Classic 150 Installed

[stephendv]

I don't know about your Crydom, but the SSRs I've worked with must have a heatsink attached to work at their max rated A.

[keyturbocars]

I don't know about your Crydom, but the SSRs I've worked with must have a heatsink attached to work at their max rated A.

True, I tried to make sure I had enough heat sink mass to keep things reliable.  This heat sink weighs nearly 8 lbs and I have it set up in vertical position so it should have a natural convection "chimney" effect that should improve heat transfer.





I just ordered another Crydom 100A DC SSR last night, so I can get this fixed.  Since the first one lasted about 5 minutes of operation, I contacted Crydom to inquire about warranty.  They told me to contact Element 14 (a Newark company) where I originally ordered that Crydom SSR.  They will said they will look into a warranty replacement, but it might take 2 weeks.  In the meanwhile, I ordered another D1D100 SSR from them to get up and running again.  I'm going to run less heating elements in my water heater for now to get the loads down to around 70A (from 90A).  Then if they do come through and give me a warranty replacement SSR, then I might just run two of these SSR's in parallel for extra load carrying capacity.  You can see on my heat sink that I positioned that SSR so I could place one right next to it.  I was already anticipating this as a possibility, so that's how I laid out the components on the heat sink.

Edward

[stephendv]

Lol, now that's a heatsink.  Most men go out and buy a red ferrari 

[keyturbocars]

Lol, now that's a heatsink.  Most men go out and buy a red ferrari 

Hahaha.  Yes, and to take it a step further in the spirit of overkill, I might just go with twin "turbos". 

I ordered a couple Delta 60mm fans cheap on eBay, and I might install those on top of the heat sink.  From past mad scientist experiments, I already have some smaller thermostatic snap disc switches which I can use to thermostatically control the fans.

Edward

[cdog]

Great stuff, very glad to see this unfold, thanks!!

[keyturbocars]

Great stuff, very glad to see this unfold, thanks!!

I'm glad that boB decided to make this new charge controller work with wind too! 

Tonight, we have some more wind blowing through the area.  I was watching my Classic, and I saw peaks of OVER 4400W more than once during wind gusts.  That's a LOT of power from this wind turbine!

I look forward to optimizing my wind curve more in the future (or when wind learning in the Classic becomes a reality).  In the short time that I've been tweaking my wind curve, I've seen that it can make a noticeable difference in the amount of power that is harvested. 

Edward

[Westbranch]

Edward since your computer is right at hand (by your Classic)  have you made any attempts at data logging?

It would be very interesting based on your 'randomized sampling' results so far.  There probably are more gust than you are able to make note of...

Eric

[keyturbocars]

Eric,

I haven't done anything with datalogging.  Sounds like a great idea, because like you indicated... a guy can't be sitting in front of the Classic 24/7 watching for peak wind gusts!     

Here comes the dumb question (showing my ignorance on the topic), does the Classic already support external datalogging?

This is an area that I have not researched yet.

Sounds interesting.

Edward

[Westbranch]

Edward, I am not sure this means that there is output every 10 seconds but may be boB can chime in.

from page 44 of the manual

The Classic advertises its address every 10 seconds using the UDP protocol on port (TBD). Advanced
users and programmers may use this feature to identify Classics on their network.

I know that my XBM batt monitor sends data every second and it can be captured if you want, not sure why though.  I grab mine every 15 minutes during the day.    I use Excel to plot it

[keyturbocars]

Eric,

Sounds interesting.  Maybe boB will chime in on datalogging capabilities on an external computer.  I know the Classic itself has a LOGS menu option.  I noticed yesterday that it's logged 12.1kwH so far.  We've not had long any really long duration wind events like we often do during the Spring.  There have been a few weather systems that have rolled through and brought some strong winds, but they were relatively short lived.  I'm looking to some of the longer lived wind storms.

I'm expecting the new DC SSR for my water heating diversion to arrive within the next couple days so I can get my AUX 2 diversion fixed.

