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       #Post#: 726--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: lynx wind Date: November 2, 2013, 9:07 am
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       These Vawts can handle turbulent winds, but they really should
       have clean undisturbed straight line wind to work best.  I have
       seen mine barely turn or not starting when the wind is coming
       through trees.  If the wind has a chance to straighten out the
       turbine will start and run well.
       When you short out the turbine it will still turn in high winds
       but very slow.  That is good because it de-stresses the pole and
       the blades.  If winds are light it still may try to start but
       will stop again.  It's more of a soft brake rather than a hard
       screeching halt.  The longer your AC run of wire the softer the
       braking will be.
       It is normal and desirable to have no magnetic attraction on top
       of the steel magnet plate.
       #Post#: 732--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: Otis Date: November 2, 2013, 11:59 pm
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       @ cg.I wonder if youll be happy with the foam core rib
       formers... Ive used some as a rotor plate on another vawt
       design, and it ended up warping in water and light. Just
       thinking about what might end up a weak link. Your talking about
       paper covered foam core, right?
       #Post#: 733--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: Otis Date: November 3, 2013, 12:30 am
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       @ marcus- on the blades made of styrofoam with thin plastic
       coating.. What do the support wires/strips go into on the
       blades? How are the winglets attached (with or without spar hole
       support)?
       #Post#: 734--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: lynx wind Date: November 3, 2013, 3:28 am
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       I'm sorry, I shouldn't confuse the construction of the Gull line
       with the Seagull 75.
       With the Gull construction, the heart of the structure is the
       rotor made of a very light and stiff laminated material, two
       very strong fiberglass rods slid through and the laminate blade
       tips bolted onto deeply set stainless studs (set into the
       fiberglass rods (spars)).  The foam and plastic covered blades
       are slid on between the rotor and the blade tips with just a
       slight compression.  The blades act more like spacers between
       rotor and blade tips.  That's why I say they are along for the
       ride.
       With the Seagull, the rotor, blades made of fiberglass and the
       bracing are the structure and need to be very stiff, strong and
       light.  With the Seagull the spars act more as positioners.  The
       Seagull structure relies on each part to be light and strong.
       If the blade or the bracing isn't strong it will fail in high
       winds.
       Fiberglass is very strong and in a blade shape is torsionally
       very rigid.  To use coroplast, or thin aluminum I would suggest
       the spars would need to be something stronger than wood dowels.
       I think hardware stores sell fiberglass rods for yard stakes so
       the snowplow doesn't drive across the lawn.  The problem with
       wood dowels with a weak blade is that the blade tips or the
       bracing attachment will tear out, and then the blade will break
       off.
       The biggest challenge I had for years was building these light
       and yet strong enough to handle high winds.  It's not a problem
       to get them to self start and to get power.
       #Post#: 735--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: sut Date: November 3, 2013, 7:14 am
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       @ CG My magnet plate is 1/4 thick same as my magnets
       last night when I was re doing the things that were not rite
       (cut nut in half and re did caulking ) I shorted out my stator
       and tried to spin it and yes it does make it hard to turn . Now
       to find a new home for the windmill where the buffalo roam and
       the wind will blow all day long.
       #Post#: 739--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: lynx wind Date: November 3, 2013, 9:24 am
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       @Sut,
       The faster you turn a shorted alt the harder it gets.  Basically
       it's because the voltage is zero and amps are max.  The harder
       the alt tries to make volts the higher the amps go.  For
       instance if you short the alt through an amp meter it will drive
       amps up to 2-3 amps and then you can't turn any faster.  This is
       how most wind turbines are slowed.
       Just a head's up.  One time I just put a light jumper wire
       across the two AC outputs.  This worked fine to short the wind
       turbine.  Think of that jumper wire as a load, sort of like a
       heating element in a toaster.  When winds picked up that wire
       got hotter and hotter, melted the plastic insulation, eventually
       burned the wire and then the VAWT went into unloaded condition
       and tore itself apart.  Always load a VAWT or adequately short
       it out with a wire that can handle 4-6 amps.
       #Post#: 748--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: sut Date: November 3, 2013, 7:13 pm
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       thx @LW  good information ! also I am impressed with that
       bushing that this spins on so simple but so slick I would of
       never thought it would of worked !  Today I was spinning it with
       my leaf blower ( it says 150 mph ) everything stayed where it
       should wings didn't seem to flex . I noticed that after it came
       to a stop my meter was still reading .498 volts dc on the
       rectifier is this normal
       #Post#: 749--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: lynx wind Date: November 3, 2013, 7:49 pm
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       I have seen similar phenomenon to your phantom voltage with an
       alt that is stopped.
       Try this experiment.
       Turn the volt meter on set to DC volts and it will read zero, or
       maybe a few milli-volts.  Short the leads.
       Now hook up to the alt and give it a spin, then stop the alt and
       note the voltage with the alt stopped.
       Remove the leads and compare to the voltage above.
       Magnetic fields aren't like the drawing in the book with
       discrete lines neatly organized from one pole to the next.  The
       fields are more like leaping flames, unpredictable and similar
       to the way light goes forever only effected by gravity and
       electro-magnetic fields.
       I have seen an alternator continue to move just slightly after
       it came to a stop.  Try it sometime with a smooth turning
       air-core alt.
       #Post#: 751--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: burnit0017 Date: November 4, 2013, 4:11 am
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       Hi. any high frequency radio waves in the area?? Maybe the
       source of the phantom voltage.
       #Post#: 752--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Seagull DIY Discussion
       By: sut Date: November 4, 2013, 7:27 am
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       I did what you said and shorted out the leads  yep went to .000
       then gave it a spin and stopped it and this time it read .789 dc
       volts . What I find interesting is it stayed at the same reading
       all night I would of thought it would have drained back to .000
       after  that much time . Another strange thing is when my
       windmill is turning there is a time when the meter will read OL
       till it gets above a certain speed then it goes back to reading
       voltage, must be that cheep fluke meter
       @burnit0017 not that I know of !  but them spy satellites could
       be checking that fine new windmill in my yard  ;D
       
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