The last step of building the foundation is taking the forms off and the dirt is pushed back.
Now were back to waiting. First, waiting for the cement to cure and then for the tower and turbine to arrive.
Rodney from Rual Bolt Generation and Wind says the parts will be coming in about 4-7 weeks. He said he would try to do a better job at keeping us up-to-date on what is happening.
Hey I just joined your blog. Thank you for sharing your experience. It is going to encourage a lot of people to go green. Sometime in the future I hope to do the same.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm glad to hear my work is appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYou need to read this. Look at the turbine in the article. looks like an swg.
ReplyDeletehttp://wcco.com/energy/faulty.wind.turbines.2.1186107.html
I am in the process of having a Redriven 20kw turbine installed in my back yard. I seem to have encountered many of the same problems as you and find it somewhat comforting to know that our project is not the only yone that has taken this long. Our turbine and tower was delivered this week and is now being assembled. The latest of many issues is that we were sent the wrong diameter anchor bolts and the weren't galvanized. Our installer is having new ones made locally and will pick them up on Friday. Hopefully the upper part of the foundation will be poured on Monday. The concrete will cure then comes Thanksgiving... I think the tower will go up on Monday the 30th. Best of luck to you. my email address is pistol_pete10@yahoo.com if you wish to contact me. We can share frustrations!!!
ReplyDeletePete, I don't think our bolts are galivanized either, but I have heard that the concrete needs time to dry. It is a lot of concrete and much is underground. It might not be good to stress it so soon.
ReplyDeleteKeep us posted.
To Anonymous above. It does look like the SWG turbine, but the article doesn't mention that Redriven is involved. Perhaps they could put in a Redriven Controller and Inverters to fix the issues. I'm sure they are leary about spending any more money on that system.
The lower part of foundation has been done for months. I was told tonight that the crane would be here on Friday after Thanksgiving to put up the tower and turbine.Still more work to be done inside (wiring and installing inverters etc.) I will keep you posted!
ReplyDeletePete, That is great! Keep us posted on how it goes.
ReplyDeletedid your installer compact the soil around your foundation? correct me if i'm wrong but your foundation only appears to be about 3 feet deep deepest section according to your photos with workers in it.the whole point of a pad and pier foundation is for it to be sunk into soild soil, and not to make a fake mound.
ReplyDeleteOur tower and turbine were erected today. Still waiting on inverters but they should be in by Monday. We should be operational by the end of next week.
ReplyDeletePete
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThe foundation is on a hill. If you look at the picture with two guys in the hole you can see that the ground comes up to their arm pits (5 feet). The shortest side is 3 feet. The big pad is 2 feet deep concrete plus the tower foundation another 5 feet of cement.
They will be coming back to bring it to a two to one slope. This will help direct any water coming down the hill way from the turbine foundation.
Pete,
ReplyDeleteThat is great news! How does it look? I bet it is a great feeling. Keep letting us know your progress -it gives us all hope.
I'm amazed at your optimism after all you've been through! I have not been impressed with overall Chinese products or quality control, especially after a recent visit there. Hopefully it works out for you, but I beleive small and medium wind, even if produced in the US, have a long way to go before it's cost effective and worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteWhat factories specifically did you visit in China? What specifically did you see? China manufactures will have produced the most wind turbines for 2009 according to the Global Wind Energy Council. Vestas, one of the world's leading wind turbine manufactures Vestas employs more than 2,000 people in China and expects to hire another 1,200 employees over the next year.
I checked on Pete"s wind turbine via his Facebook page and it is NOT a ReDriven (sold and serviced by a reputable ReDriven installer like Rodney with factory trained techs and service backed by the actual ReDriven factory!!) wind turbine. For starters it has a tail!!!! and Redrivens do not!!!! It is not likely to start in winds as little as 4.4mph and it is not on a tilt tower either (though it is only on a 60 foot tower which will be accessible via his installers bucket truck. He is not going to have the ReDriven controllers and he will not be able to access his turbines telemetry and turn his turbine on and off via his own web site provided by ReDriven. Just because your installer tells you it is a ReDriven turbine (because he bought a bunch of them in China) does not mean it is a ReDriven turbine!! I will be interested to see what his performance is compared to a REAL ReDriven turbine.
ReplyDeleteVince
Vince,
ReplyDeleteI emailed back and forth with Pete and he wasn't expecting a tail on his wind turbine. I also noticed that the narcel is much longer than the 20K redriven's I've seen on the web and the blades appear to be more aerodynamic. I thought maybe they changed the design, but I don't see anything like that on SWG's site or Redriven's. So if it isn't a SWG/Redriven, I wonder who is manufacture's Pete's turbine?
Wow, I guess because my turbine isn't a Redriven I don't have much of a chance in it working. I shared info openly with people associated with this blog and the posted response it quite snobbish. I will no longer participate in this discussion since my turbine isn't good enough. Vince, you DON'T know it all, there are several errors in your post, I won't bother to correct them. By the way, how much power is your turbine producing, oh that's right, none. Not the case for me. Good luck with your project.
ReplyDeleteI think I may have found who the manufacture of Petes turbine is. It looks to be made by Wuxi Dayue Machine in China and is one of their JD series. The page is http://cnwxdy.en.made-in-china.com/product/PoJQAeuVOicb/China-Wind-Generator-20KW-.html
ReplyDeleteI hope I typed this in correctly, but it sure looks like the picture of Pete's turbine.
