 Hello,
my name is Bob Warden, and I’m the president of QLog Corp. That’s me in the
photo with my Southwest Windpower Whisper 200 wind turbine. I’ve been the
proud owner of the Whisper 200 for a few years, but I’ve been disappointed
with its low wind energy output. I’d see the blades spinning fairly fast
without any power output from the wind turbine’s charge controller. I decided
to find a way to capture that unharnessed energy.
Our
solution for increased energy output is the Wind Miser. The Wind Miser gets
more power out of the wind you have, which is the next best thing to more
wind. The Wind Miser increases your wind turbine’s energy output using a high
efficiency AC to DC converter and a low wind voltage booster that is matched
to the wind turbine’s power curve. This results in increased power output at
wind speeds both above, and below the original cut in wind speed, which is
the speed below which no power would be produced without the Wind Miser.
The
Wind Miser also greatly reduces or eliminates the occurrence of the Whisper
turbine’s blade flutter in high winds, which creates a loud sound similar to
a tractor trailer’s engine brake.
This was a pleasant surprise, and was an unexpected result from the
Wind Miser’s design. We believe that
the Wind Miser’s continuous loading of the wind turbine over the entire
alternator waveform, instead of the loading and unloading of the turbine
which occurs as the alternator output waveform moves above and below the
battery voltage, eliminates a cogging type of mechanical excitation to the
turbine blades, thus reducing or eliminating the blade flutter and it’s annoying
sound.
Considering
all you have invested in your wind turbine, tower, power equipment, wire, and
installation, the price of the Wind Miser, with its extra generated energy,
easy installation, our thirty day return guarantee, and our one year
warranty, makes your Wind Miser purchase a no brainer. I am very happy with
my Wind Miser, and you will be very happy with yours. I guarantee it.
Thank
you for checking out the Wind Miser, the next best thing to more wind. You
can have more power than you think. More energy, more often. I look forward
to making you one of our happy customers, and to improving your energy
independence. Get your own Wind Miser, and smile when you see that green
charging LED lighting more often.
Sincerely,
J.
Robert Warden
President, QLog Corp.
OUR GUARANTEE:
We
can’t promise how much more energy the Wind Miser will extract from your wind
turbine due to variations in wind profiles, only that it will generate more
energy than you do now. We have received reports of increased monthly energy
output ranging between fifty and a hundred percent, although we can’t promise
that your installation will see similar results. We can offer you this guarantee. If you aren’t happy with your
Wind Miser and the additional wind turbine energy it generates, you may
return the Wind Miser, in its original condition, within thirty days of
purchase, for a full refund of the purchase price, less the shipping charges.
We will also warrant the Wind Miser against manufacturing defects for one
year after purchase, and we will either repair or replace a defective unit
within the warranty period.
ORDERING INFORMATION:
We
currently offer seven Wind Miser models, which optimize the Wind Miser
circuitry for each turbine’s power curve and operating battery voltage.
WM-W148,
for Whisper 100 at 48 volts: $390
WM-W136, for Whisper 100 at 36 volts: $390
WM-W124, for Whisper 100 at 24 volts: $390
WM-W248, for Whisper 200 at 48 volts: $390
WM-W236, for Whisper 200 at 36 volts: $390
WM-W224, for Whisper 200 at 24 volts: $390
WM-W548, for Whisper 500 at 48 volts: $390
At
this time, we do not support any Whisper turbine operating at 12 volts, or
the Whisper 500 when operating at 24 or 36 volts.
Distributor
pricing is available, and we are actively seeking interested dealers!
We
will consider adding additional Wind Miser models to our line as we become
aware of other wind turbines, which have three phase AC power outputs of
three kilowatts or less. Please contact us if you have a wind turbine that
you would like us to support.
TO ORDER:
Please
call 513-874-1211. We accept VISA,
Master Card, and Discover.
