After I reported about our equipment carrier on the last blog, it is now finished and we started with the assembly of the wind generator. This time again Peter was with me to the boat, who supported me in my projects.
The wind generator a Superwind 350 I bought as a demonstration model from the Internet. This turned out to be "very tricky", but later on. For almost 2000,--€ including accessories it was a fair price. The accessories consisted of a circuit breaker, load resistors and a SRC Marine charge controller. Also on the Internet, I found a stainless steel bollard, which had exactly the inside diameter of the supplied reducing sleeve. With a modified mast foot and its 90cm length it was converted short hand to the mast. In this connection I recommend to use the reducing sleeve in any case, since it contributes substantially to the decoupling of the system and thus practically no resonances are transferred to the boat. The Superwind is therefore not audible during operation, which ensures a quiet night's sleep. To compensate for voltage losses and cable heating, a cable cross-section of 10mm is recommended for cable lengths over 10.5m. I don't know what the half meter's for! Unfortunately the included charge controller is not designed for this cross-section. The installation with the 10mm cable shoes proved to be extremely difficult, because the spacing of the screws and the isolation on the charge controller are not designed for 10mm cable shoes. So here we have to tinker. Also the recommended 40A fuses are not included in the accessory set. That means you have to buy them, if not already available. But that's no problem, because when you bought the wind generator you certainly thought about the power fuse and its height and ordered it with it. Bullshit guys! honestly, as if the price depends on one fuse or two. However, we also solved this challenge so that the first test run could finally take place. With 10 knots of wind I lifted the generator, which weighed more than 10kg, into its position, clamped the cable and sank it into the mast tube. Peter was completely excited, because I hit all his warnings, according to the description, to mount the wind generator only when there was no wind, into the air. Didn't make any sense to me. How to test a wind generator without wind? Because of the switch the rotors remained in position. So after nothing dramatic happened during the assembly, I switched the circuit breaker to "On". The hub started turning immediately and the rotors were whirring in the wind. Only the voltage at the input of the charge controller was missing. Great, I was thrilled.
So we started troubleshooting:
Fuse checked and measured OK
Switch removed and measured OK
Cable assignment at switch checked OK
Generator dismantled and measured OK!
nevertheless NO voltage at the charge controller. What I noticed during the assembly was a roughness on the isolation of the plus cable coming out of the generator. I did not attach any importance to this. During the now more exact examinations of the spot, however, I noticed that the isolation was damaged and a bare wire was protruding. SHORTCIRCUIT! I isolated the cable and thereupon, Superwind is doing its job. Man, I'm glad I didn't even think of sending the part back. Thus the energy supply with our solar panel and the wind generator is secured for the time being.
In this sense "Shit happens"
The wind generator a Superwind 350 I bought as a demonstration model from the Internet. This turned out to be "very tricky", but later on. For almost 2000,--€ including accessories it was a fair price. The accessories consisted of a circuit breaker, load resistors and a SRC Marine charge controller. Also on the Internet, I found a stainless steel bollard, which had exactly the inside diameter of the supplied reducing sleeve. With a modified mast foot and its 90cm length it was converted short hand to the mast. In this connection I recommend to use the reducing sleeve in any case, since it contributes substantially to the decoupling of the system and thus practically no resonances are transferred to the boat. The Superwind is therefore not audible during operation, which ensures a quiet night's sleep. To compensate for voltage losses and cable heating, a cable cross-section of 10mm is recommended for cable lengths over 10.5m. I don't know what the half meter's for! Unfortunately the included charge controller is not designed for this cross-section. The installation with the 10mm cable shoes proved to be extremely difficult, because the spacing of the screws and the isolation on the charge controller are not designed for 10mm cable shoes. So here we have to tinker. Also the recommended 40A fuses are not included in the accessory set. That means you have to buy them, if not already available. But that's no problem, because when you bought the wind generator you certainly thought about the power fuse and its height and ordered it with it. Bullshit guys! honestly, as if the price depends on one fuse or two. However, we also solved this challenge so that the first test run could finally take place. With 10 knots of wind I lifted the generator, which weighed more than 10kg, into its position, clamped the cable and sank it into the mast tube. Peter was completely excited, because I hit all his warnings, according to the description, to mount the wind generator only when there was no wind, into the air. Didn't make any sense to me. How to test a wind generator without wind? Because of the switch the rotors remained in position. So after nothing dramatic happened during the assembly, I switched the circuit breaker to "On". The hub started turning immediately and the rotors were whirring in the wind. Only the voltage at the input of the charge controller was missing. Great, I was thrilled.
So we started troubleshooting:
Fuse checked and measured OK
Switch removed and measured OK
Cable assignment at switch checked OK
Generator dismantled and measured OK!
nevertheless NO voltage at the charge controller. What I noticed during the assembly was a roughness on the isolation of the plus cable coming out of the generator. I did not attach any importance to this. During the now more exact examinations of the spot, however, I noticed that the isolation was damaged and a bare wire was protruding. SHORTCIRCUIT! I isolated the cable and thereupon, Superwind is doing its job. Man, I'm glad I didn't even think of sending the part back. Thus the energy supply with our solar panel and the wind generator is secured for the time being.
In this sense "Shit happens"
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