Vince
Pete,
ReplyDeleteSorry, I know I would still like to hear about your turbine. I hope you continue to let us know about your progress.
Ellen
Pete,
ReplyDeleteI never intended to come across as knowing it all in any way, and would never claim that I did. I was trying to point out that what you thought you were getting (a ReDriven turbine) is not in fact what you were getting. If your installer told you it was a ReDriven brand turbine you were getting, then they were trying to pull something on you. There have been so may scams on people getting a turbine that they thought was one thing and then they get something else and next thing the installer is out of business and they have a 50 or 60,000 dollar lawn ornament and the wind industry gets a bad name, hence the referance to a reputable installer and real ReDriven turbine. It was never intended as a bash on what ever brand turbine you are installing. I don't care what brand turbine someone installs as long as they get installed, but I do not want to see someone get the shaft by an installer out there just to make a buck and I am tired of reading about people bashing this or that turbine when it is usually the installer and not necessarily the turbines fault. I hope your turbine gives you many years of trouble free electricity.
I'm sorry if I gave you the impression of your turbine not being good enough, nothing could be farther from the truth, that was never my intention. Again I apologize to you Pete if this is what you thought.
Vince
Vince
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. I certainly admit that I don't know it all either. My installer is reputable and his price was excellent due to the fact that he is 5 miles away. He has spent many hours including Sunday, to ensure that this system works. He has installed many Jacobs 20kw machines and Bergey 10k's. The blade profile on this turbine is very aggressive and has been putting out a lot of power. We are still not 100% functional yet. One of the inverters has a ground fault issue and Aurora (Power One )tech support is off till the New Year (must be nice!). This is where the tail has its advantages. We are able to furl the tail so that the power out put is limited slightly and we can still run with 3 inverters. We are generating power at a reduced rate but we will take what we can get until all can be resolved. BTW the link you posted looks exactly like our turbine and upon further review of its max out put it looks like it may do 24kw, and we do have the wind for it!
I don't even know where to start.
ReplyDeleteWe purchased a Redriven 20 KW from Power Shacks Inc. out of Chico CA in June of 2008. If any one is considering using them for any kind of alternative energy - BE AFRAID! (I know of a number of other customers that were screwed by them as well.) What a nightmare this has been.
Because of their supposed non payment to ReDriven(after I had already paid them in full!), they lost their dealership.
I ended up having to pay for warranty, delivery,(to their "new" dealer) permits and engineering twice. This has cost me about $11,000 over what the original bid was!
After waiting over a year, the turbine was finally erected on my site June of 09.
It has not functioned correctly from day one. In fact my summer power bills actually WENT UP after the installation!
There are many problems that need to be resolved with this system.
1. ReDriven still has not provided the correct size blades as the 20KW blades are defective. My system still has 10 KW blades, greatly reducing power output.
2. There is a problem with the 3 isolation transformers that are constantly on 24/7 consuming power all the time (at least 270 watts per hour)Still not addressed by dealer (Wing Solar and Power)or ReDriven. Actully, ReDriven says this parasitic load is acceptable. HUH?!?! In a recent conversation with the dealer, he informed me ReDriven wants me to pay for the part (relay) to solve the issue. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!! Didn't this system come with a five year parts and labor warranty??? I have left 3 messages for ReDriven about this issue and they have not returned my calls. Hence the reason I am venting on this blog.
3. Anonometer is defective. This is the 2nd one to break in a few months. Have been waiting over 2 1/2 months for a replacement. Still have not received one. (After calling and reminding the dealer and ReDriven weekly for MONTHS requesting this small part) BTW-the system will not function correctly without it.
4. There are issues with the controller completely shutting the system down (when it actually does run) when there is a gust of wind. The system will not come back on as it should unless it is manually reset. (This can happen about every half hour with decent wind!) Still not addressed by ReDriven or dealer.
5. If all four invertors/transformers are on (as they should be to produce what the system is rated for), the turbine will not spin at low to moderate wind speeds. With just the first inverter on, it will. However, out put is limited to just 6KW max.
If you are considering this Turbine, I recomend you think twice. My experience so far has not been very good. We will see if ReDriven actually comes through and makes it right. How ever, it has already been over 6 months - not filling me with confidence that this will happen any time soon.
If you would like to contact me my email address is:
jtp1@frontiernet.net
In fact ReDriven, if you are reading this - PLEASE CONTACT ME
JTP1 - thanks for including your email address. I've had over 1000 visitors to this web site, I'm assuming a few of them have been from Re-driven. Keep us up-to-date on if you get any response. I have called them and talked to their finance person who was able to give me the email address of someone who could help me. I think I picked finance from their phone menu.
ReplyDeleteGood I hope you get working soon.
JTP1
ReplyDeleteWow, talk about deja vu. Our 20kw system is up and running and we have experienced several of the same problems. Are your inverters made by power-one? If so, I can offer you a suggestion that will take care of the problem of low wind and no production. We are in the process of correcting the high wind runaway problem as well. The iso transformers being on all the time is easily fixed as well. My installer has worked with me (slowly at times) to resolve all these issues. I have an electronics background so I have taken a very hands on approach. My name is Pete and my email address is on this page somewhere. Give me a yell if you want to hear about the things we are trying. I hope to have it running at it's full potential in a week or two depending on wind availability.