Dan and Dan attended the MREA Small Wind Conference last month in Wisconsin, then stayed to give a couple seminars at the Energy Fair. It was great networking (and drinking beer) with all our friends in the small wind industry!

At the fair, we visited a booth hosted by Ginlong Technologies. They have a new product that is just being released for the US market….a 2.2 kw direct grid-tie inverter for wind turbines. They have a 6.6 kw and 11 kw also. The MSRP for the 2.2 kw is only $900! The inverter is listed for Canada and Europe, and the UL listing for the USA would be happening “any day now,” they told us.

This is pretty exciting news, as until now Magnetek and SMA were the only options for direct grid tie (see our other post on this blog for more detailed information). We have heard reports that both of these companies are a bit reluctant to provide a warranty for their inverters when connected to a homebrew wind turbine; Ginlong has no such problem.

As you probably read in our earlier grid-tie post, a direct grid tie inverter (no battery bank) for wind turbines must be programmed with the power curve of the turbine. Instead of having to use a laptop and special software, you can program the curve on the Ginlong from the front panel display, with LCD ’sliders’ that look like a graphic equalizer for a stereo. This makes it very easy to deal with, and you can tweak it in real time so your turbine is running just right at all wind speeds. Also, it can accept input from 30 to 750 volts DC, a very wide range — though of course you would want to wind your stator for a fairly high voltage (250 volts is probably about right).

Also, many of our friends in the small wind industry told us that this company is VERY reputable and does NOT sell crap, unlike some of the current Chinese wind turbines on the market.

We don’t have experience with the Ginlong inverter yet, since we are both located miles off grid. But if you DO try it, please drop us a line with your report!

DAN and DAN

Hello all –
In our Wind Turbine User’s Manual, we tell readers to contact us for details on how to fabricate the jacking screws and safely remove the front magnet rotor. Of course if you built your turbine from scratch you already have the tools and know how to do this, but some folks buy the completed turbine ‘kit’ from us and never had to go through this (somewhat) tricky and dangerous procedure.

So, DanB recently wrote a page that describes the procedure in detail for the un-initiated. It does have some good, new information about what to look for during inspection and maintenance, even if you already know how to take your alternator apart.
The new page is here:
http://www.otherpower.com/disassemble.shtml

Have fun with the wind –

ADMIN