Help w aux setup for homemade voltage clamp

[Volvo Farmer]

Yo Halfcrazy.

I got my home made voltage clamp all wired up but I'm having a hard time understanding how to setup the aux function to protect the Classic from overvoltage.

I can make the relay toggle on and off, but I want it to put out 12V to this little Omron relay that controls my contactor.  I can't figure how to test that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm without wind charging until I get this sorted out

Edit: I figured out how to configure the jumpers. So that part is working. Yay!

I am using PV V trigger+ with a high volts of 140 and a low volts of 135 and a delay of ten seconds. Do these settings sound correct?

Lastly, which wind graph should I use with an otherpower built 10 footer and otherpower blades? Got a good profile dialed in for that?

[Halfcrazy]

Do you want the 12vdc all the time unless the voltage is high or just when the voltage is high?

[Volvo Farmer]

I built your home made voltage clamp. I want the volts to go high to energize the contactor to short the turbine before the thing goes over 150V and lets the smoke out of my controller

I tested it with the menu and it works. I just want to know what menu settings (voltage, time) to use.

Also, I'm using the default 12V graph. It kind of scares me how fast the turbine runs with the default 24V graph.

Since you have one of these, any ideas on an effective graph?

[Halfcrazy]

Ok for a dc output on high voltage input set AUX 1 to "PV V trigger +".  Make sure when you go to the first Aux menu that you set Aux 1 to PV V Trigger + there will also be a manual on and off. the voltages you had look about right I may trigger a little earlier but wait and see what you are happy with. I also ran one that went up to 145vdc equally spaced but that may be a little close for a 150v unit. I would suspect the ideal curve would run fairly equally up to say 125vdc at 40ish amps then taper fairly flat on the top to limit top RPMS. I am pretty certain my curve below tends to keep the turbine a little below its optimal TSR through the curve.

The turbine graph I used was similar to this here:                                       I suspect this curve would be more Ideal
0A-50V                                                                                                     0A-50V
4A-55V                                                                                                     4A-56V
8A-60V                                                                                                     8A-62V
12A-65V                                                                                                   12A-68V
16A-70V                                                                                                   16A-74V
20A-75V                                                                                                   20A-80V
24A-80V                                                                                                   24A-86V
28A-85V                                                                                                   28A-92V
32A-90V                                                                                                   32A-98V
36A-95V                                                                                                   36A-104V
40A-100V                                                                                                 40A-110V
44A-105V                                                                                                 44A-116V
48A-110V                                                                                                 48V-122V
52A-115V                                                                                                 52V-131V
56A-120V                                                                                                 56V-133V
60A-125V                                                                                                 60V-135V 

[Volvo Farmer]

Thanks so much for the help! I'm up and running!

[boB]

Hi Volvo...

10 Seconds for delay is too long I think.   Make it more like 0.0 or 0.1 seconds and maybe
a hold time of one second or so.  That will help keep it from click-clacking away but
keep it fast enough to save the day.


boB

[kitestrings]

Vf,

Congrat's!  Keep us posted on your experiences with this.

~kitestrings

[Volvo Farmer]

Came home this afternoon, wind turbine screaming and smelled electronic smoke in the power shed  

Just in case anyone cares. 24V coil contactors are rated for 24VAC, not 24vDC. The contactor coil was shorted out, fuse blown and  the classic was in float and going in and out of hyperVOC. I don't know if it survived or not yet. I never saw over 157V but it sat for an hour or two freewheeling before I got home.  I got another contactor with a 120VAC coil and will re-wire and hopefully my new contactor will last longer than three hours this time  


So I'm just getting my head wrapped around this. If the classic goes to float, and my c60 dump load voltage is set above the Classic's float voltage, the only thing keeping the turbine running away is this voltage clamp shorting and un-shorting the turbine? What kind of hysteresis am I going to see on that?

This is beginning to get complicated.

[Halfcrazy]

If the Classic is showing any voltage say 5vdc or more on the input than it is probably ok. I would set things up so the absorb and float where higher Mine is set for 61vdc for absorb and 60.9 for float than my dump load is set for 59.2.

The real issue with the contactor is it really is just a fail safe a clipper like Edwards or the one we are building at MidNite will actually just clip the extra power the Classic does not need.

[boB]

....and  the classic was in float and going in and out of hyperVOC.....
... I never saw over 157V but it sat for an hour or two freewheeling before I got home.

This leads me to believe that the Classic is fine.  157 Volts is not a problem for a 150V Classic.

(if it didn't go a lot higher than this)

This is beginning to get complicated.

Yes !  Of course it is !   You're on the bleeding edge of technology, right ?

Consider yourself a pioneer of sorts.

boB

[kitestrings]

Vf,

Sounds like a scare for sure.  Hopefully no damage.  Not to back-seat-quarterback but there are relays with 12 & 24VDC signal inputs (coils if mechanical), 3-32 VDC is quite common.  I think boB & Edward scoped out a couple.

Ryan,

Do you have a similar table for the 17'-footer you set up, and we talked about?

Thanks for sharing - some are quick to post their successes; less likely to share the setbacks.  There's as much to be learned from the latter.  And, we should all have to repeat the same mistakes.  (I take pride in finding new ones ).

Unfortunately, sometimes the pioneers are the ones with some arrows in there backs...

~kitestrings

[kitestrings]

And, we should all have to repeat the same mistakes.  (I take pride in finding new ones ).

Make that, "And, we shouldn't all have to repeat the same mistakes."

~kitestrings

[Volvo Farmer]

Okay. Big props to the guy who designed this Classic thing because it survived! Had a little scare where the Aux wouldn't go low and the display said "Got Comm?" But a quick reset of the breakers solved it.

A 120V coil mechanical contactor was about $40, and available off the shelf at the local Johnstone.  Despite being on the bleeding edge of technology, I kinda like hearing a big click and hum to confirm that the crowbar is in the spokes.

Back up and running.  Ryan, thanks for the advice on setting the Classic absorb voltage higher than the dump voltage on the C60. That's basically how it worked before. I don't know what I was thinking when I set the absorb and float the same as the solar.

[Menelos]

Hi there...

As to amke the right tabel to programm teh classic, I have made an excel spreadsheet which gets pritty close to what are the right values to start with. It seems to work really nice.

You type in your alterntor parameters and some of your turbine specs/estimations and it will give you the loaded DV Power versus output power.
I hope that will help you people as much as it did help me :-)

It was orgiginally made for the aurora grid inverter, so I here I added the last tabel of current for the abttery system.
If you want to use it for grid inberters, then ignore "system voltage" and the last column with amps.

Max

[attachment deleted by admin]

[keyturbocars]

Thanks Max!  I will study that excel spreadsheet some more and see if it helps with programming my Classic.

Edward