Author Archives: hugh

About hugh

I live off-grid in NW Scotland and have spent my life playing with wind turbines. I also love small hydros. Hands on renewable energy is my thing and I like to learn and to share my experiences.

Testing an alternator for a 12 footer at Otherpower

Posted on 23/11/2010 by hugh

Dan Bartmann in action at Otherpower building and testing a new design alternator for a 12 footer (3.6 metre diameter turbine).  See his full description on the otherpower discussion board of this machine with 15 inch magnet rotors, and thick … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People, Video links | Leave a comment

work platform

Posted on 21/11/2010 by hugh

Nice photo by Stephen Smith, from Alan Engelstad in Canada.

Posted in construction | 2 Comments

Wind turbine controllers for optimising blade speed

Posted on 10/11/2010 by hugh

Efficient wind turbine alternators connected directly to batteries do not have the right speed range to make the best use of the blades.  Adding a controller that converts the voltage between the windmill and the batteries can improve performance (rather … Continue reading →

Posted in products/technical | 2 Comments

Hubert MARIN video en Francais

Posted on 03/11/2010 by hugh

http://www.consommer-responsable.fr/magazine/article/une-eolienne-dans-son-jardin-0

Posted in Books, construction, courses, France, People | Leave a comment

Counter program in Visual Basic

Posted on 02/11/2010 by hugh

Julio Costa <[email protected]> has written a simple program in Visual Basic to help him with the counting of the turns on each of the coils. “Rather than building an electronic counter, I’ve implemented it in software, so if one has … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People | 1 Comment

New ideas from V3

Posted on 29/10/2010 by hugh

V3 have produced a nice little report from their latest workshop in Holland. “A report of a wind turbine build course run at De Twaalf Ambachten, Holland” can be found here There is a clever system for locating the coils … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, courses, People | Leave a comment

Turbine Database

Posted on 11/10/2010 by hugh

Eirbyte in Ireland have opened a Turbine Database for anyone to join (you have to register) so that we can share details of our wind turbines. Enter your details and send any feedback to Jimmy about how the database can … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People | Leave a comment

Otherpower workshops

Posted on 11/10/2010 by hugh

Otherpower have been doing a few fun workshops this year. Here is a photo of the benchtesting of a 12 foot diameter turbine’s alternator using Dan’s old Volvo to drive it. See more at the fieldlines discussion board

Posted in construction, courses, People | Leave a comment

Upcoming courses in Washington State

Posted on 06/10/2010 by hugh

I am teaching a couple of courses in WA at the end of this month.  Should be fun! One is a Home Build workshop similar to the one we did last year in this video: The other one is wind … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, courses, Video links | Leave a comment

Video from Nova Scotia (tower and power electronics)

Posted on 06/10/2010 by hugh

Thanks to Jonathan for this video update of what is going on in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Posted in construction, courses, People | Leave a comment