[RE-wrenches] 120 Vac and 12Vdc mixed distribution system

Sat Apr 27 06:46:41 PDT 2024

John, 
I bought a Braun Antartis 2.5 kw wind turbine in 2019 to replace an old ARE 2.5 kw turbine. The Braun has worked well for the last 5 years. I had to import it from Germany. The old ARE generated more energy, but the Braun is quieter and seems more reliable. 
https://braun-windturbinen.com/

I only had one incident where lightning took out a board on the controller. It was well grounded and protected by Midnite Surge Protectors, but this was close strike that took out our garage door opener and a few other things as well.  They shipped a replacement and it was easy to swap out. Everything is mounted on DIN rails in the control panel. 

Jon Haeme

> On Apr 27, 2024, at 7:46 AM, John Blittersdorf via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
> 
> Shifting the small off grid thread a little, I'm trying to find replacement wind turbines for the Bergey XL.1 in the 1-2 kw range that is quiet and the blades don't blow off.
> Bergey is suggesting Bornay 1kw.  Does anyone have first hand knowledge about this turbine or the manufacturer.  I am interested in  performance, sourcing etc. After having to sell my Pika T701 to a customer i have tried cheap ($1000) chinese that turned out to be a 300 watt turbine and didn't last a year before the hub casting broke and the blade and turbine landed 200' from the tower in pieces.
> 
> John Blittersdorf
> CV Wind Service
> 
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 11:33 PM Dan Fink via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org <mailto:re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>> wrote:
>> John; I had quite a few Trace DR series in the field back in the day, but only one left alive today, fortunately in my guest cabin and not at a client's house. They had a pretty OK waveform for a modified square wave inverter, but some modern appliances were just a no-go with a DR, including some microwaves, LED lights, cordless tool chargers, fridges, and washers. I also found them particularly sensitive to lightning damage, we had a single strike that took out every DR within a 1/2 mile radius. 
>> Good product at a nice price point for the era, but honestly if given a choice I'd take a Trace U-series over a DR now. Fortunately we have better waveform options now too!
>> Dan Fink
>> Owner, Buckville Energy Consulting LLC
>> IREC Certified Instructor for PV and Small Wind Installation
>> NABCEP Certified PV System Inspector
>> NABCEP PV Associate
>> d <mailto:dan.fink at greendustrialtraining.com>anbob88 at gmail.com <mailto:anbob88 at gmail.com>
>> 970-672-4342
>> 
>> On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 8:50 PM John Blittersdorf via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org <mailto:re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>> wrote:
>>> I have a new client wanting to upgrade an old system with DR inverter, 4 golf cart batteries Trace C40 CC and two small PV panels. The system was
>>> definitely installed by a professional with breakers and switched and I am looking at the photo the customer emailed to me and other than upsizing the PV array and new batteries, there seems to be no reason to change the inverter which is very energy efficient. His loads are minimal with  a vacuum the only load to be
>>> added.  Another customer called about 18 years after I installed his DR system,  Seems that the inverter failed. He had replaced the batteries once or twice and no 
>>> other issues.  Got there to check out the failure, I had voltage at the inverter DC connections. So I pushed the TINY little black start button and it fired right up.
>>> This system had been so reliable that he had forgotten that there was and on/off reset button. For now though, I'm sticking with Outback in spite of the FM100
>>> seeming to have hair trigger GFCI circuit  As with many of my clients off-grid second home with a view, access is sometimes difficult so I rely heavily on OpticRE
>>> to make sure their lights are on and to keep micro managing customers off my back when they call ask why the solar input is only 1200 watts when they have 7K of panels on a perfect sunny day. I look at optics and their batteries are full... DUH  I even have two Magnum systems (not my install) with FM60's with AUX Relay so I can use MATE3 & OpticsRE to check battery voltage, charging, setting charging perameters and start and stop the generator remotely.
>>> 
>>> John  
>>> 
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