My windtura 500 turbine

NewYorkMan
NewYorkMan Registered Users Posts: 19
My first post and my second wind turbine!

I have had a windynation windtura 500 flying for almost 2 weeks. I got in on a 30 ft. tower in an open field. The first 2 to 3 days it seemed a bit stiff. The last 7 days or so it seems to have broken in and is working good.

I will share results. My wind gauge is not real good because it updates about every 5 seconds. It is good enough for me though. I guess I should say my results are based on my wind guage which is the weak link in my measurement. I am charging a 24 volt bank and I have a shunt LED ammeter wired to read current. Results

10 mph wind is 2.5-3 amps (bat. volt was about 26.5)

15 mph wind is 6-6.5 amps (bat volt. was about 26.9)


I did see it peak at 29 amps in some big winds and then it went to furling mode and amps went to like 17-20 when furled. Wind was about 35 mph to hit 29 amps.

The readings I get appear to be actually a little better than the power curve videos on their web site. I will try to report back in a month or two with any new information. So far I am happy with the unit and the thing at least is performing as advertised.

My first wind turbine is a modified car alternator type. It has never even come close to making the rated output the seller claimed! Stay away from those things and if you want to buy one you have to realize it is only good for 300 to 400 Watts in BIG wind. My 2 cents. NYM

Comments

  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    nyman,
    welcome aboard and we look forward to hearing periodic updates on your turbine to see how well it does. i did move your post to its own thread from the thread of compare as i thought it could stand on its own.
  • NewYorkMan
    NewYorkMan Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    Hello Niel

    Thank you. I will try post periodically. After getting scammed on a modified car alternator turbine, I am glad to try to help anybody avoid getting ripped off. I regret not doing thorough research on my first purchase. My windtura 500 is still chugging along and doing what it is supposed to do. So far so good.
  • NewYorkMan
    NewYorkMan Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    We have been having some decent winds lately in the 15-25 mph range and my turbine has been cranking out the amps. I have been seeing anywhere from 6 to 22 amps into my 24 volt battery bank. Even more amps in the big wind gusts.

    It seems that I get more amps when my battery bank has a lower voltage around 25-26 and when it is up around 27+ volts the amps are a little lower. I think that this makes sense because the battery is probably seen as a larger load by the turbine when the voltage is low. My dump load has been working overtime the last couple of days. Soon I will be installing more lights on my barn and a small 300 Watt water pump. It will not be long until I am putting that dumped energy to use.

    I wish I would have waited one more month before I bought my windtura 500. From the looks of their youtube channel I think windynation is coming out with a 750 Watt unit soon. I hope it costs a lot more and then I can say to myself I would not have bought it anyways! The 750 video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-clysm1QrY

    Now for my question: As far a lighting goes, should I be seriously considering buying the expensive LED lights that have minimal energy consumption? Or are the compact flourescent light bulbs a better choice? They are much cheaper. Right now I am leaning towards the CFL's because they are so much cheaper and I am going to need about 150 Watts worth of bulbs to produce the light I need. Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated. BTW, my shed/barn is not connected to the grid so the grid is not an option.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    CFL lights tend to be better for area lighting and LED for spot lighting.

    Try getting one of each type and see what works best for you.

    LED and CFL bulbs can have poor color rendering. If you work with colors, a small 12 to 25 watt halogen fixture at your work space may be a requirement.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    both CFL & LDs have poor power factor, and actually consume more than the watt label states. :(
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • keyturbocars
    keyturbocars Solar Expert Posts: 375 ✭✭
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    The sad thing is that all it takes is a small PFC capacitor that costs next to nothing for the manufacturer to add. I read that in Europe the CFL's are power factor corrected and are much more efficient. But the manufacturers don't do it for the CFL's headed to the US because it's not required. :(
  • russ
    russ Solar Expert Posts: 593 ✭✭
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine
    I read that in Europe the CFL's are power factor corrected and are much more efficient. But the manufacturers don't do it for the CFL's headed to the US because it's not required. :(

    Here we get all Euro oriented stuff and I don't believe that is correct. Many if most companies will not tell you what the lamp PF is even if you ask from my experience.

