Desperately seeking help with whisper turbines

Hi I am new to forums. I am looking for anyone who knows whisper turbines fairly well.
I bought a used whisper 500 and just got it put up about 1-2 months ago. We are off grid and are running a 48v battery bank. The turbine was ran for two years supposedly without issues and then sat for several years without blades before I bought the system.
Since I put it up it has made virtually no power. It takes approx 25 mph wind to turn green light on on the controller at which point it will typically make less than 100w. I saw 700 watts once during 45-50 mph wind. I have spent the last couple months talking to anyone I can find with knowledge of whispers and troubleshooting any possible ideas. I have checked voltage between phases both hooked to charge controller and unhooked. In a 15-20 mph wind I get 25-30v between any 2 of the 3 phases and they are always exactly the same. I have replaced the spindle bearings.
I have double checked that the stator is wired to 48v configuration. I have cleaned the brush card. I bought a new stator and it performs exactly the same. I have checked the rotor can for cracked magnets and none of them look cracked. There are a couple small chips approx 1/4" by less than 1/16 deep in a couple magnets. A couple of the people I have talked to have told me I should be able to spin the rotor by hand and produce 60-80v between any 2 phases and a couple other sources say I would not be able to make even close to that much by hand. When I spin rotor by hand I can make approx 26-28v. This is exactly the same with both new and old stator.
Nobody I have talked to can tell me what voltage I should be making at a given wind speed. I make approx 25-30v in a 15-20 mph wind. The whisper 500 performance chart shows the turbine should be making 1000 or more watts at this wind speed. Can anyone tell me whether the turbine should be making more voltage at this wind speed suggesting it's a problem with my turbine or if this sounds about right suggesting my charge controller is bad or if this is all the turbine will do and I'm wasting my time.
Everyone I have talked to has agreed that they should produce way more than I'm getting including my local solar store who still imports them from Wish energy in India who makes them now. I have wasted enough money throwing parts at this turbine. Only parts I have not replaced at this point are brush card, rotor can, blades, and charge controller. I would appreciate any advice before I buy a new controller or rotor can.
Thank you
I bought a used whisper 500 and just got it put up about 1-2 months ago. We are off grid and are running a 48v battery bank. The turbine was ran for two years supposedly without issues and then sat for several years without blades before I bought the system.
Since I put it up it has made virtually no power. It takes approx 25 mph wind to turn green light on on the controller at which point it will typically make less than 100w. I saw 700 watts once during 45-50 mph wind. I have spent the last couple months talking to anyone I can find with knowledge of whispers and troubleshooting any possible ideas. I have checked voltage between phases both hooked to charge controller and unhooked. In a 15-20 mph wind I get 25-30v between any 2 of the 3 phases and they are always exactly the same. I have replaced the spindle bearings.
I have double checked that the stator is wired to 48v configuration. I have cleaned the brush card. I bought a new stator and it performs exactly the same. I have checked the rotor can for cracked magnets and none of them look cracked. There are a couple small chips approx 1/4" by less than 1/16 deep in a couple magnets. A couple of the people I have talked to have told me I should be able to spin the rotor by hand and produce 60-80v between any 2 phases and a couple other sources say I would not be able to make even close to that much by hand. When I spin rotor by hand I can make approx 26-28v. This is exactly the same with both new and old stator.
Nobody I have talked to can tell me what voltage I should be making at a given wind speed. I make approx 25-30v in a 15-20 mph wind. The whisper 500 performance chart shows the turbine should be making 1000 or more watts at this wind speed. Can anyone tell me whether the turbine should be making more voltage at this wind speed suggesting it's a problem with my turbine or if this sounds about right suggesting my charge controller is bad or if this is all the turbine will do and I'm wasting my time.
Everyone I have talked to has agreed that they should produce way more than I'm getting including my local solar store who still imports them from Wish energy in India who makes them now. I have wasted enough money throwing parts at this turbine. Only parts I have not replaced at this point are brush card, rotor can, blades, and charge controller. I would appreciate any advice before I buy a new controller or rotor can.
Thank you
Comments
Main daytime system ~4kw panels into 2xMNClassic150 370ah 48v bank 2xOutback 3548 inverter 120v + 240v autotransformer
Night system ~1kw panels into 1xMNClassic150 700ah 12v bank morningstar 300w inverter
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
There is always the Bergey that I have used for clients and they are very good with support! Nice array! Can you manually turn it?