INSTALLATION INFORMATION:
 The
Wind Miser WM-WXXX models consist of a circuit board that simply and quickly
mounts inside the existing Whisper charge controller. The Wind Miser mounts
to the controller using four screws without any controller modifications, and
uses three wires that connect to the charge controller’s three wind turbine
wire lugs. All necessary wire and hardware are included. The Wind Miser works
with the original, unmodified Whisper charge controller circuits, and does
not affect any controller functions. The Whisper charge controller’s displays
and charging LED will fully indicate your Wind Miser’s increased energy
output. The Wind Miser is powered directly by the wind turbine, not by the
battery pack, so there is no standby power drain from your batteries.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
The
Wind Miser uses a MOSFET based AC to DC converter to rectify the turbine’s
three phase AC voltage to DC voltage. The MOSFETs eliminate nearly all of the
two volts of voltage drop caused by the Whisper charge controller’s diode
rectifier. My Whisper 200 at 48 volts provides about 25 amps of full power
charging current. That two volt diode drop with 25 amps of current results in
50 watts of power wasted as heat. That same current flowing through the Wind
Miser loses less than two watts as heat. The extra 48 watts of power is then
used for battery charging instead of heating your house. At lower battery
voltages, the output currents increase. The Whisper 200 at 24 volts will
output around 50 full power amps. 50 amps times the two volt diode drop
results in 100 watts wasted as heat. That same current flowing through the
Wind Miser loses less than three watts, for about a 97 watt increase in
charging power! Look at your wind turbine’s output current in amps on the
Whisper charge controller display at any time, multiply that by two volts,
and that is the power in watts that you are wasting by not having a Wind
Miser.
Since
the Wind Miser recovers two volts of wind turbine output, it begins charging
the battery at lower wind speeds. The reduction in cut in wind speed
increases as the operating battery voltage decreases from 48 volts down to
36, and 24 volts, since the two volts recovered becomes an increasingly
higher percentage of the wind turbine’s output voltage, ranging from over
four percent at 48 volts to over eight percent at 24 volts.
The
Wind Miser’s MOSFET AC to DC converter, with its increased power output and
improved low wind performance, works very well, but it is only half of the
solution. The wind turbine has poor low wind performance because it must
output a voltage that is higher than the battery voltage plus the charge
controller’s voltage drop, before battery charging can occur. When the
turbine’s output voltage falls below that minimum level at low wind speeds,
no power output occurs. The MOSFET AC to DC converter lowers that minimum
required output voltage by eliminating nearly the entire voltage drop of the
charge controller, which is a good start.
However,
to get really good low wind performance, the turbine voltage must be boosted from
the unusable low wind voltage up to the battery voltage. The Wind Miser
extracts less power at the lowest wind speeds, and increases the power
extracted as the power in the wind increases in proportion to the turbine’s
power curve. This maximizes the low wind power extracted without stalling the
wind turbine. The Wind Miser will provide battery charging power starting at
around one watt at the minimum effective turbine speed of about two
revolutions per second. The power output will increase from there to about 30
watts, 50 watts, and 75 watts, for the Whisper 100, 200, and 500
respectively, when operating at the original cut in wind speed. As the wind
speed increases above the original cut in wind speed, the voltage boost
electronics continue to increase power output, and improves the power factor
loading of the wind turbine’s alternator.
It is this operation of the voltage booster that reduces or eliminates
the turbine blade flutter at high wind.
Less
energy is available in low wind than high wind, but there are usually more
occasions with low wind than there is with high wind. This can result in a
significant increase in monthly energy output using the Wind Miser. Consider
a simplified example with a Whisper 200 at 48 volts, operating with a constant
wind just below the cut in wind speed of seven miles per hour that persists
every hour of every day for a month. Without the Wind Miser you wouldn’t
generate any power. With the Wind Miser, you would generate about 36 kilowatt
hours for the month, which is 50 watts times 24 hours per day times 30 days.
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