What Happened???

[keyturbocars]

I was playing around with my wind curve in my Classic 150.  There was a gentle breeze outside (6-7mph).  At one point while I was exiting out of the wind curve editor, I pushed the Status button.  To my shock, I saw 148V on the IN!  I immediately reached to flip the breaker on the Classic, and then do my emergency shut down by applying my AC & DC brakes and short out the 3 phases.   I don't even think my hand reached the breaker yet and I heard a "snap/pop" sound and the Classic shut down.  I then proceeded to flip all the breakers and to shut down my turbine.  It all happened so fast that I'm not 100% clear if that pop sound was a breaker tripping (that's what it sounded like) or something in the Classic.  There was no "magic smoke" and no smell of any hot electronics.  When I took the cover off the Classic, everything that is visible on the top board looks normal. 

I powered up the Classic again and everything looks normal.  The only thing that is out of the ordinary in that on the IN it shows 0.0V.  Usually it shows at least some voltage even if there is no wind and the turbine is not system.  All system appear to be normal.  I can go through the Classic and change wind graphs and use it like normal.  The display shows "Resting".  In other words, everything looks fine on the Classic.  The input voltage being 0.0V is the only thing that seems unusual.  So, I thought that everything was OK.  We've had some very light winds (6-9mph at times), and usually I see my wind turbine spinning some even though it does not produce any useful power at very low winds.  This time however, the turbine was just turning very slowly.  Again, the winds were very light.  Down to 3 or 4mph and then up to 6 or 7mph with a short time of 8-9mph once.  You know how winds constantly change.  I kept thinking maybe there is not enough wind, but I have observed the "behavior" of my wind turbine long enough to know that something did not look right. 

I went into troubleshooting mode to try to determine what is the problems.  I checked everything out that I could think of and all appears to be normal.  The final test that made me suspect that something might be wrong with the Classic was when I disconnected the PV/Wind + cable from the Classic.  I then released the brake on my turbine and began to watch it in the light breeze.  Sure enough, it began spinning like I'm used to seeing in a 6-7mph wind.  I then applied my manual braking system and shut it down and everything worked normal.  In other words, the turbine is behaving exactly as normal in all ways, so it appears that the rest of the system is fine. 

It appears that something happened to the Classic so that now it is acting like a "brake" on the wind turbine. 

I don't understand how in the world the voltage got up to 148V in a light breeze while I was tweaking the curve in the wind editor!!  It was just breezy outside.  I've tweaked the wind curve many times before even during high winds.  I don't know why this time the Classic did what it did.  It's almost like this time when I was tweaking the wind curve, the Classic "disconnected" and allowed the wind turbine to freewheel.  Like I said, it was for a split second before the Classic shut down and I applied my manual fail safe brakes.  When I went to look at the turbine after braking, it was standing still and the breeze was hardly noticeable.

I kept trying to shut off/reset the Classic.  When I turn it back on, everything initializes as usual (fans cycle) and everything looks normal apart from the 0.0V IN. 

What could have happened here??? 

I know that I need to wait to see when there is more wind, because 3-4mph and then 6-7mph.... is not enough to reliably count on to spin my turbine.  However, as I said, something appears to have changed because even in the light breeze, the turbine would spin up after I disconnected the PV/Wind + cable from the Classic.

Very mysterious to me!!!

Edward

   

[Halfcrazy]

I will read this over more later but it appears the Fets blew and shorted. Any time the Classic shows 0 volts on the input with nothing hooked to it than it is broken. I cant imagine it was over voltage by the sounds?