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
Here is an old manual (2006). On page 12 is the wiring for the stator. You followed the 48 volt? (and you did not connect B winding X2+X3 to the x4 windings of all three coil sets? The drawing in the manual is not ideal, it almost shows the X4 connections to X2+x3 on
Have you checked the current from each of the phases with a current clamp meter (AC version/AC measurement)? All three legs about equal current flow?
I am not a big fan of wind turbines... They can be difficult to diagnose problems. Are you "sure" the turbine was working well before? I found that few people really seem to log the daily or monthly Watt*Hour production numbers and keep track of performance over time.
-Bill
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
Current clamp meters are safe and easy way to look for bad wiring/unexpected current flow (parallel connections that are not sharing loads, etc.).
-Bill
I would be looking at s poor connection, possibly a miss wiring, shorted or open rectifier block (typical 6 diodes set up to rectify 3 phase ac into dc current).
Sears sells a $60 ac/dc clamp meter/dmm. Or you can find others for $100 on up.
This system is very similar to a car alternator system ignoring the car regulator. The rectifier block eventually is direct connected to Tyne battery bank.
The brake just shorts out the alternator to stall the blades with too much torque. Either a dead short or through some power resistors.
The dump controller is just a load on the battery bank.
Bill
Second system 1890W 3 × 300W No name brand poly, 3×330 Sunsolar Poly panels, Morningstar TS 60 PWM controller, no name 2000W inverter 400Ah LFP 24V nominal battery with Daly BMS, used for water pumping and day time air conditioning.
5Kw Yanmar clone single cylinder air cooled diesel generator for rare emergency charging and welding.
|| 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 ,
Assuming that the turbine is getting enough RPM (no loads), the battery bank needs around 58-60 volts typically to charge (48 volt battery bank).
If you have just the stator wiring (no connection to the rectifier), and any sort of good RPM in decent wind, and are getting 30 volts AC--Not good.
Just shorting the three AC leads together should just about stop (or very slow spin) of the turbine in low to moderate winds. If it does not, then you are looking at wiring/brush issues (not good current flow). Or, if those are OK, then the magnets may have failed (low field strength).
-Bill
If you connect the rectifier to the 3 phase output of the alternator, does the unit still spin easily (looking for shorted rectifier).
If you short the DC output of the rectifier, does the unit "cog" like when you shorted the 3 phase wire from the stator (looking for open rectifier).
Other than it may have never worked (rotor too small of diameter compared to the stator opening, your wiring diagram in the manual does not agree with the wiring diagram of the actual stator, etc.)... Putting the unit on a bench and spinning it with a motor so you can bench test everything--I am not sure what else to do.
In "the old'n days", we had speedo-electric shops and you could take an alternator to them for diagnosing or repair. Or possibly a motor re-winder. But it is probably hardly worth the time and effort at this point (unless you can get a quick diagnosis of the system that all is OK or not).
Here are some links to various wind related sites (and DIY). Perhaps you can find some more information there:
Wind Power Links
www.otherpower.com (good forum for DIY Wind Power)
Hugh Piggott - Scoraig Wind Electric site for tons of info (from mike90045)
Scoraig Wind "Recipe Book" for DYI Turbines (from Chris Olson... From his 4/11/2013 post)
www.greenpowertalk.org (added from "russ"--Like here but more wind/less solar)
Small windpower a scam ? Survey says SO
Truth About Skystream & SWWP
Windmax HY-2000 2kW Wind Turbine (apparently, some vendors don't sell spare parts--just new turbines. However, the owner, Edward has been very happy with its performance from 2010-2012--BB. 5/31/2012)
www.fieldlines.com (otherpower.com forum)
Wind turbines are one of the things where DIY systems can be better than what you can purchase (in general) for small wind.
Good luck,
-Bill
Second system 1890W 3 × 300W No name brand poly, 3×330 Sunsolar Poly panels, Morningstar TS 60 PWM controller, no name 2000W inverter 400Ah LFP 24V nominal battery with Daly BMS, used for water pumping and day time air conditioning.
5Kw Yanmar clone single cylinder air cooled diesel generator for rare emergency charging and welding.
https://www.solar-electric.com/residential/wind-power-equipment/wind-generators-turbines.html
Repair manual for one of the turbines:
https://www.solar-electric.com/lib/wind-sun/Primus-circuit-replacement-instructions.pdf
Their website:
http://www.primuswindpower.com/
-Bill