Underperforming Windmax HY-1000 24v…any ideas?

Hello everyone,

I sure could use some advice on the disappointing performance of my Windmax HY-1000 24v. I’ve posted several short videos documenting the performance here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


I bought this turbine on eBay a month ago. The seller (long-time ebay seller of industrial tools/parts with a 100% seller rating) said he had bought it and was unable to install because of poor health. I know I know…who knows the real story. In any case, the turbine arrived in its original packaging. The charge controller appeared unused, but the blades looked like they had been installed at least once (a few wrench marks near bolt holes) but if the turbine was outside long, it sure didn’t show it. All pieces were present and the spindle spun smoothly with just hand-twisting.

I put 2 light coats of spray paint on it and installed it as shown in the videos. Larry Leamy was extremely generous with his time and advice on matching components like the inverter, rectifier, dump loads, wiring, etc. All of the cable used for the wiring/connections is 10/3 SJOOW stranded power cable.

I will say that it gets moving and producing a bit of power in very low wind. But as the wind speeds climb the output just doesn’t. I realize that my tower height and location leave plenty to be desired. But the fact remains that the turbine seems to be getting enough wind to put up much better numbers than I’m seeing—at least based on what others have reported, posted on YouTube, etc.

‘Any ideas what my problem is? It seems as if I’m just not getting many RPMs at the higher winds to make the power. If the PMA had “freewheeled” or whatever would I be getting any output at all? I can’t think my painting would make a difference but…

‘Any help/ideas appreciated…

Colin

 

'Just a quick update...high winds today with all the major weather in the midwest. The TED 5000 is showing that the Windmax hit a few peaks of 252w and 262w, as well as several readings in the mid-100s. But then we're seeing winds easily in the high 20s and low 30s (mph) with gusts in the low 40s...

 

I suspect a missing or weak phase. If you have a clamp on ammeter, check the AC amps on each phase coming into the bridge. They should all match. A weak phase is a dirty connection, possible in the slipring. You could also do this with a direct connect AC ammeter. At 15 mph you should see about 90-100w into the grid with that GTI.

 

That's a good thought. I think I have a friend with a clamp meter I can borrow tomorrow to check this out. I'll post back what I find...

 

Well...not the most stellar wind today for testing...but I used a decent clamp-on ammeter and with winds between 7-10mph, I was reading .7 to .8A for each incoming phase. It was hard to be precise as the wind is variable and by the time you unclamp and clamp onto the next wire it had changed a bit, but from what I can see there isn't much of a difference between the 3.

 

What DC voltage range do you get when you disconnect it from the GTI? This is the open circuit voltage "test."

 

My winds are pretty low today, but I hit 24v at about 9mph

 

In the next good wind also compare the watts (V x A) going into a 12V battery vs the (V x A) going into a GTI.

 

The forecast is for decent wind today so I'll do some more testing this afternoon. I don't have any kind of battery-bank setup. For this test can I use a normal auto or marine 12v battery I have around? And no need for a charge controller or anything like that (just connecting cable from the DC out of the rectifier straight to the battery)? Thanks for all your help Minnesota...

 

Yes, a normal 12V auto or marine battery is fine to use for the charging test. The voltage "resting" should be below 12.75V.

 

Well...things are looking up. I remembered that I had another GTI available to use/test, and once I installed that other GTI my numbers are looking much better. I posted a brief update video here. Today, with the winds avering in the mid-13s/14s mph, and with a max wind in the low 20s, I got a max output (at least according to my TED system that I'm using to remotely monitor since I'm not at home) of 458w, with plenty of spikes in the 400s and 300s. I assume this is in line with what I should be expecting from this turbine and GTI? (If not please let me know)

The new/working GTI is the same Sun brand, but the SG-1000 model (same 10-30v range, but 1000w rather than 500w). I still have a 22-60v model on order. My original plan was to do something like Larry has done (2 GTIs using an inspeed wind switch to use the full range of voltage/wind), but I mistakenly ordered a 10-30v 1000w rather than the 22-60v 1000w (sigh...), which is why I had the 10-30v 1000w around for testing.

Sooooo...it looks like that 10-30v 500w will go back to the seller for (hopefully) a refund. 'Still not sure why it would have acted the way it did. It appeared to be "working" from all outward appearances but obviously wasn't putting out expected numbers.

 

Maybe the Sun 1000 has a different MPPT curve than the 500. Interesting.