I like the way that my AUX1 AC Clipper has been working.  Last night, during some wind gusts, I watched as the Classic "feathered" the brake periodically to keep turbine speeds under control.  I set my max input voltage to 110V last night.  I really like the ability to program when braking occurs to adjust turbine speed.  Very nice!

Edward  

PS.  I just checked my Classic log and it shows 15.5 KWh generated.  I might have gotten mixed up and thought it was in the 12's before when it was actually in the 15's.  In any case, the winds have not been as strong and consistent as they can be, so I'm hoping for some good power to be generated later this Spring.

[keyturbocars]

A little more show and tell on my Classic 150 controlled HY-2000 wind turbine.  I don't think fan cooling of my heat sink would be necessary under most conditions.  My assumption is that the normal heat transfer from natural convection should be adequate.  However, just to be safe... in case the heat produced during extended high wind events is more than ideal, I am setting up a thermostatically controlled set of fans on top of the heat sink.  They probably won't run much of the time, but at least they will offer some extra cooling capacity.  

I used dual 24V Delta 60mm ball bearing brushless fans.  Power consumption should be minimal since they should not run most of the time.  Wired in series, they will draw .11A @ 48V.  So, 5-6 watts on occasion is not unreasonable.  Chances are the fans will run with the wind turbine is cranking out lots of power, so 6 watts lost is negligible.  This empty heat sink in the picture is an extra heat sink I have.  I just used it to see how the fans will fit.  My actual heat sink is screwed on the wall.  I made a small bracket to secure the fans to the wall.

 

Here's the Supco snap disc fan switch (thermostat) that I attached to the side of the heat sink.  The one terminal on the thermostat is close to the heat sink, but I needed to mount it that way so the heat sensing surface was completely touching aluminum.  In any case, I will use an insulated female blade terminal on that side so it will be insulated from the aluminum heat sink.



I'm waiting on a small fuse block that I ordered before I actually wire the fans in place.  I ordered a small fuse block to use with some AGC glass fuses for small circuits that I might add (like this).  The smaller amp rated AGC glass fuses are made to handle higher voltages.  Bussman used to rate the <10a AGC 250VAC fuses to also be able to handle up to 250VDC.  I haven't seen that lately, but I have an older chart that showed the 250VAC/VDC ratings. The ATC/ATO plastic blade type fuses are rated for 32VDC max, so I figured the glass fuses were a better choice for my 48V system.

Edward

[kitestrings]

Edward,

ATC fuses are only rated to 32 VDC, but I'm pretty sure GMT fuses (same size, profile) will get the higher voltage.  This is what Solar Converters recommands on their converters for 48 V.

~kitestrings

[Westbranch]

Edward, maybe another alternative

from Bussman
MAXI Fuses
For protecting circuits in the wiring harness, these high amp fuses feature an enclosed element for protection against shock and sparks. Ideal for protecting high amp aftermarket accessories. Available in 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 amp ratings.

no mention of Volts though

[keyturbocars]

Thanks kitestrings and Eric for the fuse ideas. 

Since these circuits will be very low amps, then I think the AGC glass fuses will be fine.  Here's a page I found showing that the Bussmann 0-10A AGC fuses were rated for 250VDC too.  Not sure why they don't still show this on their website.

http://www.scottsodds-n-ends.com/2001.pdf

In any case, they should be safe on my 48V system.  I'll have 18 gauge wire routed up to the fans.  I'm probably only going to use a 1A or maybe a 3A fuse on the circuit going to the fans.  I had a 15A 48V battery charger that used the AGC glass fuses, so it seems that they used to be used in the past.  I don't anticipate any safety issues. 

Edward

[keyturbocars]

Yesterday evening, we had some decent winds come through.  Nothing too wild, so it was nice.  Started blowing around 6PM and averaged around 16mph and stated tapering off around 12noon today.  From what I could see on the log, it appears the Classic logged around 9 kwH in that 18 hour period.  If the winds were a little brisker, then it would have really added up.  When the winds average over 20mph, then the HY-2000 turbine can really crank out some power.  Even so, the winds were fairly consistent last night, and so it added up to something.

Edward