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My Windspot 3.5 Fail and repair

I am posting this for the benefit of those who have a similar Turbine - things I wish I had known ahead of time and what warning signs I missed which cost me some headaches and expenses. This turbine seems pretty good, but the Do It Yourselfer needs to be better educated than I was. I am 2900 km away from the supplier of this turbine and even further from the manufacturer in Spain.

So- to look at the failure of the hub and blade holder

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The first two photos show how the key and keyway of the generator shaft have worn. This was due to a slackening of the one bolt which holds the mounting plate of the blade hub onto the shaft of the generator. I am guessing that this bolt had started to loosen when I first put the turbine in the air. I did not have a good electrical connection at the slip rings and the turbine made a loud moaning noise when producing 2kW or more. Arcing at the one bad slip ring caused only 2 of the 3 phases to make power and the uneven load caused vibrations in the generator and mast. In hindsight I should have taken it down to see what was going on. The other issue may also have been caused by these vibrations and that was pitting in the blade holder bearings and slop at the blade holder shaft. In the 3rd and 4th pictures you see an original blade holder and the one made here in Wellington. Grease running down the shaft is a warning to stop and fix the bearings. The renewed blade holder is slightly heavier in weight with a clamped on flyweight instead of a casting. The failure of the blade holder happened during a winter storm last year. The power monitor showed about 5000 W coming from the turbine. This year we have had a gale blow through with similar winds of 40 knots and the turbine topped out at 4000 W. The blade feathering seems to be working now.

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This post first appeared on Green Power Talk, please read the originial post: here

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My Windspot 3.5 Fail and repair

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