What a Night!

[keyturbocars]

The wind has been roaring outside for hours!  It's been peaking in the 50's (54mph highest so far) and averaging in the 30's for hours now.  Making moocho power with the HY-2000 wind turbine.  I've never had it running through such strong winds.  I've always chickened out and shut down during a lull before things got really going.  Today, I decided to put the HY-2000 to the test.  I've been seeing 3.5kW peaks regularly and holding steady near 3kW quite often.  Too much power for my hot water heater diversion alone (would heat up too fast), so I'm running my house off grid now to eat up the extra power.  I'm not running the big 240V loads in the house right now.  Mostly just lights, my 4 fridge/freezers (2 fridges & 2 chest freezers), 4 computers, and all the usual stuff plugged in.  I learned something new about this wind turbine.  When the wind hits around 40mph, it sounds like a chopper is landing on the house!  It's the special aerodynamic stalling of the blades.  It's quite a sound to hear!!  Like I've said, I've always shut down before it got that high.  So, when the aerodynamic stalling kicked in tonight, it really startled me.  I was watching a movie with the family and I thought something went wrong with the turbine.  I was watching the turbine for a long time and everything was working smoothly.  When winds hit 40mph, that roaring would begin. 

Wind really roaring now.  Just saw 50mph on my Davis weather station again.  Hope I don't have any damage around the farm this time.  Last time we had winds like this, I had roof shingles torn off.  In years past, I've had lots of other damage in other wind storms.

Good night... not sure how I'll sleep with the winds roaring like this!

Edward
 

[boB]

Great, Edward  !

So, what was the peak voltage when you unloaded it at 50 MPH winds ??   

boB

[keyturbocars]

   Hahahahahahahahahaha! 

Edward 

[keyturbocars]

Starting to feel like a re-run of last night.  Just saw 40mph and my Davis weather station is telling me to "HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT".    Speeds are averaging a little lower in the mid 20's tonight.  Last night, it was averaging around 30mph and higher peaks.  I like this wind better.  I'm getting the same good power as last night (hovering between 2-3kW), but not so much racket of the blades stalling when winds exceed 40mph. 

This time, I'm not running the house off grid with my redneck modified split phase 120/240V APC Matrix 5000 UPS, but rather I'm just running my small Exeltech XP1100 inverter and a DeLonghi oil filled radiator heater set on medium for around 900W consumption.  The 80 gal hot water heater is also keeping busy in diversion mode.

It was blowing most of the day today in the high teens and low 20's.  This reminds me of what Spring is like living in this canyon.  It blows and blows and blows.  Feels like spring too.  Right now, it's 50F outside at 7PM.  Last night at this time, it was even warmer.

Edward