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Skip's Ametek 30 with the Quadraflex MM rotor.
Flying in Yale Michigan
Click on an image below for larger view.
Comments from Skip:
Terry,
First of all let me say to anyone that
buys gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, or electricity this is one
project that you really want to consider.
Terry has been a great help and is a
wealth of knowledge and will help you along the way. Thanks Terry
As for my little Ametek 30 VDC jenny, it
was a ball putting it together and putting it up. I sunk a 6' long
2.5" CQ-40 pipe in the ground with a 3/8" flat plate steel homemade
hinge mounted on top of it for a tilt tower. The tower is 43' tall
with 8 , 3/16" stainless wire rope guys. The design of the tower is
the pretty much the same as a Whisper or Bergey type... with a few
moderations for my needs. It swings up and down in about 5 minutes
which is very nice. I work pretty much alone so I made it a one man
operation.
The jenny is a 30VDC Ametek with the
Quadraflex MM blades. I built the yaw mount on Terry's design and used
18ga steel sheet for the tail. I made a sort of long tail because I
don't have the weight of the 16ga, so I took advantage of the weight
to length ratio. It follows the wind great and swings with less than a
pound of side thrust to get it to move. I made a sort of tubing cover
to keep the water out of the mast and off of my wiring. Everything is
soldered and shrink wraped. The jenny itself is sealed with a red
rubber 6x6 sheet of real rubber you can get at the Big Box Store for
under $2 and it's joints are sealed with Ultra-Blue then I made a
Sch40 PVC housing all around it and sealed that, I hate water, LOL.
I'm using 10ga down the inside of the mast into a outdoor rated
breaker panel (construction site type) with a 3 pole shut off switch
and dc plug for lights if I choose to use it. I'm feeding 8 Trojans
and am only powering 6 of my rooms with DC lighting for now... This
Spring when I get my next jenny up I'll be going to a Trace/Xantrex
SW4048. Also, intend to add Solar in a small measure as funds allow...
plan staying on grid though for this year but who knows.
As I type the winds outside are kicking
pretty good and I'm getting over 23 volts with surges from the gusts
actually over 28 volts. I put a shut down switch on it and it will do
just that even in a stiff wind like I've got out there now.
So, don't wait, give Terry a call and he
will get you started on a really fun, useful project.
Oh yeah, the reason I didn't just stick
this up on a pipe is that I'm intending to put one up this Spring at
80' and I wanted to be comfortable with my tower design and lifting
system. If there are any questions, comments or suggestions please
drop me an email at
skipb@greatlakes.net put Attn: Skip in the Subject line.
Regards and thanks,
Skip Boyle
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