics are always important first. I have a 100ft run from one of my turbines to its rectifier and I use 60 amp wire called SO cord. It is fine stranded outdoor rated. Your inverter wiring sounds fine as well as your rectifier however you only need a 60 or 80amp at best. Your plug and cords also sound good provided everything is nice and tight. LOL. Your GTI should be producing power as soon as it see's it's cut in voltage. If its drasticly lagging behind then your meter or GTI has a problem.

Wind meter:
I can suggest one to use it is made by Inspeed. It's not to expensive and very accurate updating every second and is all digital. Link http://inspeed.com/anemometers/Pole_Mount_Anemometer.asp

The wind meter should be the first thing you use to determine the best spot for your turbine. From there, a wire run calculation needs to be done with no more then a 5% voltage drop. At that point you can mount the turbine and temp it out at first to see what you get just with the turbine, volt meter, rectifier, GTI, and wind meter. (power vs wind speeds) Once those basics are done you will then have a lot of answers to go by.

I hope this helps ya.
Larry

 

Thanks Larry,
Thanks for the Vdrop Calc.,. But I get a little different results for 100' - 10awg - 48v - 20A.. Picture included: (although it's not 60Hz)



and 12.2% drop at 28v which is closer to where I was running.. 28*.122 = 3.42 = 24.6v
I just ordered an inspeed wind meter.. I have to plot speed vs. watts soon.. Oh, the inverter seams to cut in at exactly 10.8, so that looks fine, and the big one at 22v when I unplug the 300w er..

Oh, BTW where I currently have the turbine is at the edge of the lake I'm on, I live at the narrow point of an hour glass on the lake, sort of speak looking from above, so the wind whips through there..
I'll post more info again soon...

 

Tom or Mr. Leamy,
Seems I've fried my 500w inverter. Hard to see, but it is the cylindrical thing in the lower right-most corner of the photo. The orange cap is off and the inside is all burnt. Seems a shame to toss the whole thing, but I have no idea what that is and maybe it is a sign I should go for 1000w model. I've got the 250w already.
To Mr. Leamy's post above I do need to check my wiring & diagram before proceeding.

 

That is the AC fuse to the mains.
6.3 amp 250 volt
This is one place to buy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-6-3A-...893?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5af6625c25

Or here

http://www.mouser.com/_/?Keyword=tr-5+fuses+6.3&FS=True

 

Thanks for that. For $5 bucks I ought to give open heart surgery on the inverter a try! I don't think I've soldered since high school.
I noticed my 500w is 10.8v to 30v, so I'm not getting the stepped voltage you propose at the top of the thread. Thought it was the 22-60v model. My attention to detail has been lacking in this adventure, but I'll get there eventually!
Have folks heard more good or bad reviews of the Sun 1000w wind grid-tie inverter?

 

Got the fuses, soldered in, but when I plug it in the fuse fries again. Repeated 2x. Must be something else going on.

 

Chris, get in touch with Ronnie Freeman. He is an ebay seller of these GTi's and can get hem fixed. His seller name is "Using gods free energy" Tell him i sent you
I hope this helps.

Larry

 

So I've been up and running for about a month now, it seams to be outputting about what the spec says, 10mph = about 100w or so.. The problem I see is on a nice windy day when she finally starts to crank it spins around and slows.. Is anybody seeing this? It may be where I have it located. One time I tie the tale holding it into the wind and i saw it hit over 800w.. That was just an experiment not a solution. Has anybody enlarged the tale fin?
one more comment, even on the windiest day the 300w GTI does nothing but slow it down.. Anybody want to buy a 300w GTI?
Bill
PS... after almost a month I got 2.5KWH.. that's a whole 35 cents off my bill

 

Yes a few have enlarged the tail and it seems to work better in some circumstances.

 

I agree with tom. You will need to enlarge your tail fin. More hten likley your are experienicng turbulant winds. I had to enlarge all of mine also. Made a huge difefrence.

 

OK, Big winds with todays storm...
Interesting find... On input side of GTI I see 24-26v pretty constant a gust may hit 30v.. 18-25ish MPH winds.. and my dump load resistor is untouchable HOT.. I put a V-meter on dump load lugs on GTI and I always read the same voltage as the GTI(turbine) inputs.. Is this a faulty GTI, It shouldn't send any voltage or current to the resistor until over 60v correct? And it also send "watts" to the grid at the same time and current to the resistor.. ??

Another ?:
I see the GTI out 400-500-600W but I rarely see the input voltage go above 27v say, and the amps run 20-30A.. Is this normal that the amps shoot up and not the volts?

thanks much, And enjoy your Thanksgiving....yum!!!
Bill

 

Hi Bill, Sounds like a faulty GTI. The dump load controller should only be connecting the dump coil when it goes to over volt. On your second question about the amps shooting up. Is this when the dump coil is hooked up to the GTI when you see it not going over 27 ish volts? Again, it sounds like your dump load relay may be spent.

 

I thought we already went thru this.
The relay in SunG GTI's is for ac hook up when synced.
The dump is controlled by the two mosfets that I have shown in my posts.

 

Hi Larry, Yes I believe the Dump load portion of the GTI is faulty, unfortunately I bought it on ebay and it's been a while so the seller doesn't care and will not reply.. And yes, the coil was connected to the dump load which would explain the high current.. I may have to make an external dump control...

Tom, not sure what you are referring to...? This is the first time I talked about dump loads and relays... But i will go back and review all posts... thanks
Looking back I can not find pictures of Mosfets, if I can fins these is it possible to change em out??

 

The mosfets are IRF-3710. You can find them cheap on Ebay.
The original post is here.
http://www.windynation.com/community/threads/china-grid-tie-inverter-new-1kw.1074/page-2