WePower Wind Turbine Controller

moondog03

Hello, All,

I was asked to look at a "friend of a friends" wind turbine which Is currently not functioning. I work at a power plant so my friend thinks that I should know about this stuff. Anywho, the "Wind Controller" box has a burned up toroidal transformer in it. The turbine is a WePOWER Falcon 5.5kw. I have seen some of the posts concerning WePower equipment so It is not looking very promising. A new controller will probably be needed and as WePower is no longer, well, anything... I am assuming that the controller should be kind of generic? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank You

mike95490

I guess the turbine was working well enough to smoke a big toroid .
  I guess you need to find out if it's single phase, multiphase, where the diodes are,   What's the nominal voltage output?

Dave Angelini

Wind is for the people with alot of time, money, or sleeplessness!

BB.

I could not find any information about who manufactured their inverter... It is possible that you could find something out there that could run with the (I think) 3 phase PMA (permanent magnet alternator).

A Midnite Classic plus a rectifier+load bank to control RPM (if really >4 kWatt, you may need a pair of these):

http://www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=329&productCatName=Wind and Hydro Accessories&productCat_ID=25&sortOrder=2&act=p

If this is a VAWT (vertical axis wind turbine), it is possible that you do not need the load bank to shut down the turbine when the battery bank is full (VAWT are not suppose to over-speed if unloaded and/or high wind)...

If this is a Grid Tied system (not connected to a battery bank, but directly tied to the utility grid)--Then you would need a GT type inverter designed for wind. Again, there are possible systems out there that may work.

Just out of practicality--Do they have any numbers for now much power the Falcon produced over the months/years? For the most part, I have never read any verified data for a VAWT that produced any useful energy ever. Most are installed too close the ground and/or near trees/buildings/etc. (i.e., public spaces for "green washing")--Which are terrible locations for wind turbines. The few VAWT that may have produced power generally failed/self destructed from fatigue and electronics failures.

Understand that I am not a fan of small wind turbines...

At this point, do not even bother with any Vertical Axis Wind turbines. They are inefficient and, from what I have read so far, not mechanically sound.

Here is a 8 year old thread about Windspire (Mariah):

Windspire Questions

Here is a energy blog with Mariah customer comments that are less than a year old--sounds like the same old VAWT problems... Units tearing themselves apart, failed inverters, no parts to repair or even finish construction.

Again, to not put a big negative spin on small winds:

Small windpower a scam ? Survey says SO
Truth About Skystream & SWWP

-Bill

moondog03

Thanks for the help so far. Her are pics of the controller. The turbine is a PMG (A) 110 - 400 VDC. It is grid tied and has an off the shelf Aurora Inverter. Which is seen in first picture.