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Forum Index : Electronics : Lighting Arrestor Wiring
| Author | Message | ||||
JimBo911 Senior Member  Joined: 26/03/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 262 |
Interested in lighting protection. I have an extra lighting arrestor for one of my PV arrays that I would like to use for my mill. The wiring is relatively easy for a PV system red postive, black negative, green ground. Normally this arrestor would be mounted at or near the PV array, just wondering if I can use it on my mill. I do charge a 48 volt battery system. Pictures are not that great, Specs are Delta LA 302-DC Max voltage 500v. Cant help thinking that if I wire the arrestor at the battery end of things by the time a lighting strike hits any and every thing from the mill to the battery will be gone. In case your wondering no I haven't grounded my mill with a ground rod at the base of the tower. Ground is frozen at this time of year. 
Jim |
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| KarlJ Guru  Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
INteresting.... I do wonder how these things work. We had a quick storm blow through, (unfortunately didnt have it set up in the shed at the time!) with a lightning strike really close as thunder and lightning happened simultaneously and got that great crack you only get when it happens close.... this did make me wonder how the tower and mill would cope with such a strike.... My intent is to hammer in a steak the the battery end on the negative terminal (seems std, per hugh Piggots how to with your windturbine) and also ground the tower well with a ground rod some 3' into the ground and attach to tower using a couple of hose clamps, I believe this is about the best we can hope for Luck favours the well prepared |
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imsmooth Senior Member Joined: 07/02/2008 Location: United StatesPosts: 214 |
I have a three-phase arrestor from Delta. I have spoken with the company in the past, and each lead is connected to a variant of a MOV (metal oxide varistor) which conducts once a critical voltage is reached. Each lead is connected to each phase, with the ground going to an 8' copper rod. I have two of my four tower guys connected to an 8' grounding rod. My tower pole is connected to an 8' grounding rod. You can see here that I put a faraday cage around my rotor. This was the old way I did it. My current turbine has the cage completely surrounding the rotor and wiring on top. My hope is lightning will hit the cage and go to ground before hitting the wiring. I don't know if it will work, but it will at least serve as a safety net in case one of the magnets gets loose and tries to fly off. |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5015 |
The faraday cage, or a lightning rod extenting up over the alternator, is a good idea, especially if you are in a lightning prone area. If you make your own lightning rod, make sure the tip is shaped to a nice sharp point. Static electricity escapes through sharp corners, so a sharpened lighting rod will start to ionise the surounding air when its about to be struck. If the air is ionised, the lightning bolt will strike there first. I had my windmill struck last year. Hell of a bang, but the windmill and its rectifiers survived. The controller needed a reboot, and my yard light controller blew up. Scary stuff, I dont like it. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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