13th May 2007, time for a change.

Author	Message
Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: Australia Posts: 5154	Posted: 12:46am 13 May 2007       Hiya all. Changed the windmills over last weekend. Last Saturday was windy and I thought the Sunday would be a good day to test the modified Chinese blades, so on Saturday afternoon when the winds had died down a bit I took down the Lenz and put the HAWT back up. Woke up next day to find the winds had gone completely and the rain had come, typical! I put a electrical short across the windmill and waited for a windy day. I don’t like the idea of letting an untested windmill run while I’m not around, during the day while I’m at work the windmill could run up to speed and have a balance problem or noise problem, and I wont be around to shut it down. So I always keep any new windmills shorted until I can be there during a wind event to test it out. Several days went past until Thursday night there was a small wind change and I went out side to let the windmill free spin. It took off like crazy, an easy 500 plus RPM, and the only noise was the normal whooshing noise I used to hear on my other windmill blades. Excellent! There was another wind change this Saturday ( Yesterday ) and under load the windmill was pumping 8 amps into the battery bank, with no windmill noise to be heard from the workshop, about 10 meters from the windmill. The modifications I did to these Chinese blades can be seen here, or from the Info and Projects page, and a big thanks to David up near Townsville for his help. The web site and forums may be off line some time during the next week, I’ll be moving the web site to a new server at a new location and it will take a little time for everything to settle down. Just before the move I’ll lock the forums to stop anyone posting a message and then loosing their posting due to the change over. Why am I moving the web site? Well the web site lives on a server at my work place, and on Friday I gave them my notice, finish up in about 3 weeks. I’ve been with them for almost 4 years now and that’s a long time in one place for me. A few disputes over the last few months and a feeling of frustration with dealing with some senior staff members has convinced me its time to move on. I don’t know what I’ll do yet, start working for myself again or find a new job, but I’m not worried about it. Finding work in Mackay, especially for someone with experience in software and CNC is easy. I’ll keep everyone posted. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