farmhand
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2022
- Messages
- 232
Hi all!
So we have a 6' HeAvY windmill 30' to the shaft. It is fixed facing west (prevailing wind in central Ohio). 90% of the time she spins "forward", but 10% of the time it does spin in "reverse".
There is a 35-chain sprocket & V-belt puller on the end of the shaft. I plan to chain this (after a ratio change) to a Gearworks 90vdc motor I have. The motor will be down around 15' where I can easily maintain it & lube the chain. By the number this motor will work perfect for the Eco Max's 11v-100v input. This will work well for our cabin's 250w idle draw overnight, as when this was once a stand-alone wind-generator it averaged 300-500w.
But, the first round was an alternator where the load would stall the mill at <7mph wind. This DC motor will not being the Eco Max caps off at 800watts..........
But HOW would I best avoid this reverse polarity issue by either (A) changing it back automatically, or (B) have the circuit open in a reverse polarity condition?
I can only think DC to AC to DC... but that's a lot of loss.
Diodes: My 6-string array all have reversing diodes in the PV combiner box (due to partial shading at times), so (C) Would I need a reversing diode for the mill as well? I figure as the mill output will also tie into the array output.... then the array would power the DC motor and turn the mill into one big damn fan.....
This is a lot to consider but now having the Eco Max for a few days we're REAL close to running 24/7 offgrid if I could get this mills little bump in power.
(The tail shown in a pic below is no longer on it, it looked COOL as all get out slowly rotating off the shaft... then winds came from the side during a storm, and every 90degrees rotation would put massive drag, then zero drag on the shaft that is fixed to the tower. These towers flex a little, but we saw the top of this tower seriously rotating 6" north from center, then 6" south of center on the horizontal plane. It was scary & something to see... things we learn but it didn't come down :D)
REALLY looking forward to some feedback from you all, thanks!
So we have a 6' HeAvY windmill 30' to the shaft. It is fixed facing west (prevailing wind in central Ohio). 90% of the time she spins "forward", but 10% of the time it does spin in "reverse".
There is a 35-chain sprocket & V-belt puller on the end of the shaft. I plan to chain this (after a ratio change) to a Gearworks 90vdc motor I have. The motor will be down around 15' where I can easily maintain it & lube the chain. By the number this motor will work perfect for the Eco Max's 11v-100v input. This will work well for our cabin's 250w idle draw overnight, as when this was once a stand-alone wind-generator it averaged 300-500w.
But, the first round was an alternator where the load would stall the mill at <7mph wind. This DC motor will not being the Eco Max caps off at 800watts..........
But HOW would I best avoid this reverse polarity issue by either (A) changing it back automatically, or (B) have the circuit open in a reverse polarity condition?
I can only think DC to AC to DC... but that's a lot of loss.
Diodes: My 6-string array all have reversing diodes in the PV combiner box (due to partial shading at times), so (C) Would I need a reversing diode for the mill as well? I figure as the mill output will also tie into the array output.... then the array would power the DC motor and turn the mill into one big damn fan.....
This is a lot to consider but now having the Eco Max for a few days we're REAL close to running 24/7 offgrid if I could get this mills little bump in power.
(The tail shown in a pic below is no longer on it, it looked COOL as all get out slowly rotating off the shaft... then winds came from the side during a storm, and every 90degrees rotation would put massive drag, then zero drag on the shaft that is fixed to the tower. These towers flex a little, but we saw the top of this tower seriously rotating 6" north from center, then 6" south of center on the horizontal plane. It was scary & something to see... things we learn but it didn't come down :D)
REALLY looking forward to some feedback from you all, thanks!
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