cagey
Well-Known Member
Problem started today, at low/medium revs all ok, at high revs sounds like vanes are hitting something, there is nothing to hit, any ideas please.
Super wind generator
- Thread starter cagey
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sarabande
Well-Known Member
Can you halt the rotation, then check for a bearing failure ? Also if all blades are firmly rooted in the boss.
William_H
Well-Known Member
Possibly rotor hitting the stator caused by bearing failure. olewill
jiris
Well-Known Member
Been there, seen that ;-). This is a fairly common problem, very often mistaken for worn bearings. It is, actually, most likely electrical. One of the coils or the diode it is feeding has an open circuit. As this coil (unlikely the rest) is offering no physical resistance to rotation, the rotor behaves as if it out of balance producing vibrations and a lot of noise. I'm fairly sure I am right on the money
.BTW; you will still be getting electrical output, but it will be reduced. If left untreated, the bearings will fail eventually.
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cagey
Well-Known Member
Wow, never expected an answer so quickly thanks. Is it possible and if so how, to test for electrical faults without removal, it is heavy and unweildy. Diodes are in control box on board.
Thanks
Keith
Thanks
Keith
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jiris
Well-Known Member
In that case it should be easy. If I understand your description well, there should be 3 wires coming down from the gen (if only 2, you are stuffed ;-)). Disconnect them and measure by multimeter the resisistance between them. The reading should be close to zero and even. If you find resistance between any 2 of them more than a few Ohms, you have the culprit. If not, there go the diodes. They are probably in a block with 3 wires in and 2 wires out. Pay attention to the input side and use the multimeter in the "diode check" mode. Apply the probes to each pair of terminals twice, switching polarity. You should always get an infinity in one direction and something between 0.4 to 0.6 in the other. If any of the measurement returns different reading, you caught the fault. Good luck!
There is, of course, always the possibility the noise is mechanical. But this type of breakdown is rarely sudden, as yours (as I understand) was.
And just in case, a word of caution; make sure the gen is stopped while fiddling with the 3 wires coming out of it. The voltage on open circuit can be quite high there ;-).
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William_H
Well-Known Member
Checking resistance between wires beware that a multimeter in ohms range measures volt drop for a constant current. Diodes in the circuit will give a variable but much higher resistance shown than actual resistance in service. That is why you use the "diode check" function on the meter. This function should also be used for resistance checks on input wires.
For the OP the diodes will be (if 3 wire in) in the form of 3 phase bridge rectifier. To try to describe each input wire goes to a diode anode (tail of arrow). The cathodes of these 3 diodes join together to form positive output. The 3 inputs are also connected to another 3 diodes cathodes. All the anodes of these last 3 are connected together to form the negative output.
(or google for a diagram) This may help you understand what and how you are testing diodes. However IMHO diodes are pretty reliable these days. olewill
cagey
Well-Known Member
Thanks again,
There are 2 cables from generator, run through stop/run switch then onto regulator. The regulator is solid with terminals in and out, no means to get to bits inside, think it is refered to as potted. Thanks for the advice but it is way beyond my ability will get friendly electronics person to look and I’ll report back. Will ring importers as it is probably a replacement job. Heyho.
K
There are 2 cables from generator, run through stop/run switch then onto regulator. The regulator is solid with terminals in and out, no means to get to bits inside, think it is refered to as potted. Thanks for the advice but it is way beyond my ability will get friendly electronics person to look and I’ll report back. Will ring importers as it is probably a replacement job. Heyho.
K
Goldie
Well-Known Member
Try having a chat with Mark H - electrician at Mylor Yacht Harbour. We had the same or similar problem on our Aerogen 6 and it was sorted by Mark and (touch wood) has been fine since.
cagey
Well-Known Member
jiris
Well-Known Member
Yeah... There is definitely no way around getting to the generator then - electrical or mechanical problem. A big job either way. My sympathy ;-(.