Hugh Piggott's blog

I did a survey recently:

What do you think of the new navigation column on my site?

Only ten people responded out of the many thousands that visited my site over those few days so I did not learn very much. In the end the result is evenly split on the new navigation bar that I have made. Anyway it’s optional – you don’t have to use it unless it helps!

The windspeed widget was out of action for a few days over Christmas while I was away and the broadband connection to the leNet device went down. Hopefully that is back to normal now.

The web counter I put on the site for a few days amazed me. It seems that there are over a thousand visits per day and about 700 of them are fresh ones (as opposed to people returning). They come from all over the world – the USA being the most common country. It’s quite tempting to put advertisements on the site but I suspect that they would irritate me intensely by promoting completely unsuitable products! Anyway I think people do appreciate the non-commercial atmosphere on the site. I do already provide links to people and products that I think are of interest, but I am not paid to do this.

I am sorry the order is a bit random. Many thanks to Pedro Bernardo for the nice photos.

2400 diameter blades, 12 magnets in each steel disk, the magnets are N40 50 mm x 25 mm x 10 mm.

12-volt system, 80 turns of 1.6 mm wire per coil with rectifier on the machine.

The Otherpower discussion board is a great place to chew over the reasons why sh*t happens. Building your own wind turbine often does not end at the point where you erect it. You could say that is the end of the beginning.

Here’s a link to a similar project with a lot of information and some links of its own.

Vivek is in the news again with a project based on one of my alternators. Quite a few people use them like this to charge batteries with human power, but I do have to wonder where the hours come from in the equation:

Energy (watt hours) = Power (watts) x Time (hours).

A good way to keep fit anyway.

As part of my tidy-up drive I have made a navigation frame version of the site that you can access from this link. It needs a bit more work but it’s useful enough already to be worth making it available as an option. Later I might build it in a bit more, so that everybody uses it automatically.

Over the years a lot of people have pleaded with me to allow them to rewrite my whole site in proper posh web designer format but I have resisted because I like things simple and I want to be in control and it’s my site.

Anyway there are a lot of corners to the site, and I may have a go at tidying some of them up and doing newer versions here and there. It’s actually quite a big site when you get into stuff like the web diaries of past courses. There are dozens of web pages in this section and I have not bothered (yet) to do a navigation frame for them, but I could do if it helps. Or maybe find a way to link to the more interesting bits of content that are buried in there.

I have put a survey on this blog so you can leave feedback for my efforts and please feel free to comment on them too if you have time and stuff to say. You can also email me privately – loads of people do so every day so don’t be shy.

My next project is to start breaking down the huge great old front page and adding bits of it to the other pages such as homebrew, international, developing world, rooftop nonsense etc…

But I will try to always put any new stuff on this blog first so as to make it easier to find out what is happening.

The Carbon trust have moved the link for their windspeed estimator tool to here

This tool is streets ahead of the old NOABL windspeed estimator that was never intended to be used without great care (due to its lack of knowledge of obstructions of any kind).

The Microgeneration Certification (MCS) people will of course only accept NOABL data, seeing as they are omniscient, and their word is law.

From: BWEA Alex Murley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 09 December 2009 17:45
Subject: BWEA / EST agree to share field trial data

Good afternoon,

BWEA has entered into agreement with EST to advise on the release of EST small wind field trial data.

Any parties interested to access the windspeed data will be requested to provide a related paper to the BWEA small systems technical sub group for considerations. If the group considers the application to fulfil the following criteria, BWEA can agree with EST to release the data:

(1) The purpose of the project will benefit the wider small wind industry;
(2) The applicant demonstrates a track record in line with the proposed project brief;
(3) The applicant is competent to meet contractual requirements governing the release of the data;
(4) Project findings are published in the public domain post project conclusion.

EST windspeed data include covers over 50 sites with 5 minutes averages, and 2 sites (one suburban, one rural) with 1 second averages.

Do let me know if you have any questions, or comment.

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BWEA has released EST windspeed data to support the revision of IEC61400-2 – See attached industry statement. News link
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BWEA is still in negotiation with EST to provide industrial access to field trial monitoring equipment – I will let you know more when an agreement is reached.
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Best regards,

Alex Murley
Head of Small-Systems | BWEA

27/28 April 2010 | Glasgow, UK | International Small Wind Conference

Here is their web site with photos of the new windmill at their place