[Halfcrazy]

Edward give me a call so we can get this sorted out 207-416-2006

[keyturbocars]

UGH!  I also find it hard to believe that it could have overvoltaged.  The winds were so light (just breezy) that I can't imagine it could have gone overvoltage, but then again I was also shocked to see 148V on the IN too.  I don't know if a wind gust came up suddenly.  I know that when I shut down the turbine and ran to open the door to see the turbine, the winds were so calm as to be barely noticeable.  I don't know what happened.  There are no signs of any trouble inside the Classic.  I carefully checked the FET's along the right side.  I didn't remove the red clamp bar (I wouldn't want to mess with it that far), but just from looking at the side, there are no signs of anything that fried on the FETs.  Since I first wrote, we've had some 9-11mph winds and my wind turbine is turning very slowly, so I know that things are not normal and it points again to the fact that something must have happened with the Classic.  

As I mentioned, all this happened when I was in the wind graph editor.  I've done the same thing MANY times before.  In the past, I've edited my wind graph even when it was blowing 30mph outside.  I've probably done the same routine of editing my wind graph 50-100 times before.  Why this time did the Classic allow the IN voltage to climb to 148V, I don't understand.  Like I wrote before, it's almost like the Classic "disconnected" from the turbine while I was in the wind editor and then when I clicked the Status button, that's when I was shocked to see the 148V.  

The thing that also really puzzles me also is how in the world did the IN voltage rise to 148V when I have my AUX1 Clipper set to 118V!

Does the Classic disable AUX functions when in wind graph editing mode and disconnect from the turbine allowing it to freewheel?  

I can't imagine it does this (intentionally), since I've done this same thing many times before with the wind blowing strongly and all the AUX functions worked normally as I edited my wind graph.    

I know that we will get this figured out, and I am not worried about it, but I am a bit puzzled.  I don't want to repeat this again!  Best I can tell, it's like the Classic went offline while I was in the wind editor and shut off AUX functions and allowed the wind turbine to freewheel.... all in light winds!  Weird!

Maybe weird things happen to weird people.

Edward

[keyturbocars]

I'll give you a call.

Edward give me a call so we can get this sorted out 207-416-2006

[boB]

OK, Edward, I believe I found something related to this issue and was able to
somewhat repeat your problem here.  I was not able to make the input go to
148 Volts, but I was able to make the input voltage go to around 100 Volts
when it should not have.

I will expand further on this later but for now folks, do NOT adjust the cut in
current to be higher than 0 Amps  (i.e.  the step 01 current) and do not
adjust that current so that it bumps up against the step 02 current, which
can be the same. (these two current should have at LEAST 1 Amp of space
between them).

More testing needed to verify this, but also try to keep a bit of space between
other steps as well, just in case a higher voltage/current step can do similar
things.  The Voltage adjustment already does not allow less than 1 Volt of space between
steps as it is now.

I will be modifying the software so that this will not be able to happen, but for
now, just keep some space between steps and all should be fine.

Thanks,
boB

[keyturbocars]

Thanks boB and Ryan for your quick responses on this!  You guys are FAST!

I've got my Classic all packaged up and ready to ship back on Monday.

Thanks for the great customer service!

Edward

[chamas]

hello every one. i think i got myself into the same issue as Edward.
i was in the menu screen doing some stupid tweaking while the classic is charging...BAD IDEA....anyway, that is when the in voltage spiked up to i think i saw 153volts, and then for a split secound a message said overchrging battery, right after that i got nothing in the "IN" volt and the midnite classic 200 acts like a brake when connected to turbine.
Edward or anyone that know how to fix it please any help is great.

regards

chamas

[Halfcrazy]

Give me a call Monday I will get you an RMA# so you can send it in and we will take a look at it. 360.403.7207 Ext. 151

[chamas]

ok, will do.
you think i blew some fets?
thanks

[Halfcrazy]

Unfortunately yes I am sure you have if there is a short on the input. Sounds like you need a Clipper on this turbine.

[keyturbocars]

Chamas,  Midnite will take good care of you.

My Classic 150 continues to work great with my wind turbine.  It hasn't been as windy as in the Spring, but we've had some good wind days lately.  Tomorrow is supposed to be another good wind day with gusts up in the 30's.

Still glad that I got the Classic 150 for my wind turbine.

Edward