wind issues/ Bergey [RE-wrenches]

Geoff Greenfield Geoff at Third-Sun.Com
Sun Jun 27 07:17:09 PDT 2004


 

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Thanks for the response re: Pointe Power/Fortis - Reliability AND
responsiveness of the company behind the product are #1 in my book.  I
should have asked Paul for info first - shall we ask Mick Sagrillo?  Anyone
know if he has given input on this or some of the other new players?

On the XL-1 - It sure ain't perfect (and all the Bergey Manuals need a
rewrite) but Todd and others at Bergey are great on the phone and have
really supported me.  There are a lot of things I would change though!  How
about regular conduit knock outs (I usually drill through the back of the
controller and use a 90 flex fitting).  How about a chasis ground (duh?).
So we drill and lug one.  While the NEC does not address wind or wind
controllers, we treat them like solar (as we expect most inspectors to) and
we use a 70 amp DC breaker on the battery side.  The Wind side has an
internal fuse, and we use a DC rated  disco at tower base (where we do
lightning protection #1 - #2 is at controller - #3 is at solar and #4 is on
AC side).  Bergey does not need dump loads or the controller - unloaded
freewheeling is loud and sometimes scary, but allowed.  Also - watch wire
size - I have gotten 65 amps out of mine during storms - this is a
conservativly rated 1kw unit.

New question - Has anyone used those Arrow anchors instead of the screw
augers?


Sincerely,

Geoff Greenfield
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer TM
GLREA Certified Photovoltaic Systems Integrator/Installer License Number
0211-01

THIRD SUN SOLAR AND WIND POWER Ltd.
340 West State Street, Unit 25
Athens, OH 45701

Phone (740) 597-3111
Fax   (740) 597-1548

www.third-sun.com



Hi Geoff;

I'm sorry I have no info in those other Wind units, but I just installed a
Bergey XL.1 and wanted to ask a Bergey man how do you deal with code
issues?  I like Bergey, but I find I have to use some pretty creative
methods to say land conduit to their controller. Also they say NOT to put a
disconnect between their controller and the batteries, so that too made me
uncomfortable and seemed to violate some basic code requirements. Bergey
then states that: " All wiring should conform to the NEC..." ; definitely a
conundrum and I'm basically pretty liberal on code issues.  Also, our local
building code restricts the height to 35 ft, making decent turbulence free
installation difficult if not impossible.
All thoughts, wisdom, expertise, etc. the list has to offer would be
greatly appreciated.

Ray


Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 05:03:20 +0000
From: William Bryce <wlbryce at direcpc.com>
Subject: RE: Wind Turbines with Windy Boy Inverter - Point Power



If the breaker trips, the controller will stay online and the turbine
will go into “slow mode” or if you have a diversion load attached it
will continue to function, but dump the power into the diversion load.
I think that the main reason for not wanting a breaker is to prohibit a
sudden shutdown under load that may spike and damage the controller.

Logan



Matt Tritt wrote:
>
> One reason Bergey might not want to see breakers in their system is that
> the
> controller may need to stay connected to the battery to allow proper
> functioning of the dump load. That's how the old type analog controllers
> are
> on the Bornay turbines we import. If the connection were to fail between
> battery and controller, how will the machine "know" when to shut down?
>
> Or?
>
> Matt T
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William Bryce" <wlbryce at direcpc.com>
> To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
> Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2004 8:43 PM
> Subject: RE: Wind Turbines with Windy Boy Inverter - Point Power
> [RE-wrenches]
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
> Hi Ray
>
>  Although the Bergey manual says not to use breakers, to meet code, I
> have had to use them. In off grid non grid-tie installs I use a 70 amp
> breaker in the DC power panel. If you use a 60 Amp breaker you could
> have "Nuisance tripping" and that could damage the controller when it
> trips under a high load.  With 5- XL.1 turbines in the field, installed
> with breakers we have never had a Bergey (new)controller failure.
>
>  In our grid-tie system using Outback inverters, we had problems with DC
> ripple that would effect the operation of the grid-tie inverters during
> high turbine output and varying voltage. To correct this problem we had
> to connect the wind turbine directly to the battery bank.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Logan

S

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