Midnite solars Classic mppt wind controller

[halfcrazy]

Ok we have a little info on the Midnite Solar Classic controller. we have done a short test with it in the wind mode. Have been doing mostly solar testing so far. as many may know we have a 10 ft Turbine identical to the Dan's turbines "most of the parts came from there actually". to date the most we have ever seen is around 1150 watts and that was during a real bad storm with scary gusts the machine seems to furl right around 1000 watts.

So today the wind was up a little and we decided to do a little testing. now it wasnt what i would call windy just a good breeze with some longer gusts. "sorry no way to measure wind speed yet APRS World is setting that up for us in the next couple of weeks".

by the seet of pants from living with this turbine for a while the low winds say around 10mph we saw a 40-50% increase and for a while we had a good breeze and we where making around 1800 watts and the turbine was just starting to lift the tail maybe 15% furled if that. we are supposed to have strong winds in the next few days so we will check it again then.

we will play with the power curve and get all the data logging stuff set up so stay tuned this really looks promising

 

[ibeweagle]

how to get one? have to test a 12 footer design on hughs 12 footer only compact on 12.5 inch magnet rotors and biased new design seen 30 volts over 43 amps so around 1.3kw from a 12 foot dim turbine  would like to see what it would do with Classic thanks Mike Johnson Eagle Energy Solutions LLC ibeweagle@hotmail.com

[boB]

Mike, at the moment, there are only a handful of these first beta Classic units.

There will be more soon. (the sooner the better)

boB

[TomW]

boB;

If there is an alpha/beta testers list, pop me on it.

Would be interesting to try one out on the Dan built or the Zubbly Built turbines or a combination of the 2 [both feed in DC from the towers. Or the 850 watts of solar hanging on the pole.

Always interested in new stuff to try.

Tom

[boB]

Tom, What is the "nominal" voltage of that turbine ?  And the nominal battery voltage ?

Could you get the power curve and winding resistance of the turbine ?

A Max Power curve is ideal (power or current vs. voltage), but winding resistance

and a general power curve (at a specified battery voltage) could be useful to create a starting point.

How about this idea...   If there is no means to graph the turbine's power vs. voltage,

another way to get another point or two would be to take the power curve measurements at 2 different battery voltages, with the dump load operating at each battery voltage,

say, 12, 24 and/or 48 Volts.  Then again, that might not be real easy either, depending on the dump load controller that is available.  A C40 might work though.

boB

[TomW]

boB;

The Danbilt is an older "original" 10 foot dual rotor with a 24 volt stator. From Dan himself. It has an 8 foot 4412-18 prop on it now due to the 10 footer getting hammered.

The prop is this one:

http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery/4415-8-foot-prop-project

The "Danbilt" is 140 turns of #17 9 coils 12 magnets and the notes say 1500 watts max. Dan said more like a 750 Watt "rating".

This page has some pictures of the unit from a year ago or so.

http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery/album59

I would consider a different stator if it was necessary. Assumption being that WonderMagnet can custom build a suitable stator for that older style. Would prefer to use the stock setup as it would be more useful info for more folks all told.

Power curve.. Well, I could easily rig all 3 of those voltages and a dump for each. No controller at this point. I am around the farm usually so I am the controller. In place testing is problematic as the turbines are up on the hill feeding the batteries thru about 300 feet of 2/0 aluminum overhead drop cable like they use[d] on service drops from the grid. I feed both turbines as DC from there. Getting a true power curve would seem to require bench testing or luck on the availability of turbine fuel when its nice enough to work up on the hill. I regularly log my battery voltage and just got another 4 channel logger which I hope to have set up to read shunt level voltages soon. I have another coil of the 2/0 maybe I could uncoil it on top of the snow for testing just one turbine without taking the Zubbly conversion offline.

Definitely interested in this project.

Tom

[boB]

Tom W. Says:

>>and the notes say 1500 watts max. Dan said more like a 750 Watt "rating".

Well, we'll just have to see what we can do about THAT !

Happy new year !

bob

[halfcrazy]

Ok quick update we are getting 20-30mph winds today and i let the Classic take control of the turbine for a while. I got to witness 47 amps into the battery's for a short period the battery's are around 56 volts. so if my calculations are correct we where seeing in excess of 2500 watts.

And we just started playing i think 3kw is realistic with this controller. i still need to let the turbine down and get the anemometer on the tower as well as check all the nuts and bolts but this thing Rocks

PS the turbine was starting to sing at that speed but didnt sound or look scary at all

[bobfandango]

How many amps (or, equivalently at that power point, how many volts) were you seeing on the turbine side of the controller?  I'm asking because I'm wondering if folks are going to need/want thicker wire coming down the tower....  Also, I imagine, beefier rectifiers are going to be in order.  

Also, how come you aren't letting the controller run the turbine more or less all the time?

Thanks...

[halfcrazy]

well the turbine was making around 20 amps and the voltage was up. i dont think we need heavier wire as the goal is to keep the amperage of the stator the same but raise the voltage thus getting more power. I dont keep the Classic on the turbine as this particular Classic is being tested for PV i will have a Clipper and a Classic for the turbine shortly and we will let her rip. I will start a new diary entry at this point to log the progress

[ibeweagle]

will have standard kit out soon for 12 footer dual rotors 12.5 dim 16 mag n45 2x1x.5 24 volt battery bank outback 2-gvxf3525 system installed and doc wattson meter on one of the three prot types on will measure coil resistance 2 in hand #18 70turns 4 coils per phase star configuration allso will be monitoring wind speed soon cheers ibeweagle