Wind Whisperer
8th June 2017, 01:39
I recently purchased and installed a 48v, 21a, 1200 watt, 3-phase AC wind turbine. I have it going to a 22v-60v, 1000 watt grid tie/inverter, shown here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DC2CCTY/
However, I'm having an unexpected issue. The inverter is giving me an error that the voltage is too low (slow blinking red light). When I check the voltage on the 3-phase AC lines, I get 16v on 2 of the 3 phases of AC, and on the third it reads 0. At one point I saw it turn green and start producing electricity, but that only lasted a few seconds (maybe 20).
Naturally, I figured it was a wiring issue, so I quadruple checked the connections, basically making them so well connected it would take an enormous amount of effort to disconnect them. Here's where things got weird...
The AC line that was showing 0 voltage then showed 16v, and a different line showed 0 volts. So, I took everything apart again and made certain everything was connected properly (it was). When I checked it again, then it was back to the original line showing 0v and the other 2 showing 16v.
I wish it was a wiring issue. I would understand that and could fix it. I'm fairly confident everything is connected well though. It would take an extremely powerful person to disconnect them. The turbine is brand new...
What am I missing? Why is one line showing 0v? Is there more wind needed to get all 3 phases to turn on? What possible cause could there be for the dead line switching from one to another? Even when it turned green and started producing power, I couldn't get a voltage reading on the 3rd line.
My associate says that there just isn't enough wind... That turbine was spinning pretty good though when showing 16v. Probably fast enough to break an arm. Would wind speed really make a 48v turbine show 16v on a 3-phase AC line when it is too slow?
Any help would be appreciated. I have taken electronics classes and wired up solar arrays, installed sub-panels and built circuits... I have very little knowledge about 3 phase AC though. I'd like to think that I'm just missing something obvious. Right now the only thing I can think of is wiring problems, but everything seems to be wired strong, and each line has worked at one point in time (just not all 3 at the same time).
Please help!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DC2CCTY/
However, I'm having an unexpected issue. The inverter is giving me an error that the voltage is too low (slow blinking red light). When I check the voltage on the 3-phase AC lines, I get 16v on 2 of the 3 phases of AC, and on the third it reads 0. At one point I saw it turn green and start producing electricity, but that only lasted a few seconds (maybe 20).
Naturally, I figured it was a wiring issue, so I quadruple checked the connections, basically making them so well connected it would take an enormous amount of effort to disconnect them. Here's where things got weird...
The AC line that was showing 0 voltage then showed 16v, and a different line showed 0 volts. So, I took everything apart again and made certain everything was connected properly (it was). When I checked it again, then it was back to the original line showing 0v and the other 2 showing 16v.
I wish it was a wiring issue. I would understand that and could fix it. I'm fairly confident everything is connected well though. It would take an extremely powerful person to disconnect them. The turbine is brand new...
What am I missing? Why is one line showing 0v? Is there more wind needed to get all 3 phases to turn on? What possible cause could there be for the dead line switching from one to another? Even when it turned green and started producing power, I couldn't get a voltage reading on the 3rd line.
My associate says that there just isn't enough wind... That turbine was spinning pretty good though when showing 16v. Probably fast enough to break an arm. Would wind speed really make a 48v turbine show 16v on a 3-phase AC line when it is too slow?
Any help would be appreciated. I have taken electronics classes and wired up solar arrays, installed sub-panels and built circuits... I have very little knowledge about 3 phase AC though. I'd like to think that I'm just missing something obvious. Right now the only thing I can think of is wiring problems, but everything seems to be wired strong, and each line has worked at one point in time (just not all 3 at the same time).
Please help!