Whisper 500 Wind Turbine - Replace Diode - Burned Charge Controller

[@offgridinthepacificnorthwe3210]

Nice repair job. When it gives up the Ghost I have a friend that has a 10K Burgey with a Morningstar TriStar 60A MPPT 600V charge controller for wind. It has worked flawlessly for many years. I think they run about $1600

[@michaelforsyth2244]

I have had a 500 since 2006 until now my problems were props which I replaced and tower wiring. I now have a bad diode and need to know the part numbers. I run mine at 48v so the charge controller diodes runs cooler. Nice video.

[@mikemccullough8800]

i m hooked mine up to battey power and it smoked one small diode right between where the contacts come in contact with the board, if i show pics can you possibly advise?? and suggest what might have gone wrong??

[@Naturally-Kelly]

Sorry for the late response to this Mike, outside the videos I post, I don't give advice on electricals.

[@samuelonthewall]

I have a Whisper 200 with a controller that has died. An electronics repair guy in northern Utah said he wouldn't attempt to repair it without the schematics. I've tried in vain to get the schematics from the new owner of the Whisper line. Do you recommend I keep trying to make this work or just look for a 3rd party controller? Do you make repairs for other people?

[@Naturally-Kelly]

I'm no electronics guy, but I know enough that I can usually fix my own stuff :) I can't tell you how a 3rd party controller would do. I've looked at that myself and luckily, haven't had to go that route. The typical failure on all of these whisper controllers seems to be in the aluminum blocks of 3 diodes that convert the 3 phase AC coming in from the turbine over to 12/24/36/48V DC for the batteries. The way the conversion works is called a rectifier. The voltage on our Whisper 500 Swings from +350 V AC to -350 AC on each of the 3 wires coming in...using those long skinny aluminum blocks with diodes poking up from them, the charge controller keeps allows the + voltage to go through and blocks the - voltage...problem is that the "dumped" voltage basically becomes heat. Everything gets too hot, the diodes burn out prematurely, wiring fatigues, and circuit boards flake out. They should have put a fan inside to move the heat. I can't tell you what to do, but the reason I post these vids is so that others can see what I did and hopefully glean a bit more knowledge since the company is so secretive about their crappy design.

[@Eng97Mf]

Hi, Can u used this CC for 50kW wind turbine and battery 48Vdc ?

[@Naturally-Kelly]

Charge controllers are pretty specific to the turbine they are designed for. This particular one is no longer manufactured and I have had major issues trying to find parts to keep repairing it. This controller is rated for 3Kw and wired for 24v. It can be reconfigured to 48v, but can't handle any more than about 75 amps at 24v.

[@michaelforsyth2244]

one more thing. I am trying to figure out why they used 9 diodes . All the three phase full wave rectifiers I can find use 6 or a multiple of 6. Any ideas?

[@Naturally-Kelly]

Yeah, I think they use the extra 3 diodes to connect to the dump load. It looks like when the batteries hit regulation, the charge controller blocks the voltage forcing the 3 phase to push into the next set of diodes and then out to the dump load. I think a person should be able to use a 6 diode rectifier and have it work if you can figure out how to get around that.

[@michaelforsyth2244]

Yes, you are correct. I decided to just build a replacement diode bank using stud mount diodes instead of press mount. The press mount are hard to get. I do a lot of electronics - let me know if you need one - Im in AB.

[@catherinethompson7828]

i I have a whisper 200. I noticed for 3 days, The controller had lights red and green all the time.I was afraid for my mate and batteries, and i took the controller out. If i send you a picture of the controller, you might be able to tell me the problem, if it's electric or electronic. I leave in Alaska, in a remote place but in the city Anchorage no help for me! could you help me?

[@Naturally-Kelly]

Sorry Catherine, I'm not the person for you. I will say, if you have both lights lit and the turbine is NOT generating power, the controller definitely is your issue and it is typically your rectifying diodes.

[@solarandwindinsouthtexasda1473]

Get a three phase Bridge rectifier and midnight classic 200 God will fix your problems that will be a new updated system

[@Naturally-Kelly]

Appreciate the info. I've been looking into other companies and controllers. So far so good since my repair.

[@solarandwindinsouthtexasda1473]

@@Naturally-Kelly I keep hearing very good things about midnight classic I've been researching it and I'm actually thinking about getting one because I have a hurricane vector and sometimes we get real high winds here and when it makes about 1700 Watts it burns my controllers

[@Naturally-Kelly]

@@solarandwindinsouthtexasda1473 We use one of their combiner boxes on our solar array - Really well built and thought out design...I imagine everything they make is good.

[@keironichee]

Interesting