rutland wind gen "free wheeling" and not generating

F

firstascent2002

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 Jan 2004
Messages
567
Location
Exeter
Visit site
Was fine this morning...now not so after 22 miles to weather...Just freewheeling at huge speeds with no power output.

Is this failure common? diy fix, pro fix or replace? 5 years old and no complaints before today!

J
 
What regulator have you got?
The Rutland HRS Regulator causes the W/G to go into 'free flow' when the wind is too high.
I think it does it by effectively shorting the W/G o/p wires together.
So things to check are:
That the W/G wires have not shorted out. Or o/c if Dave is right.
If they are ok
Take the regulator out of the circuit and see if the W/G is producing charging voltage across the battery.
I don't think it will be the bridge rectifiers within the W/G as I had a bridge rectifier go on my W/G and AFAIR the symptoms were no o/p but the W/G was not in 'free flow'.
 
Last edited:
firstascent2002 said:
Was fine this morning...now not so after 22 miles to weather...Just freewheeling at huge speeds with no power output.

Is this failure common? diy fix, pro fix or replace? 5 years old and no complaints before today!

J
Click to expand...

I had exactly the same problem myself a few weeks ago. Ok one night and when I woke up in the morning it was spinning away visibly faster than normal - but not charging. It turned out to be a loose connection causing an open circuit as Dave says.

In my case it was the chocolate box immediately beneath the 913 inside the mounting tube that had a wire loose.

Good luck
 
firstascent2002 said:
Was fine this morning...now not so after 22 miles to weather...Just freewheeling at huge speeds with no power output.

Is this failure common? diy fix, pro fix or replace? 5 years old and no complaints before today!

J
Click to expand...

Disconnect from the regulator, and check you have an output - high DC voltage. If you have no output at all, it could be the pickup brush/es are not making contact - worn.

The output from the wind genny is 3 phase AC and is rectified via 6 diodes. You could also have a wire broken from the diodes.

I have had mine to pieces a few times, to replace bearings, and also to replace a broken magnet, so am quite familiar with the internals!

To check the brushes and diodes, you have to remove the cover.
 
Last edited:
When you are testing for output and when you spin it do not be surprised if it only shows 8-10V DC. You may think that it is faulty ie how can it charge if it is less than 12v. The answer is that the half wave rectified waveform resembles a series of humps each with a peak of perhaps 16V but with an average of only say 8V, which is what most digital meters will show. When the output is connected to a battery this smooths the waveform and the charging is carried out by a series of pulses when the voltage exceeds the battery voltage.

Stupidly I sent back a Rutland generator back to to Rutland thinking it was faulty (did not install it) and they sent it back, just the same with the explanation above, which does make sense. It worked fine for 7 years when I then sold the boat, and still working now I understand.

I have to say that Marlec in all my dealings over 20 years, including the embarrassing one have always been excellent in terms of technical and customer support.
 
LadyInBed said:
What regulator have you got?
The Rutland HRS Regulator causes the W/G to go into 'free flow' when the wind is too high.
I think it does it by effectively shorting the W/G o/p wires together.
So things to check are:
That the W/G wires have not shorted out. Or o/c if Dave is right.
If they are ok
Take the regulator out of the circuit and see if the W/G is producing charging voltage across the battery.
I don't think it will be the bridge rectifiers within the W/G as I had a bridge rectifier go on my W/G and AFAIR the symptoms were no o/p but the W/G was not in 'free flow'.
Click to expand...

the wind regulator open circuits in very high winds or when the battery voltage gets too high, you can slow the generator by loading the output (short-circuiting it as our regulator dose if we switch the generator off) but this may cause problems it the wind is high as it will produce a lot of heat and high currents within the generator.
 
IIRC the rutland wind gen's have a thermostat fitted to them when they get hot they open so putting gen into open circuit untill it cools down enough to close the stat and will then produce power again:cool:
 
Do/did any of you experience a horrible low pitched whining from your generators when you mounted them? Got mine mounted on Saturday in fairly strong winds (15-25kn). In anything above 15-16 kn, it started a whine. You could feel the vibration running down the pole. This disappeared when it was unplugged so the circuit was open.

The pole and the stays have rubber pads at the mounting points and the unit is virtually silent below 15 kn.

Any ideas as to how to combat the harmonic?
 
firstascent2002 said:
Was fine this morning...now not so after 22 miles to weather...Just freewheeling at huge speeds with no power output.

Is this failure common? diy fix, pro fix or replace? 5 years old and no complaints before today!

J
Click to expand...

We have had a 913 for 7 years. As has been commented, the usual reason for the dreaded screaming freewheel is the thermal cutout operating after prolonged high wind operation. Another possible cause is burnt slip rings. After prolonged use, the vertical axis (directional, not propellor, there are't any in the horizontal axis) slip rings get pitted and start to make poor contact with the carbon brushes. Just needs cleaning up with a little fine grade sandpaper. Try not to drop too many of the screws overboard when you do it....

Angus
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top