Skystream Down Update

I posted a problem with my Skystream back in November 09 & it was physically down on the ground from October 28th, 09 to December 4th, 09. It was down for a total of 38 days while waiting for SWWP to either send me repair parts or swap out the turbine competely, they chose to swap the turbine. It has been up & running since with no operational problems. I pulled up the Skyview software today to check production, etc & found under System Status that "Improper Rst" was lit up.
Is there a site online where I could get information about this problem as well as a chart that shows a brief description of each item under: System Status - Grid Status - Turbine Status? Some of the sub items are self explanatory but some are not & it seems everything else is operating as normal with production at this time.
Any information would be appreciated, I will be contacting SWWP with the - what is wrong now & how do I correct it question, OR..... Option 2, request a refund....
This current problem is now the 4th problem I have had (in just a little over 2 years) with my Skystream Turbine(s) since the original installation & startup on September 4th, 08.
I am not going to try to calculate the payback (I am just too embarrased to give the numbers). So the answer to one of my earlier post questions, no, it is not producing what was hyped in the original sales information.

Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: Skystream Down Update

    I searched the web--and did not find anything out there--So Skystream are probably the only people with an answer.

    By the way, for other readers, here is the first thread fro BassLaker:

    Skystream - Down

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Skystream Down Update

    Hi guys - have been visiting your site for a long time now - its great thanks and an excellent resource for enthusiasts

    Just wanted to let you know that we have had a (well a couple of) sky stream since early 2007 I think (was supplied after our whisper h500 died) and we too had no amount of troubles with the new sky stream - we eventually had a third or fourh skystream installed on the 13th of December 2009 - and we have had no problems with it (touch wood) - only thing is that we have found we have to turn it off at night as there is a nasty whine that the turbine makes which keeps my wife awake. The turbine is 160 m away from our house.

    Output is now up to 5120 kWh - this is based on an external meter I installed.

    It is on a stand alone system for our house and I have to say we are happy with it now

    We have recently had a 1.5 kw solar array installed and we now done have to run our diesel back up at all now

    We are running gel batteries of 650 ah capacity (48v) and two outback inverters (3kw) - one to supply house and the other for the sky stream - this one has a regulator and load dump hanging on it - built by the amazing guys from the solar shop in Adelaide

    Just thought I would let you know

    Regards

    Derek Hooper
    Cape Jaffa
    South Australia
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: Skystream Down Update

    Derek,

    Congratulations on getting a good wind power operational!

    How many kWH per month are you averaging? How high is the pole? Sounds like you live in a fairly windy area.

    So, you are off grid? How is the Skystream GT output interfaced to your battery bank? AC coupled (aka back driving) the Outback TSW inverters into the battery bank? And you have a dump controller configured to limit battery charging voltage?

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • skadude
    skadude Registered Users Posts: 4
    Re: Skystream Down Update

    I hope you already got the issue resolved. As long as you're turbine is still spinning and producing, there isn't any reason to worry. If you must try to fix the improper reset, I've been told to turn off the turbine for 10 minutes or so, and turn it back on to reset the computer in the nacelle.

    Those status codes really don't mean much, as the solution for most of the problems they indicate is 'replace the inverter'. Also, those codes are a crazy mix of decimal and binary numbers.

    Codes can be found here.
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Skystream Down Update

    Hi all,

    The Improper Rst indicator light means, essentially, nothing. According to the author of that version of the Skyview program, it was an unused field which they took advantage of during the software beta testing. If a command wasn't executed, which happens from time to time, the command was re-issued and the Improper Rst light would illimunate. He referred to is as a software trap indicator. This wasn't turned off after beta testing. While turning off the turbine power for 10 minutes will reset this light, its presence does not indicate a problem with the Skystream turbine.

    There are several fields on the Advanced Diagnostics tab which are unused, such as Batt Timeout, or which are misinterpreted and lead to unnecessary calls and worry. This tab is only useful for some diagnostic work with a tech support rep or engineer and should, in most cases, be left alone. The information which an end user or dealer needs is all contained on the Quick Diagnostics tab or in a data log file, recorded for diagnostic purposes. If there is, truly, a fault in the inverter (or grid supply) then the software will indicate this with a fault light.

    The "last event" code itself is shown on the Advanced Diagnostics tab, as a number, but it's also shown on the Quick Diagnostics tab as a text description (which is, usually, more helpful). These code also show up in the data log files, when recorded. They are not hex numbers and they don't match the codes listed in the PDF file linked to, above. The most common one is 107 (Access Set), which happens whenever the customer accesses data on the turbine or changes the clock time. Other common ones are 11 (grid supply voltage out of spec), 12 (grid frequency out of spec), or 52 (slave communications error) which often occurs right after a grid voltage problem and an 11 code.

    Best wishes.
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Skystream Down Update
    BB. wrote: »
    Derek,

    Congratulations on getting a good wind power operational!

    How many kWH per month are you averaging? How high is the pole? Sounds like you live in a fairly windy area.

    So, you are off grid? How is the Skystream GT output interfaced to your battery bank? AC coupled (aka back driving) the Outback TSW inverters into the battery bank? And you have a dump controller configured to limit battery charging voltage?

    -Bill

    Hi Bill,
    Sorry did not reply earlier - have not been checking blog
    This latest skystream was installed on December 13th 2009 - in the first year it produced 6800 kwh - this is with my wife turning it off most nights as the noise in our situation is a little annoying.
    The pole is 12 m high and is a guyed tower kit that was supplied for our original whisper 500 that did not last very long - I think due to wire sizing - too small and I have now replaced with very thick cables
    The house runs off one Outback 30/48 inverter and the skystream charges the batteries thru another that is the same. The skystream is feeding in thru the ac in terminals of the Inverter. We did have the sky stream feeding into the one inverter originally but the lights would flicker and surge with wind fluctuation - so it was separated onto it's own inverter.
    Re the load dump equipment. This consists of a couple of relay switches that are connected to a small solar controller which reads battery voltage and switches on a bank of electric ( household) heaters incrementally - depending on the feed coming from the skysteream. If the batteries are at 56 volts and the turbine is producing a lot of power all the headers are on. If the batteries are at 56 v and the wind is low then one heater will turn on and off to regulate the voltage at 56v.
    I can give you the designers/ installers email address if you would like to email me. The installers tried using a couple of different inverters and dump options on other installations but I think apparently my install is working the best. Have swwp got the battery charging sky stream system working now? Can they supply a kit that does the job now?
    Overall we are very happy with our sky stream and I would like to get another for our other property that is in a windy site as well. But the pricing on the sky streams here in Australia now is ridiculous. You are looking at $30k installed which is making them totally uncompetative to solar and I doubt if many will now be put up.
    Regards
    Derek