Category Archives: products/technical

The truth about Vertical Axis turbines

Posted on 12/02/2013 by admin

Paul Gipe has put together an interesting compendium of articles about VAWTs “For whatever reason, many VAWT designers are prone to more hyperbole than most other wind turbine designers. Some claim their turbines will produce at less cost and with … Continue reading →

Posted in People, products/technical | 10 Comments

Power curve measurements on Scoraig

Posted on 23/12/2012 by admin

Together with Jon Sumanik-Leary (E-Futures PhD Student at University of Sheffield) we’ve been measuring the power/windspeed performance of some of the turbines on Scoraig.  The results aren’t always what I expect but they are interesting.  There’s an article about it … Continue reading →

Posted in People, products/technical, Scoraig | 2 Comments

More new ideas from Chris Olsen

Posted on 22/12/2012 by admin

Chris Olsen has taken a new turn in his wind turbine experiments and built a direct drive neo magnet machine for use with the Midnite Classic controller. Older stuff by Chris includes a gallery showing how to cut out a … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People, products/technical | 4 Comments

LDR load control circuit update

Posted on 13/10/2012 by admin

Francis Greaves in Ireland sent me this updated diagram of his system that uses two LDR controllers for a heating system plus the over-voltage trip that I designed for him.  More about how to use the LDR controllers from Solar … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People, products/technical | Leave a comment

MCS Certified wind turbines – a safe investment? Eoltec is back on the list.

Posted on 25/07/2012 by admin

From time to time I comment on the list of approved wind turbines that qualify for the hefty Feed-in-Tariffs that are being dished out and that make small wind turbines a Money Earner (potentially) in the UK lately. I am … Continue reading →

Posted in products/technical, UK small wind scene | 8 Comments

Secondhand batteries

Posted on 24/07/2012 by admin

If anyone needs cheap batteries for an off-grid system, try asking my neighbour Lawrence Buchan 077 37308766.  He has some nice Yuasa endurance batteries in 6-V blocks, 100Ah and 160 Ah sizes.

Posted in products/technical, UK small wind scene | 5 Comments

Power curve measurements from Comet-me

Posted on 14/04/2012 by admin

Noam Dotan at Comet-me in Palestine (Community, Energy and Technology in the Middle East) has been sending me some interesting data from the 4.2 m diameter turbines that they  build.  The design is based on the recipe but they use … Continue reading →

Posted in CometME, products/technical, Scoraig | Leave a comment

Coleman wonder turbine gives 3x the Betz limit!

Posted on 11/04/2012 by admin

Thanks to Doug Selsam for this helpful commentary on the Coleman 600W turbine that is only 2 feet in diameter and produces three times the notoriously obsolete “Betz limit“.

Posted in products/technical, Rooftop madness | 4 Comments

Helix Wind Asset Sale

Posted on 10/04/2012 by admin

The company’s largest creditor is requiring that the assets of Helix Wind Corp and Helix Wind Inc, both Nevada Corporations, be sold via a public auction held at the company’s office on May 11, 2012 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time … Continue reading →

Posted in products/technical, Rooftop madness | 6 Comments

WindTracker – for Small Scale Wind Turbines

Posted on 07/04/2012 by admin

Logic Energy have brought out a low cost but decent quality datalogger for wind. This logger simply gives you the basic info that you need which is the windspeed distribution – how many hours the wind has blown at each … Continue reading →

Posted in products/technical, UK small wind scene, wind systems tutorial | 3 Comments