N2NXZ 10 Meter Propagation Beacon

Should have,could have?Yes,the mast is too small in diameter.Should have at least put a block of wood inside the camper for the top brackets with longer screws.Guy wires would have been smart.Fortunately,it was coming home anyhow.

Well,if you have followed this crazy project,here is the final update.High winds finally took the wind turbine down.That little thing sure put up a fight thru all that wild weather the whole time it was there.Unfortunately,it did not charge a battery fast enough for me if at all.Now that it is here at home again,real testing can begin.Looks like the wind broke a support bracket,bent the pole,then the winds just violently unscrewed it from the threaded coupling.The power wire inside the pipe twisted and ripped the wires off the blocking diode and shorted them together.You can see the melted casing from the inner wires. To think,I was going out that way Monday,but not soon enough.I was hoping to get a final voltage reading,but the short drained all the power to .65 volts.This killed the whole test.I will not re-type the details,but dates and voltage readings are on the previous page.It almost seemed to be putting SOME power back into that battery.Knowing what it had before destruction would have been great information.As for the radio equipment,it is running now here and will be for 24/7 beacon service.Amazing to me is that those PVC blades did not break.The bolts holding them to the hub actually sheared off.One blade was found several feet away,the other 2 were still bolted except one had a single bolt still intact.Soon I will remove the blades,rewire the blocking diode and generator as is and test it on another motor with the same battery and see how long if at all it takes to actually charge it @ 1750 RPM`s.Pretty much recreate the setup using the exact setup using an electric motor instead of wind.I am guessing this happened Sunday.A video at the bottom of the previous page shows where it was heading :)I`ll be back !!!

Here it is crippled,but not dead, exactly where it was created.

Serious wire twisting?And burnt.

These blades are amazing.Just some paint damage is all.

You can see the bolts sheared cleanly.Nothing an easy-out cant fix.

To my surprise,blocking diode wires still attached.Looks as if the feed lines just disconnected and pulled right out.Good thing the connectors let go and saved the generator from toasting.I can still test this mill in original configuration. Looking much like a plane crash analysis here.

Ok,as tired as I am,decided to spin this by hand,then by 2500 rpm drill and vacuum cleaner belt. Without a battery DMM reads 11 volts by hand spin.With Drill it reads 50+ volts.With a small 12v 4 AH battery attached,it reads 15+ volts.After a 1 minute run,the battery actually showed 12.7 volts from the 12.5 volts.Next thing to do is check amps output.I really do not believe the drill works that well,so rpm is probably off.Also add the pulley and chuck diameters.But it does produce DC volts still.

Here I am wrecking my table.A 1750 rpm furnace blower motor and belt on mill pulley.I do not know the true rpm,but the battery started at 6.45 volts.It has been in the house for about 24 hours and raised to that level over time from .65 volts.The electric motor ran about 10 minutes or more until it slowly raised the battery to 11.60,then I decided it was long enough.After sitting awhile,it holds at 8 volts.This tells me it does charge the battery,but it would need a steady wind for days @ many RPM`s.

If the Mill was about 40 or 50 feet in the air,that may have been more efficient.Winds would have been much more consistent that way.Still want to put an amp meter on this just for the sake of knowing what it can actually produce.It looks as if this little turbine does indeed charge a battery.I will find an old telephone pole and see how it goes. Waiting for spring for Part 2.It will be setup here ASAP anyhow until then.

Final attempt for a long time to have a working wind turbine >