Hello Cruisers,
We have an Aerogen 6
wind generator on our
boat, fitted some time in the late 80s. I recently replaced the bearings, repainted and rebalanced the blades and now it is like new again.
Now the manual for the Aerogen 6 states that it is not suited to unattended operation in winds over 45 knots, presumably because it would be damaged by over revving. As a result I have always left it tied off when we are not using the
boat. ( I should mention that the
batteries are managed by a reasonably smart
solar regulator so I don't leave the
wind generator connected to the
battery when we are not using the boat. The
regulator gets confused by the
solar regulator and ends up switching the dump load on and off constantly.)
But last week it suddenly struck me that the chance of winds of 45 knots hitting our boat in the pen are practically zero, and if strong winds are
forecast I tend to go down and check the lines etc anyway. Tying the Aerogen off is fiddle and a bit risky as it is up very high and you are technically outside the line of the boat when you carry out the procedure. Also, leaving it tied off for long periods apparently causes the bearings to get flat spots and develop a knock, which we were experiencing before I replaced the bearings.
So I tried
electrical braking by shorting the outputs and the effect was startling. In 25 knots apparent
wind speed it reduced to something under 70
rpm. We rarely see more than 10 knots when in the pen.
Current being induced in the circuit was about 8 amps at that 25
knot wind speed. Voltage was, of course, too low to measure with a total short and Awg 8
cables.
So, all this leads to the following question: as far as anyone knows is there any downside to this arrangement in terms of potential damage to the Aerogen? I mean at an
electrical level does this sort of thing significantly reduce the life of the magnets in the rotor?
(I just edited this post as I remembered there are no
brushes in the
generator housing so I don't need to worry about increased brush wear)
Any gotchas I should consider?
Matt
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