Anotherpower.com Forum
Renewable Energy Questions/Discussion => Renewable Energy Q&A => Topic started by: WooferHound on February 21, 2012, 11:48:59 pm
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Your Most Spectacular Failure?
and we would like to hear more about it too . . .
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Not RE related kaboom but still a battery
(http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1154&g2_serialNumber=2)
My kid just mentioned maybe thats why I am balding ......
It basically blew up in my face.
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A tower failure, caused by laziness on the part of-----me. Roof mounted, as it was just experimental, and a learning
experience. I had tried many different alt combinations, so tower down, then up, repeated many times. Pretty sure
I forgot to tighten one cable clamp. Anyway that night big wind. I had no anemometer at that time, but news
said gusts to 120 kph. About 2 in the morning I woke up because the turbine's shrieking had stopped.
If it works this is a shot I took at first light. Not a great pic, but those with good eyes will make it out.
Surprisingly, the only damage was to the tower itself.
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Christmas seems to bring me a present of the turbine kind.
This was Xmas 2010 - the whole generator jump off the stub during 120km winds
[attachimg=1]
This one was this last Xmas and only! bent the mast - same wind speeds.
[attachimg=2]
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Some days it just don't pay to get out of bed..
And I can see why it bent where it did.... I just expected further up.... no accounting for wind.
merry christmas next time perhaps
...............oztules
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Never gave a thought to the stub being too long.
The flexing in the wind snapped it right at the weld where it went into the main tower.
Ever had that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach???? I sure felt it that day.
Ralph
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Hmm I've done that....
Totally stupid idea (mine) to use resin impregnated cardboard for test blades on a smaller mill. Sure enough, lost one to probably water ingress... the imbalance caused the mill to climb of its perch (pipe on pipe) .
Picture is similar to yours
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Although my poll entry was not based on the failure I'm about to describe.. I'm pretty positive I'm not alone.
"Reverse Polarity" ring a bell with anyone? Yeah I did it hooking up my homemade monitoring system. I was lucky I just blew the 5V power supply.
Yes, I should have had reverse polarity protection (diode) ... but Noooo... when I built it a few years ago, just to eager to see it work and didn't have a diode. The failure happened recently when I had to reconnect the unit.
...just dumb
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Some days it just don't pay to get out of bed..
And I can see why it bent where it did.... I just expected further up.... no accounting for wind.
Same distance below the guys as the generator head is above them. Now has an extra set of guys (lighter weight) to take the whip out of the pole!!
I do wonder if the first failure was due to the stub bending so the genny rode up it. Difficult to see as the blades hit it and put a bit of a kink in it :-X
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hmm, which to choose . . . .
- I had a small mill test rig of a tiny mill with 2 foot diameter CNC blades blow off of my flat roof and through the windshield of one of my cars, along with a bit of body damage. The base was basically a big steel weight. Note to self: always anchor with steel cables.
- I have shorted a capacitor bank across a wire shelving unit turning one of wires of that shelf to molten liquid and damaging a couple of bolts in the capacitors. Note to self: Always discharge ultra capacitors before moving them around, even a small voltage represents quite a bit of energy.
- I accidentally reversed polarity on an inverter once . . . . pfft and smoke, almost like a magician. Note to self: Always confirm the polarity is correct before hooking up equipment you don't wish to lose.
- Not RE related, but I was casting some lead free pewter toy soldiers in a mold in my kitchen, and I didn't realize the mold was apparently damp. It shot molten tin all over the kitchen ceiling and walls. Most impressive volcano. I was pealing little metal discs and streaks off of the ceiling and walls for the rest of the day. Note to self - always wear safety glasses, and make sure the mold is completely dry. . .
I'm sure there are a few others I have successfully tried to forget too. Rich