I made some pages about the recent workshop course here at my home on Scoraig last month.
The finished blade
The next workshop course will be at CAT in Wales on 28th August.
After that in Ireland 12-17th September
Full construction ‘recipes’ for the wind turbines are for sale here.
I have been active updating my Recipe Book lately.
Check out the updates page for details
Michael Bycroft
“Energy for radio” is a guide to energy management for community radio stations. It supports radio managers and operators as they tackle the energy issue at their station, helping to understand the various sources and technologies of energy, especially gensets, wind and hydro turbines, solar and hybrid systems. The guide also views many other aspects requiring attention before “informed decisions” can be taken, including assessment of the energy needs, storage, protection and regulation.
The worksheets for assessing the energy needs of the stations as well as cost-effectiveness of different energy sources are available for download.
The author: Michael Bycroft is a science journalist based in UK, with a special interest in green energy technologies and climate change.
The publication is sponsored by the Dutch foundation Stem van Afrika.
Web link where you can order paper copies or download the book or the worksheets for free.
I helped with advice in the preparation of parts of this publication
A 4 day workshop is going to be given starting from 20 May in Helvoirt, The Netherlands. During this hands-on workshop a 3 [m] rotor diameter wind turbine will be made by the group and if time allows another small one. No skills are required to participate. The profit will go to a non-profit project, where disadvantaged people in developing countries will learn how to make such turbine. If you are interested please follow the following link.
This will be a good event run by experienced people with an exciting project happening in Africa.
Jay wrote an article about the new association “WindEmpowerment” for the
The Karasouli ICC is a new small low cost charge control and datalogging device for small wind and solar applications. I mention it here because I hope it will be useful to readers – I have no commercial interest.
These are basically 45 amp changeover relays, driven by a circuit that monitors battery voltage and switches the charge source over to a dump load (not supplied) at a programmed voltage. Models B and C offer datalogging of voltage, and C offers current too.
“Model A – Fit and Forget Fully Configurable. £64.95
Model B – Charge State Datalogging £74.95
Model C – Charge State and Turbine performance datalogging. £104.95
All models come with a USB stick that holds the configuration files for the model.
The configuration file is used to set charge points and turn available features on and off.
All come preconfigured for lead acid batteries and the can be connected and will run straight out of the box.
Models B & C come with datalogging turned off by default. Once turned on the will datalog to the internal USB stick.
We also market Marine models that are configured for 2 dual battery banks. Commonly used to charge a leisure and an engine battery.
These are supplied via our UK distributor on our website.”
In this video I am talking about the new edition of my book “Windpower Workshop”
The video was shot and edited by Centre for Alternative Technology. Thanks.
Wind turbine construction workshop course at Périple en la Demeure in Belgium with Jay Hudnall of Tripalium / Ti’eole and Vincent Judalet from ÉolSenegal. Périple D is both a school and a brewery – a good combination for our purposes.
Jay brought a completed 3.6 metre grid tied machine (SMA 1700 inverter), and we built a 2.4 diameter battery charger (24V) Also Davide brought a 1.2 diameter, 12V turbine for overhaul. The 3.6 got erected on the Wednesday morning and we swapped it for the 2.4 on Friday morning. Not a great wind site, but both ran nicely and produced energy.
We balanced the blades of the 2.4 on a spike, which worked very well, so there was nothing left to do when we put them on the turbine really. Two blades weighed 1.4kg each and one weighed 800 grams. Red cedar.
There are some glimpses in the video of a stator made by Nicolas Delhez of the organisation Atoutvent in Belgium.
The thin overlapping coils make a very efficient use of the space. But it was a lot of work. We were honoured by a visit from Nicolas, who showed us his fibreglass blades and some photos of machines of up to 12 metres diameter built by members of the association.
