WN PMA 500 flying in East Africa

On Feb 7, 2011 we put up a Windy Nation 500 PMA at an Orphanage in Kenya, East Africa. Here are a few pictures of the process and final project.
Tower base

 

LOOKS GREAT!!!!! Nice Job.

 

Great work, nice to see a real feel good project up and flying !

 

Looks great! Good work!

 

Great job guy's.
Larry

 

What was your tower height, and what do you use to lift/ lower it ?

Did you use 1/2 cable for all ?

Thanks for posting one of the best wind stories yet !

 

Murry,
Thank you. I'm making a video of the install. In the mean time, here are some of the details:
-Approx 15 meter tower-steel pipe- 3" to 2.5" to 2" to 1.5"
-5/16 steel cable (we used 550')
-Guy pads were 2' square and 4' deep cement with rebar cages
-Tilt up design-using a boat trailer winch with 2" strap. This worked for the time being but we need a new winch idea. A come along is our idea.
-Battery bank is made up of 4-12v 200amp hour batteries, wired as 24v 400amp hour. Batteries are made by Esolar from Austrailia
-Inverter is 1500w grid tie (we currently have no grid but are planning for the future)
-We are running 34 14w Compact florecent bulbs and three recepticles

Everything was totally OVER engineered for safety around children,
Joshua Bruce
www.missionarysafaris.com

 

Joshua, for your winch I would suggest a worm gear winch as it is self locking and will only move when the handle is turned in either direction. On a boat winch it can be a little risky if it slips from grasp and starts to run on it's own :cry:

Keep close watch on the guy wire pads, you could have quite a surprise at the power of the wind . I know everything is already in place and all your wires are cut to length but for safety I would consider BURYING some heavy weight on the outside of your pads to anchor them to.
One of our friends " Bluejay" could tell you of the consequences of strong winds !

Just a great project, you and your team should be so proud

 

The guy wire anchors are 24" x 24" square and 48" deep , all reenforced with rebar cages wired together. That is 16 cubic feet of cement per guy wire anchor. You think I need more than that!!!!!! Joshua

 

lol. Oh no, I thought it said 2"
My mistake , you are in good shape

 

Great job in Kenya, you guys. Love to spread the word about the free wind out there. I've built a tilting tower that's a totally self-sufficient/stand alone system. The snatch block I bought at a logging outfit and it's bolted shut for safety. I take up the tension on the cable with the winch and loosen the turnbuckle and disconnect it from the chain.As you can see the battery box has a small 5 watt solar panel. That runs the 3000 lb. 12 volt winch.[attachment=1:1gb9esta]IMG_1413.JPG[/attachment:1gb9esta]The base of the tower pivots on a 8/5" bolt with the lifting pole held in place with the gusset.[attachment=0:1gb9esta]IMG_1408.jpg[/attachment:1gb9esta] I'm on a rock bluff, so everything is drilled and bolted to the ground. If anyone needs more details on the construction of the tilting tower, I've got drawings.

 

Here is the install video:

 

Thanks Joshua. You are making a huge difference there. Keep us posted on your efforts.

 

Very nice to see wind power doing it's job. Joshua, have you ever condsidered installing a few solar panels just reashure the batteries are always full?

 

Leamywind1,
Yes we have thought about adding solar. When we were there, we didn't have the knowledge to wire a 24V solar panel. We know how now! We have one 60watt 12v solar panel on site and need to find another one to wire it together. At this point the batteries have not seen a full charge of 27.5v to induce a diversion to the dump load. I wish I could say we have seen that. It is hard for me to get up-dates from the project site due to it's remote location. We left over two weeks ago and all I know is that the "low voltage cut-off" on the inverter is set to 21.5v and it has not turned off yet. That is a good thing!!! I was toying around with adding the WN dual axis tracker. I would only need to haul over the electronics, motors and wires as the panels are widely available in Kenya. The site location is 1 degree 38 minutes south of the Equator and gets a lot of sun. Any help or ideas are greatly accepted!!! I mean that.
Thank you in Advance,
Joshua Bruce
www.missionarysafaris.com, follow us on facebook too!

 

Hi Joshua,
Please PM me if you need any help. I can calculate and design for your solar and wind system to work with the batteries.

 

Joshua,
Excellent Job and I bet it's making a world of difference!
Thanks for sharing the project with us.

Dave (aka timber)

 

Hey Larry, if I understand correctly Joshua is in contact with you on the solar and you are assisting him ! Great work by both of you, that is what makes the forum so valuable being able to share and help others regardless of distance apart from one another !

 

Murry,
Yes larry is helping me to add solar to the system. This forum has been very valuable for me and my project. I thank everyone that has given me help and advice. The project is needing a little tweeking but over all I think with short time we will producing all the power we need off the grid.
Thank you again,
Joshua
Missionary Safaris

 

Joshua, what might you be using to power to do? Run lights, run a radio?
Thanks,
Andy R.