I need advise/help-ASAP!!!

OK, it's up, and it works. A big un, I bet close to between 40 and 50 pounds. I had a real, real hard time getting it in the air without killing myself too! So it's approx. 12 feet high. A 1750 rpm 90vdc 7.5 amp 3/4 hp 'generator'. Hornet or Raptor style blades (3). Mounted with steel poles inserted at bottom into chain link fence end post and 'U' bolted. 2 guy wires in an inverted 'v' to the chain link fence. For safety, a steel cable is through motor and u bolted to top pole, so if disaster strikes, it can only fall about 1 to 1.5 feet and can't fall and kill someone, which I truly believe could happen, due to the size and weight of the unit.
Strong winds (between 8-15+ mph) and it works, with a 100' heavy duty electrical cord ends cut off and affixed to generator wires up top coming down into garage where it will eventually power something, not sure what yet.
Multimeter all over the place, from 0 up to 52 volts, and I was impressed!!!

Now is where I need the help. I wired the cord direct to a small 400watt power invertor, and the fault light came on, so I turned the switch to the off position. Also to the multimeter. But the invertor started literally smoking, so I promptly pulled the wires off. I also tried to hardwire to my automotive 12v headlight, which also burned out. I was afraid to wire it directly to a 12v battery because it has a full charge in in right now. I was also afraid to wire it to an old battery which reads 10 volts, because I don't think it will accept a charge, and concerned also about an overcharge/ explosion? So tell me you wind gurus out there, what can I use for testing in a safe fashion for
the power my windmill can produce when it's spinning. And can it just be up there spinning connected to nothing and not get ruined?
I have a bigger 1000 watt invertor, but don't want to ruin it like the little one. I have purchased a Coleman charge controller, but don't have it yet. I'd like to do more testing to see what I can safely use my 'free' power for. Suggestions? What did you all do, use with your first windmill for testing?
I do have a blocking diode, but don't know if I need it unless I am trying to charge a battery. I have many more questions, but this post it long enough already! Look forward to any/all replys. Terry P.S. Forecast is for strong winds the next 4 days!!! And, Happy New Year to all! :)

[Gotwind Ben]

Terry.
Please connect your turbine up to a leisure battery, and nothing else.
You can then 'tap' power off the battery, to an auto bulb/ Inverter e.t.c if you are concerned about it over charging.

Never allow a wind turbine to run free, that's why your seeing such high voltages. Tha battery will clamp the voltage down down to around 12 volts and charging will begin.

Please take great care, an image would be nice to see also.

thanks ben for your reply (and your forum), not sure of your terminology 'leisure' battery, but will heed your advise and connect cord to a 12volt battery and then continue initial testing. terry

Don't ever let a turbine run unloaded, the reason you're seeing 52V is that it is running open circuit, and it was that 52V which blew your bulb and smoked your inverter, the poor thing was expecting 12V not over four times that.

Connecting it to a battery or a bank of batteries will clamp the volts down and the extra then comes out as amps, so to speak, while loading the turbine up so it doesn't freewheel.

If I were in your position now, the safest thing would be to wait for a hole in the wind so the blades slow down or stop and then short it out. Second safest if there isn't a hole in the wind at the moment would be to temporarily use that old batt of yours - check the liquid levels first, and ensure it's in a well-ventilated place. If it does charge, you've bought yourself some time for the wind to drop so you can then short the turbine out and make it safe, and you now need to get a proper leisure battery and make or buy a charge controller to divert the excess power to something else once the battery is fully charged.

To do that you'll need a divert load and a controller to sense when the battery is full and switch over to dump the excess power. You may have the makings of a divert load already, especially if your inverter is a UPS one (standard inverters expect to be connected to the power first and then have something plugged into them, whereas UPS types are designed to wake up with something already plugged in).

If you buy a controller, make sure it's a wind type and not a solar type, solar ones just disconnect the battery when it's full - going open circuit doesn't harm a photovoltaic panel but it lets a turbine freewheel.

Edited to add - YES you need to use the blocking diode when charging a battery, make sure it's pointing the right way (if there's a symbol on it that looks like a triangle balancing a plank on its nose, connect the plank end to battery positive).

just seen Ben's reply and your own answer to it, a normal car battery is a cranking battery, made to produce big power for a short time and then have it instantly fed back as soon as the car starts and the alternator starts working. They can't take the sort of punishment they'll get in a turbine system and will quickly die. A leisure battery, or even better a traction battery from an electric forklift etc, is built like a brick outhouse in comparison and will happily withstand multiple deep discharges that would kill a cranking battery stone dead.