    Russ
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    It takes more than the addition of a small capacitor to correct the power factor of a non-linear device like an electronic power supply.

    Adding a run capacitor in parallel with a motor cancels out some of the inductance.

    And you can do similar things with some "cheap implementations" of power supplies--but that typically (the little I know) requires the addition of inductors (for a passive circuit). And inductors are expensive (size, weight, copper). Plus you cannot do the high frequency ballast that reduces flicker with florescent bulbs.

    With active power factor correction (active electronics), there is actually an input power supply that actively controls the input current from the AC line so that it appears to simulate a resistor (I=V/R) so you get an in-phase current sine wave that follows the Voltage Sine Wave (PF~1.0) (at least that was the typical implementation for AC input computer power supplies).

    One of the side effects of active PF Correction was that we had a computer power supply that could run from 95 volts to 264 volts on 50/60Hz AC or even DC.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • keyturbocars
    keyturbocars Solar Expert Posts: 375 ✭✭
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    OK. Guess the article I read a while back was incorrect then.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    Here is a very nice, long, article (fairly non-technical) that talks about CFL's and their issues. Of what I know--the article seems to be accurate.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • MisterB
    MisterB Solar Expert Posts: 156 ✭✭
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    Thats a lot of technology to put into a light. I've never liked any kind of fluorescent light.

    LED lights are much simpler. The main issues I have with them are spectra/color issues. Halogen lights are a much better incandescant light and I'd much rather have 10 watt halogen lights than 8 watt CFs. I like it that they generate heat. One of the joys of having a wind generator is that I sometimes have extra power to burn at night and putting it into some halogen lights is really nice this time of year when it gets dark at 5.

    And I've made some of my own LED lights, mostly by converting some sort of low voltage light to LEDs which usually only requires one resistor in addition to the LEDs. It's not so easy to make a DIY CF bulb.
  • NewYorkMan
    NewYorkMan Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    Thank you for all the replies. I've got a lot to read and absorb. -nym
  • blackswan555
    blackswan555 Solar Expert Posts: 246 ✭✭
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine
    I read that in Europe the CFL's are power factor corrected
    Sadly not that I know of and use In either UK or Spain, (non specialist, Normal super market bought)
    I have a standard so called 18 Watt in front of me, Do the label`d V x A (230v, 0.158a) it adds up to 36.34 VA & meters the same, Not marked but PF of 0.5 there,
    Don`t forget that most of the time we work in VA not watts :D

    Have a good one
    Tim
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    Power = Watts = Volts * Amps * Power Factor

    Power => In theory the amount of energy supplied by the wiring

    V*A = The sizing of the wire, inverter, gensets.

    The worse the Power Factor, the more I^2 * R losses you have in a system--and the larger the wiring/generator/etc. have to be to handle the "unused/excess" current flow due to bad power factor.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • NewYorkMan
    NewYorkMan Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    windtura 500 update.

    i wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

    i thought I would give a brief update of my wind generator and lights. i decided to go with ten 13 Watt CFL light bulbs. they are doing the job and I have lots of power to run them a few hours everynight. i spread them out all over the place to make uniform lighting.

    the Windtura 500 is working good. i lowered the tower yesterday and checked her out. inspected all the nuts and bolts and back up she went. i guess no news is good news.
  • NewYorkMan
    NewYorkMan Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: My windtura 500 turbine

    It has been a long time since I did my last post. I will give a update. The Windtura is the best wind turbine I have ever owned! She is still kicking butt and has not given me a single issue. I took her down last weekend and greased the furling mechanism and greased the mount. And up she went.
    My location averages around 13-16mph during the day time and I seem to get about 5-8 amps using a 24 volt battery. The most power I have seen out of my Windtura so far is 43 amps but that was only for like 2 seconds and then she furled. Take care everybody.