"GeoffSchultz" wrote in message
oups.com...

Doug Dotson wrote:
"GeoffSchultz" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recently had to replace 2 of the blades on my KISS wind generator
due
to small cracks which I found near the mounting holes. The blades
were
replaced with spares purchased at the same time that the generator
was
purchased. One of the replacement blades weighs a lot more than
the
other blades and none of the blades weighs the same, even in the
complete spare set. This is causing a lot of vibration.

KISS supplies a lead tape to place along the back side of the
blades to
balance them. I made a scale to balance the blades such that they
all
weighed the same. One blade ended up with 4" of tape, another with
12"
and one with 18". Even though they weighed the same, it was even
worse
than before.

So, does anyone have any ideas how to determine who to determine
where
the tape needs to be placed?

-- Geoff

P.S. I'll be out of Internet access for a few days.

You can't balance them by statically weighing them. My KISS
was able to be balanced by trimming maybe less than an inch of the
tape
from 1 or 2 of the blades. Did you try and balancing them according
to the
procedure in the manual? I had no trouble doing it that way. The
balance of
the blades depends not only upon the weight but the distribution of
the
weight
along the length of the blade. ie a bit of weight further out on the
blade
has
more affect than the same amount of weight close to the root. Also,
replacing only 2 out of three blades may not be a good idea. My KISS
blades
after 3 years of service have clearly eroded. I do have a spare set
and I
suspect
that the new blades probably weigh more than the original ones.

My suggestion is to use a complete set of new blades and use the
original
balancing technique.

Doug
s/v Callista

The problem with replacing all 3 blades is that the 3rd blade of the
replacement set has a very large front to back warp to it which causes
a lot of vibration on it's own. To explain further, when the blades
spin the tips of the blades should rotate on the same "X" plane and
have little "Y" plane variation. However, the 3rd replacement blade
has about 5/8" of Y plane variation.

Order a new blade or a new set. I'm sure Doug weill make good on
the defective set.

All of the blades were stored together and wrapped in foam. The
original set had some variation, but I was able to correct that by
placing tape shims on the hub where the blades attach. The 5/8"
variation is too much to correct that way, so I'm only using 2 of the
spare blades.

I would have contacted KISS when the original set didn;t work.

I suspect that this is due to differences in the manufacturing/curing
process. They're made in Trinidad and I suspect that the process may
have a lot of variables in it, and this has lead to the differences in
the blades.

I have friends that have visited the factory. Small, but well organized. My
original
and replacements were fine. Again, contact the factory for advice. I've had
nothing but experiences with them.

In the past I've tried to use their prescribed method of balancing the
blades, which requires turning the blades in a windless environment and
determining which blade is heavier. That's great if you're somewhere
where the wind isn't blowing, but in the Caribbean that's almost never.
Moving the generator to a sheltered location would be a major project,
so forget that.

Balanceing the blades has never required doing it on the generator itself.
Only the blade assembly (hub + blades) using the supplied balancing shaft
is necessary.

I thought that this would be similar to balancing a tire or a ceiling
fan and I hoped that someone would have a good method to achieve this
given my environment.

I'm sure you can find an environment that will be sufficent. It doesn;t
require
much.

-- Geoff


Doug

Balanceing the blades has never required doing it on the generator
itself.
Only the blade assembly (hub + blades) using the supplied balancing
shaft
is necessary.

Call me confused. What "supplied balancing shaft" are you talking
about. I never received anything like that.

-- Geoff

Geoff,

You should have received a short tapered threaded shaft that is identical
to the shaft on the generator itself. You install it into the hub with the
blades attached (hub/blade assembly not installed on the generator).
Then you arrange a couple of horizontal surfaces close enough together
to allow the assembly to rest with the shaft with one end on each surface.
Two tables moved close together is what I used. That
way the hub/blades can rotate almost frictionless. Then you observe the
heavy
blade drop and incrementally remove the tape until you can give the blades
a spin and have no particular blade end up at the bottom. Take a look at the
section entitled "Rotor Balancing" in the manual. It describes the entire
process.

Doug
s/v Callista


"GeoffSchultz" wrote in message
oups.com...
Balanceing the blades has never required doing it on the generator
itself.
Only the blade assembly (hub + blades) using the supplied balancing
shaft
is necessary.

Call me confused. What "supplied balancing shaft" are you talking
about. I never received anything like that.

-- Geoff

I see one of the major problems here. I never received the "threaded,
tapered spindle." I mis-read that to be the spindle on the generator.
Believe me, I have all of my spares for the generator carefully
catalogued and stored. It never came...That would probably help big
time with the balancing problem.

-- Geoff

I'm sure you can get one from the factory or via HotWire.

Doug

"GeoffSchultz" wrote in message
ups.com...
I see one of the major problems here. I never received the "threaded,
tapered spindle." I mis-read that to be the spindle on the generator.
Believe me, I have all of my spares for the generator carefully
catalogued and stored. It never came...That would probably help big
time with the balancing problem.

-- Geoff

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in message
...
I'm sure you can get one from the factory or via HotWire.

Doug

Just a heads-up about hotwire's immediate abilities ...

They're *driving* to the Oakland (CA) show from their FL base, in their
camper with the KISS atop. They'll be out of pocket for a while until they
get back (when John can start working on our arch/solar/KISS/electrical
redesign project with me)...

L8R

Skip

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