Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

20 Posts
Dec 1, 2008 11:32 am
Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

Issue:  I have a H-100 Whisper Wind turbine and it is set up for 48 volt operation.  I have the optional remote digital controller.  The "Regulation ON" voltage set at 57.4 volts and the "Regulation OFF" set at 52.5 volts.

Yesterday we had strong winds in the 25 mph range and the voltage kept going to 60+ volts.  My inverter shuts down due to overvoltage (factory setting) at 62 volts.

Therefore, the inverter kept shutting off and then reset and began again when the voltage dropped once again below 62 volts.

Why isn't the charge controller causing the turbine output to be regulated by sending some of the power to the dump load?

this is my first renewable project and it is disconceting when things go OK and then get strange like this.  Assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric
 
351 Posts
Dec 1, 2008 01:42 pm
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

When the voltage was above 57.4, was the red LED on, off, or blinking ?  Did you ever detect any heat coming from the dump load ?  Did you throw the diversion switch to manually divert power to the dump load ?  If yes, what happened then ?

Ken

PS How big is your battery bank ?
« Last Edit: Dec 1, 2008 01:48 pm by ken hall »
 
20 Posts
Dec 1, 2008 02:53 pm
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

When the voltage went over 57.4 the readout said ON and the green light was on.  No heat was detected at the dump load.  Seems to me it should have gone to Red blinking and some of the load should have gone to the dump load.  By switching the diversion swith to OFF the red light came on and the turbine began to slow down.

Today at noon it was doing this same thing again.  I checked the AC voltage across the turbine leads and found it was operating at about 42 volts across any two leads. And, once again it spiked at about 64 volts and caused the inverter to shut itself down.
 
20 Posts
Dec 1, 2008 02:57 pm
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

Ken,  I forgot to answer your question about the battery bank.  I have four Concorde PV2580L batteries rated at 250AH connected in series to set up 48 volts.

When I throw the diversion swith to OFF there isn't supposed to be any power to go to the dump load, is there?  Doesn't that short out the leads together to act as abrake on the wind turbine?

Eric
 
97 Posts
Dec 1, 2008 05:50 pm
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

Hi Eric.  I had an identical problem to yours, in that, the turbine would shut down the inverter(over 60v) in a high wind condition of maximum output.  Although my turbines are Whisper 200's, the control adjustments may be similar or the same.  I set the Time Hysteresis switch to Off position (default setting is On), so that there is no time delay when the turbine overvoltages the inverter, and it goes into dump mode immediately, instead of delaying the dump mode. The potentionmeter enable switch should be set to On (default setting is Off)......I assume you have done this or you would not be able to set the threshold on Dump mode. I set my potentiometer to trigger Dump mode at 57v......just below the 60v maximum for the inverter. When you turn on the Stop switch, it does not short the turbine wires together, but rather puts all turbine output into the dump load and diverts the current from going to the batteries or the inverter.  I hope this helps. Smiley  Jon C.
 
20 Posts
Dec 1, 2008 08:32 pm
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

Jon,
It seems you have the answer for me.  I set the time hysterisis swith as you said and the problem appears to have gone away.  My thanks to you.  This is what a forum is to accomplish.  Thanks again.

Eric
 
97 Posts
Dec 1, 2008 09:53 pm
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

You are most welcome, Eric. Smiley  I too like this forum and glad that we can get heads together to solve problems.  There is one other thing that I forgot to mention in the previous post.  You cannot get an accurate reading of voltage output from a three phase turbine by metering two of the wires.  In the 48v wiring configuration, the generator is wired in a "Y" scheme with a common connection for the three phase windings.  The typical AC multimeter is designed to read RMS (DC equivalent heating value) voltage which is .707 of peak AC on a single phase AC source.  You cannot get at a single phase AC winding from the generator, because the common connection for all three windings is inside the generator. So, the reading you get from two windings is not the exact DC equivalent output from the turbine.  One is better off to simply read the DC voltage on the batteries when the turbine is charging them.  I have been running my turbines for two years now without any problem of overvoltaging the inverters.  Best of luck to you.  Jon C.
 
220 Posts
Dec 2, 2008 01:39 am
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage


�  hi guys,

�  excellent info on that controller. i agree with you that this is what this forum is all about. we may never know how many other folks you have helped out today or in the future with this same sort of problem. here is a link that shows those dip switch settings for the thread archives.


http://www.windenergy.com/documents/kits/3-CMLT-1045%20REV%20B%20-%20MANUAL%20INSERT%20-%20DIP%20SWITCH%20INSTRUCTION%20SHEET.pdf

also an interesting aftermarket retrofit pcb here
http://www.globalmicrowindturbine.com/wind/Whisper_100_and_200_Retrofit_Kit.html

best regards
« Last Edit: Dec 2, 2008 11:32 am by david ames »
 
20 Posts
Dec 2, 2008 09:15 am
Re: Wind Turbine going Overvoltage

Jon,

I included the info about the voltage across the leads because it is one of the troubleshooting suggestions when something seems amiss.  I added that info to indicate the turbine output appeared to be OK.  Thanks to all respondents.
Eric
 

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