Monday, May 6, 2013

WARNING for Long board users - The Long Board is not safe to run

Anyone running the long board version of the Redriven wind turbine should read the warning below from Scott Fouts.

------------Letter from Scott ---------
There have been continuing failures of Redriven's long board controller over the past year - you have experienced your own issues.   Many of the failures I've been made aware of are much more significant in nature, and are cause for concern.  Some of the machines began experiencing capacitor failures, which can be explosive.   Recently it seems that catastrophic failures, such as capacitor explosions and inverter failures are more the norm instead of random.

I am recommending that anyone running the Redriven long board "C" system shut them down.   In my professional opinion, to continue operating them is not safe.

As you know, I have been working on a control system to retrofit into existing Redriven machines.   As of today there are several of these systems running flawlessly.   At this point only 20kW machines have been retrofitted with the new "Phoenix" controller, but it is designed to work with other sizes as well.

There are still options for most of the systems out there.  Initially it's important to get the word out that running the machines on the long board "C" controller isn't safe.

-----------End of Scott's letter -----------



Anyone that would like to talk to Scott about the issues or his solution can contact him at scott.fouts@yahoo.com or call him at 740-601-3959


We have the long board installed but there is no concern since it is completely shut down.  We have a blown controller board in the head and the bearing are shot.  Is there anyone out there still running that hasn't worked with Scott?  Is anyone out there selling there Redriven parts? We are trying to decide what to do next. I'd love to hear what others are doing.  Sorry it has been so long since I've updated the site.