Another Nacelle Fault

We were up and running for almost 24 hours before we got first an “over wind” and then an “over speed” and then the dreaded “nacelle fault” error.


We took the tower down and determined that the programming on the card in the nacelle was lost again.

Today is the monthly measuring day Feb 27 – March 27 we were up for a total of 1 day for the month and made 13kwh for the month, but lost 1 KWH  lowering and raising the tower. Net gain for the month was 12KWHs. Average wind speed that one day was 10 mph with wind gusts at 28mph.

We are up and running again after being down for 42 days!

Now I know why most people are just happy to see it spin. I really missed looking out there and watching it go. I can enjoy windy days again instead thinking of them as missed opportunities to make power.


When Parker was here last he diagnosed it was the computer cards that had issues so we sent both the controller card in the nacelle and in the “long board” back to Redriven to be checked out / refurbished.

Unfortunately, Parker is no longer working for Redriven, but my most excellent husband spent the whole day yesterday putting the cards back in and troubleshooting wiring connectivity issues. Being a wind tech or wind smith is a really hard job, in the summer. In the winter, it is just no fun at all. Lucky for us, my husband does this type of continuity checking for his work and has all the tools and he had time to do it. I had to work and wasn’t much help at all. Now we are back up and running again! There are only a few days left in March, the best month of the year for wind. It seems the winter just won’t give up this year so maybe the wind will continue to blow too.

What was the best production day so far?

Anonymous person asked a really good good question, so I thought I'd post the answer rather than just commenting back.    They asked since day 1 what was the best day of production?  They also as for the best hour,  but I don't have that hourly data. Luckily, my husband took a daily readings in December. I was grabbing momentary reading back in Summer/ Fall to try and make a power curve. When the temp got really cold in the garage, I was not that dedicated to the task any more.

Dec 28, 2010 we made 30KWHs. My local weather station about 1/2 a mile away and few feet higher said that the average wind speed that day was 12.5 mph and gusts were up to 32 mph. This would be a good day because the wind gusts didn’t get too high very often. If it is really gusty the wind turbine goes into protection mode and you shut down waiting for the wind to calm down.

Mark Mayhew from NYSERDA told me that March is the best month for wind in our area. We haven't been up any days yet in March, but I have heard some great wind the last few nights. Redriven let's get this thing fixed!