Thanks for the replys... Here's my 1/1/10 update... It's windy here today, must be 8+ mph winds, but windmill not turning at all. :( So I connnected windmill power cord (from windmill into my garage) to a regular 12v battery and with not blocking diode, she'll spin. So I clipped the meter to battery and it reads between 12.2 and 12.4. When I attach diode, she simply winds down and stops spinning. So without diode, with battery, she'll spin and it seems the wind will then make her spin faster, if blowing hard enough and the meter will rise.

I also ran my power invertor with battery and windmill, again, no diode to simply run a light bulb. The meter will slowly go down from the 12.3 area (just battery, windmill, invertor, and light bulb from invertor socket) down to the 12.0- 12.2 range, and maintain that voltage for my testing period of about 15-30 minutes.



I thought if just running the battery to spin the windmill, the meter would slowly go down as the battery power is used up to spin the windmill. It seems to me that it actually maintains or even slowly goes up! I don't get it.... Is it not going down because the wind is blowing enough? Can a battery spin the windmill and be charged at the same time??? I am just beginning to try to understand all this... As a further test, I also ran a 500watt halogen bulb through invertor, but it drew the power down faster and the inverter alarm started to chirp as voltage dropped below 12v, but without that, it just seemed to charge back up into the 12.2-12.4 range. Anybody can explain???

I will keep the battery and windmill without diode running and moniter what happens, and post later with an update. I'm just confused...
Terry
Final update... The wind died down and I disconnected until next windy day.... My assumption is as this is a bigger unit, I need bigger wind to start up which is why she won't turn unless really windy without battery, no diode, maybe after running in wind, will keep running without being powered by battery... Will wait until next windy time and continue testing...
Another question... Will adding 3 more blades, making a 6 blade unit ease the startup 'cogging?' I'm pretty sure for proper operation, the blocking diode must be utilized...Will keep posting until all dialed in. And thank you all for your help with my wind project... P.S. Don Quixote?? Windmills??
My wife called me 'Don Coyote' tonight! :)

the blocking diode is to prevent the battery from turning the windmill under it's own power. It sound like you have too much resistance to spin. Could be cogging. Might just be turning resistance. Not always bad, because your unit isn't deteriorating in useless winds.

"Could be cogging". Nope. Cogging is always there, diode or not, battery or not....

It is a basic wiring problem.
"When I attach diode, she simply winds down and stops spinning".
To me, it sounds like the machine is shorted at that time.

The rest of it is electrically undecipherable.
Whatever you are doing, Stop it! :D

It is a simple problem of misunderstanding something somewhere.
Comparing what you are doing to known Ametek or treadmill motor diagrams will show the problem.
G-

Hi Ghurd, thanks for the reply. I do need to update here. OK. It's up and I have a diode in line between motor wire and battery, it's working. The windmill does spin when windy enough. It pretty much has to be a fairly strong wind, 10mph+ ...... For testing just a small 12volt utility battery. Yesterday I took out small battery and wired windmill to a deep cycle battery I bought. I also have a controller I bought but truthfully I chickened out from trying to wire it up, as of my many electrical uncertainties regarding utilization with just one battery. I bet you could be of great help here, Ghurd! Specifically, can I use two mis-matched batteries? They are both 12volt, but 1 is deep cycle, 1 is not. Different cca... Also, the wiring diagram shows only how to wire a couple different ways with 2 batteries, not just 1, and nothing about where/how to attach the power invertor in conjunction with the controller. That's why I became afraid. But I know I'm on the right track with my endeavor for wind power... I'm mildly obsessed with this whole thing! I curse my lack of electrical knowledge! But I'm trying here with online researching, and lots of thought about how it all works. Hope perhaps you can give some insight for me, as a newbie to windpower I can use all the help I can get! Terry

"Could be cogging". Nope. Cogging is always there, diode or not, battery or not....

I do believe he is cogging too much to start until a sufficient wind impulse.

The spinning he was seeing was regardless of wind when it was hooked to the battery w/o diode. The battery was powering the windmill according to him.

Did you say that you are using three hornet blades to power your motor/generator? That could very well be your problem.

Hornet blades are notorious for having very low start-up torque. You can ethier purchase three more hornet blades (six total), make your own blades, or buy blades that will give you better power.

I think this is why your motor/generator will not spin in 8 mph wind when you are hooked up to a load (battery bank) but I could be wrong ... it would not be the first time.