 

Andy you are right. I beleive what was happening is that the 500 at 10-30v was choking the turbine down to much and not letting it get up to good RPM's forcing only small volts and amps. The 10-30v gti 1kw may be letting the turbine get into a higher voltage before making amps. So the MPPT just may be different. When he gets a 22-60v 1kw he should see outstanding results.
PW, can you lets us know if there are different volatge readings from one inverter to the other regarding the productions of watts?
That should tell us the story if you are runnig higher volts on the 1kw 10-30 vs the 500 10-30. This is actually great info. I have never tested a 1kw GTI 10-30v on the 24v 1kw wind max. Who knows, you may have stumbled upon somethng really good.

Glad to see things are getting better and with only a minor problems.

Great Job PW.

 

Sure thing! I'll report back soon...

 

Hello again,

We'll I've got some initial data/results but I'll be collecting more over the next few weeks. I was thinking it might be more helpful to start a new post/thread with this information...? If so, would this or another forum be the best choice?

Thanks-

 

Hi Prariewind,

If you stick with your current thread (this one) at least there is some continuity and background regarding your testing etc.
It does take patience and time to get meaningful test results, I think we all have to go through this if we want to get the most from our systems.
Good luck and keep gathering your data, it will be helpful.

 

OK. I'll just keep posting back here as I collect more data/experience with this setup. For now I've posted 2 new videos with the Windmax HY-1000 24v paired with the Sun 10-30v 1kw GTI. Unfortunately the video I made later in the day when I peaked around 950w didn't make it...I was so excited with the numbers I was getting I forgot to remove the camcorder lens cap (doh!). But there's always more gusts out here in the Great Plains so I'll keep following up.

The numbers weren't as good as I have seen recently and I think this has something to do with the fact that the wind was gusting variably out of the N and then W...not nearly as consistently as we typically get in our area. So the turbine does a fair amount of "turning" back and forth N to W and back again which I think really limited the RPMs/wattage. I know some have mentioned that this turbine needs or at least benefits from a larger tail to keep it from "turning" so easily...I'd be interested to know from you more experienced folks whether this behavior is to be expected in such variable winds or whether exploring a tail "modification" of some kind would be worthwhile...

Video 1
Video 2

 

Looks like the Windmax is following the airflow nicely IMO and the wind direction is just a bit unpredictable there today.
Glad to see you making use of those prairie winds ... I bet you get some good annual numbers once you get everything dialed-in,
Thanks for the videos, it's totally calm here today so at least I get to experience the wind action vicariously.

LOL ... the getting excited and forgetting the lens cap is a classic ... I can't imagine it hasn't happened to every camera/ camcorder owner once in a while (or probably more often than most will admit).

 

I can tell as it is no big secrete i had to put a tail on of mine due to turbulant winds. I have a big tree on the one side of my house that causes the turbulance. I have since did all three with a bigger tail fin's to match. I would recommend trying a $10.00 peice of metal and try it. If you have a few strong enough magnets around you could use them to fasten the bigger fin on for a trial run before you decide to drill holes in WM's the tail fin.
May i suggest that it takes time to get results and information from your site and the workings of the whole system so try to give things a chance then attack the presisting problems as they may arrise.

Good luck and thank you for all the great information you are providing us.

 

Hey gang,

Thanks for the thoughts on the "tail mod." I think I'll leave it be for now since it really didn't seem to be an issue from what I could see. But at some point it might be fun to experiment with.

Let me put something else on the table I'd like some feedback on. What can anyone tell me about the overvolt "behavior" with this line of GTIs? I've been out of town the last 2 days and only monitoring my system remotely, but I've had significant periods of "down time" (or I should say "off" time since there's no output) the last 2 days as this GTI overvolts. I had assumed that when these GTIs overvolted that would be a fairly short-term event (unless of course the wind was consistently above the overvolt range). Well, the last 2 days have seen fairly gusty winds easily into the mid-high 30s. But those "overvolt gusts" seem pretty sporadic, with plenty of "undervolt" wind (definitely more than 5-10 minutes) in between. But from what I can see, my GTI stays in "off/overvolt" for at least 45 minutes and usually closer to an hour before resuming normal operation--at least until the next "overvolt gust" takes it "offline" again for another 45 minutes.

If this is normal operation for this GTI, then this would seem to be a significant limitation of wanting to stick with this single GTI/turbine combination--at least for folks in locations like mine. 'Seems like a lot of good wind being "lost" during the overvolt "downtimes"...

Larry's 2-GTI/windswitch approach--although adding $375 in expenses for a 2nd GTI and the vortex/windswitch--looks like a much better approach...

'Thoughts?