Good night Hugh, I write from Spain in particular from Albacete Villarrobledo a small village, where a friend and I started three years ago more or less the construction of wind turbine with your purchase from ti.Desde manual then several things have happened to us , the generator of my friend is running a year or so and start producing large amounts of current (I got to see strong gusts with 120 amps) until last year on June 1 very hot and windy broke down in concrete bridges were burned rectifiers and me that a month ago that I had uploaded the blades left, perhaps too flexible for wood in the tube touched me was not there to ver.El is that we fix it and continued to operate, I But before you upload and spent a long time I uploaded a month ago and is producing no problems but with a pickup system with an electric tail wiper motor car.
I have limited to 35 amps when it reaches the tail pick up gradually according to air speed and not suffer shovels, rectifiers, coils etc. ..
I have done with industrial electronic circuit to limit consumption of engines according to amps and I really like electronica.
Generator that is made of 2.4 m, ie the smaller the output 12-volt
10 coils and 24 magnets and doing quite well, in my case I live on the outskirts of town and although I have electric light of the company, I’d like to try to feed itself for years now to try to make a generator that I worked but little wrong with a alternator car without knowing anything with a blade nothing to do with them, but as there are in American mills to draw water.
In this case, thanks to your manual I found on the internet looking for my friend we decided to do it because I saw that this was different and full well explained and I was really looking forward to build something that really works, and so has been.
Thanks for once again running over and I am delighted but it cost us much because of time.
What if I imagine that you agree is against nature is difficult to fight because there have been times that I disappointed last year when it broke because of the intense heat and speed viento.Es why I decided to think about how than slowing it down but never to stop bypassing the wires and the generator of my friend bridged a lot in winter so as not to bear bad days and end rectifiers and coils burned (or so we think).
So far this system with the engine and a steel thin wire and reflect the tail is going well, last week there were strong winds a few days it worked perfectly and that your system remains intact, that is, I wanted to put an engine without changing your system pickup will be necessary to queue the automatic passing of 35 amps (I’ve seen that already ban the blades fast and safe enough because I have neighbors living next door and I fear that the blades can break) and manual a selector for hiciesen when strong winds or holiday pickup leave the queue but does braking.I do not want to extend more just know where I can send pictures so they can see the improved system in case someone wants to do, and to thank you very much for everything you have published and especially you for all the work done so we can have our little producing generator.
El system works with a limiting amp and a timer that if you are interested then tell you the brand and as conectarlos.De anyway if it is true that this system needs some maintenance but the simplicity of your good design.
Greetings: Aurelio Nieves
NOTE FROM HUGH This should not be necessary as the tail furling system is designed to protect the alternator from overload, but in this case for whatever reason it was not working right and so Aurelio had a lot of fun with an automatic over-ride system that pulls the tail into the furled position using a wiper motor. I used to mess with things like this back around 1980 but found they broke down more often than anything else on the wind turbines so I could not keep up with fixing them. Making the tail lighter is a simpler option to protect the machine from overload.
Here are some photos of a machine we took down today after some strong winds. It actually lost a blade, which is rather serious damage. The plywood has deteriorated a bit. This machine was built in 2006. It’s a 24 volt machine built to the 2005 book “Build your own wind Turbine” that preceded my Recipe Book.
The tower is an interesting shape when it is down but it doesn’t seem to mind that. It is always perfectly straight once it has been erected. This is 12 metres of 75 mm OD pipe hanging on the top guy.
Below is probably the reason why it was overspeeding – the wires in the coils have been cut by magnet damage. Once unloaded like this the blades ran fast and the aging plywood gave way. 
It was really only one magnet that got badly damaged; the front rotor was very close to the stator and there may also have been some wear in the bearings. It’s a little hard to say what started everything off but I would say probably inadequate clearance followed by wear in the bearings. Anyway it needs a new stator now and at least one new magnet glued in to restore it. and a new set of blades. Harsh.
This sort of stuff happens to small wind turbines, but we fix them and then they work again for long periods. Often the breakdowns are minor ones but this was a bit more involved.
