need instructions to build a stop switch for a wind generator

[Joe]

 

[Dennis Pogson]

A bicycle disk brake mechanism would work.

 

[Geoff Schultz]

Depending on the type of wind generator, you likely don't want to do
this. When you open the circuit to the batteries, you've just
disconnected the load from an inductive circuit with current flowing
in it (assuming the wind generator is spinning, which is why you want
to stop it in the first place). If the wg is a generator-type (has
brushes and a commutator) you'll get a voltage spike, maybe a burned
switch or other damage. If its an alternator-type, you run the risk
of blowing the recifying diodes as well. Same issue as disconnecting
the batteries from the alternator on your engine when the engine's
running.

I don't have any practical experience with this, just some theory.
A generator-type wg must have some way of isolating the batteries when
the wind's not blowing so there must be a diode or some sort of
regulator in there already. In the alternator-type, the rectifiers
which convert the AC to DC also serve to isolate the batteries, so
there's not likely to be anything else.

Assuming you get by the battery isolation problem, shorting the wind
generator may damage it, depending on the construction of the windings
and in the case of the alternator-type the current rating of the
diodes, along with how fast it's turning when you hit the switch.
You're basicly using the resistance of the windings as the full load
on the wind generator when you do this. Some may be designed to take
this for the time it takes to shut down, I don't know the specifics.

I'm going to be playing around with this a couple of weeks from now,
in connection with building a shunt regulator for the wg, which is the
same sort of problem as the stop switch. I'm thinking a Schottky
(sp?) barrier diode (lower voltage drop) to isolate the batteries, and
some sort of progressive load increasing to short for shutdown to stay
within the max current ratings of my alternator-type wind generator.

FYI: The KISS generator has a single switch which either connects the
output of the generator to the rectifier or shorts the wind generator.

-- Geoff

 

[Shaun Van Poecke]

Depends on what wind generator you have but Ampair has installation
manuals on their web site and the 300 manual shows how to wire in a
tree way stop switch. But again the generator needs to support it. You
might contact the manufacturer for the exact installation.

I dont have any experience with tree way switches despite having worked in
forrestry for a while ;-), but for a really cool stop switch, get down to
your local electronics stores and find one of those aircraft style missile
launch switches with the protective red cover. they cost about $5 for a
really nice one. Epoxy it somewhere prominent and make up a very
professional looking label with a labeling machine if you have one saying
'stop'. this is a great switch. wiring it up to work is entirely another
matter which is completely beyond me!

I dont have a wind generator on my boat yet, but i work as a boilermaker so
the idea of basic engineering is not beyond me. depending on how big your
generator is, Id try to approach it more from a mechanical viewpoint than an
electrical one. how hard is the blade to take off? is there some
possibility of making it easier to remove? If i was going into a big blow,
id want it off!

The idea of the disc brake is a pretty good one.... a disc brake combined
with a locking pin and then removing the blade seems like the safest idea.
If you leave that blade up there but locked in place you'll soon find the
weakest link in the chain, and im sure it wont be pleasant ;-) that energy
has to go somewhere!

Shaun