We got the 3.6m turbine up on Saturday 27th October
All painted
Who turned up Miriam who is using the camera from left to right Johnny, Jimmy, Peter, Niall, Urey and Sean
Peter helping the blades on
We decided to use locknut's on the stator
Colm lifting his turbine
Johnny guides her up
The weather was starting to blow in the morning and by the time we had the machine together we had a nice NW gale it's not a good idea to put up turbines in a gale but we plowed on and up it went and the minuet the brake was released it furled.
We saw over 23 amps at 56v it was averaging around 10A it was hard to photo the amp meter at it's best but Miriam got this shot of 20A there is a shadow on the left the true needle is the one on the right.
I liked the way it handled the strong wind very good design Hugh.
The light ply on the tail looks a bit light but the joint looks better than the French one.
Thanks for putting these photos on the discussion board, Jimmy. It's great to see the turbine up and running once more. I guess the wind from the north west is pretty turbulent coming over the trees and hence the constant shifting of the ammeter.
I wonder what you put on the blades - was that linseed oil or what?
It's good to see the furling working so well. Certainly the thickness of the tail vane does seema bit light but there are so many variables, and in the end it was chosen to make the weight of the tail correct to suit the furling. I guess we could have used heavier plywood if we had had a smaller angle off-vertical in the tail hinge rather than 20 degrees. But I like to stick with 20 degrees because it is easy to remember, and because it is less vulnerable to small errors in getting the windmill vertical.
I wonder how the batteries are liking it. Last time it was up I foujnd quite a bit of variation in voltage between teh individual batteries. Some were as high as 16 volts. I hope they have equalised by now and are all at about 14 or 14.5 volts. In theory you could do without batteries on that system. It just needs big enough capacitors instead. I have worked with controllers and capacitors but I suspect they were at much higher frequency than the tristar. Lower frequency means bigger capacitors.
I got a message from Niall saying the smaller turbine is pretty much all ready too, so I expect in due course they will both be up and running. He told me he has made a similar tower for himself and uses a 12 volt winch to erect it.
thanks again for the pictures and the news :-)
Hugh
Hey guys
looks like its makin some nice power, some great pics. Sorry i couldn't make it. Also great weildin on the turbine and the pole there keep up the good work!!!
stu
Powerful stuff lads ! I have made a start on a 3.6 machine here in Tipperary. A friend of mine has helped in the making of the blades and they are now completed. I'm wondering also what was used on the blades in the Gyreum (Linseed perhaps).
I found ordering the various components for the machine most time consuming but I have managed with help from Jimmy and Hugh to sort out these problems. I guess there will be a few more from time to time. I have made the coil winder and have just finished the first coil. I made a start on the timber for the casting moulds and should have same sorted this week. The cost of the magnets which are 40H rather than 50H are 192 euro shipped to an Irish address from Sweden. Hugh site has the link to the Swedish company.
Great work on Saturday Lads ,sorry I could'nt travel but if I'm up that way I'll call to examine the work in progress .
Best regards
Ger Slattery
Also great weildin on the turbine and the pole there keep up the good work!!!
Thanks I know a good welder if you want one I suppose the welds on your machine are not so good and that's why we don't see photos of it here ?? 
I wonder what you put on the blades - was that linseed oil or what?
I wonder how the batteries are liking it.
I don't know for sure I wasn't there when it was being done but it feels like varnish.
The batteries are fine they seem to have equalised I was getting 14.6 and 14.8 but I will check them again in a week or so.
a fine looking collection........and the windmills not bad either !
Glad to hear the batteries have equalised. Varnish doesn't usually last very long on wind turbine blades - it gets stripped off by the ultra-violet and the wind. It does look nice though.
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hello all, delighted to see this forum congratulations to all behind the scenes
I have been working on a 10ft wind turbine and 30 ft tower, on and off for over a year most of my info comes from the "other power" web site a must for anyone interested. the hardest part of building a turbine is tracking down the parts, wire, epoxy resin, magnets,steel cable etc.
I am sure this forum will be invaluable in this area, thanks in advance
I have some ideas and would value opinions,
sometimes we can learn more from our mistakes
I notice from your photo where your blades are sandwiched between ply you dont have steel backing plates. Eventually the ply will compress and the blades will come loose
windspeed
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Hi windspeed welcome aboard thanks for the tip never noticed any problems with our 8ft what stage are you at and do you know a good source for wood.