Thanks, same to you. Just finished weather proofing the pma. Still wondering about a charge controller. I've seen schematics on line for them using "window comparators" and a "dump relay". I keep wondering how the voltage is held down if the VOC of the turbine goes to some value above charging voltage, say 40 vdc? Does the battery handle this or does the charge controller? I see no type of over voltage regulation in the schematics, unless the comparator senses it and dumps the power.
I believe the battery keeps the voltage down; it can draw a lot of current. So what happens is the battery voltage will climb a little, some voltage is lost in the resistance of the stator, and the PMA will slow down the turbine. I think Marcus uses a single phase PMA to help match the turbine characteristics with the current coming from the PMA. Since the voltage is like a sine wave, when the wind is light and the turbine is moving slower, just the peaks will conduct and a little current will go into the battery. As the voltage increases, more of the wave will conduct and you get more current. If it is matched pretty good, the current should go up approximately with the turbine speed squared and everyone is happy. I've been working on electronics to do that too.
Since a lot of the electronics is voltage limited (max voltage specs) I think I need to make a over-voltage triggered triac to shut the vawt down when VOC gets too high for the circuitry on the charge controller. How do you post pictures here? I can only do videos via youtube. Do you send them to Google or something? VAWTs and wind turbines have one thing : They can work 24 hours. were as solar is at the mercy of clouds and the earths rotation. And here in Michigan we don't have an abundance of either. I've been thinking of making a multi tube parabolic, solar tracking , high temperature collector that sends hot oil to an insulated tank in my basement to heat the house in the winter. The hot oil would exchange heat in a water tank to another liquid circuit that has a radiator in my forced air duct work.
Okay here it is. Down it's at service height of 10 feet. Up at operating height, it's 18 feet. No data yet.
Nice build and some cool ideas. Here is a board we have come up with that can trip at any voltage up to 100vdc with an input up to 100vdc. It needs a constant 12vdc to work and an external SSR to handle the higher dump load amp capacities. The board will trip the SSR at you intended voltage. Tom on the forum is the manufacture of this board. We use it to switch grid tie inverters but it has multiple uses as well. View attachment 1105
Added weather station for wireless wind speed. I've got some ideas to allow any voltage to come in but only charging voltage to get out. Stay tuned.
