The Curse is REAL!

I find that there’s only one rational conclusion to be made:

The “January Curse” is real!

Tuesday, a week after I sent the first email to the Support Team of my wind generator’s manufacturer, I got a reply (supposedly it should have come within 2 business days. But, how can I quibble, so long as they eventually responded?). The advice proved helpful, but the outcome is not good: the problem seems to be in the turbine, not the charge controller.

This means that I will likely need to climb the tower, to either run diagnostics and make repairs up there, or to prepare the tower for lowering, to bring the turbine down to ground level to be worked on.

Neither one is going to happen in the next few days. I received the news in the middle of a 35-knot southerly gale. The current wind forecast calls for it to switch around and blow from the north at 25 knots—still well outside the bounds of good tower-climbing weather.

There’s still a chance the problem is a loose connection lower down on the tower. I have two chances for that, one low, the other near the top. If not, I may be in for a long hard haul. I’m still not clear, from what Support said, whether it’s safe to run the generator in its current condition or not. I may need to shut it down, and go on battery and solar power. With our low overcasts, and the time of year, that’s going to be starvation rations. On the other hand, I may be able to continue charging? Like I say, it’s not clear.

However, even if I have to bring the turbine to the ground to do it, it appears likely that the problem can be fixed here on the homestead. That would preclude shipping that heavy turbine off to the lower 48 to be fixed. That much is a relief, at least.

I asked if this is a common problem, and learned that it is very uncommon. Hence, the only rational conclusion . . . .

At any rate, I’m assuming we can continue to limp along with the current rate of charge. However, the blog may go “dark” for a bit in the coming days with little or no notice. If it does, look for good news, and perhaps some justifiable preening on the other side, once this problem is resolved—just as all the others that came before it have been.

This entry was posted in Off-the-Grid Power and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to The Curse is REAL!

  1. Linn Hartman says:

    Don’t sound like good climbing weather to me-Hopefully it’s a connection problem on the lower position – checking your blog is part of my daily routine anymore so if things stop I will know whats going on – good luck!

  2. Mark says:

    What kind of wind systems is it?, how many batteries? How many watts? Like Linn, I chx the blog nightly too.

  3. Mark Zeiger says:

    Hi Mark,

    I’ve always tried to avoid naming the system, although I’m getting closer to spilling the beans. While it’s a good, reliable system in general, I’ve had a lot of heartache over the years dealing with the company. It may be just about time to warn the public against them.

    Short of that, it’s a 900 watt (or 100 KW/month) system, powering 8 6-volt batteries tied in parallel and series.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *