Doug,
   Sorry, I didn't notice your message, but Nando answered you; it is a job for the manufacturer. An automatic reset is not a science problems. The science 'how to do it' is there. It is a technology problem. If BWC wants to fix it then it can. For my case I installed a remote reset; I travel a lot but don't want to loose too much energy so I use a computer to check the status of my turbine twice a day and do a remote manual reset when needed that way I reduce my energy loss to just 20 to 24%. The remote reset is described in SWIEP R#39.

   The BWC Excel-s does require annual service. The blades need patching annually. My installer comes around once a year to do that. The outer layers of the blade wear down and peal off with time. Also Excel-s turbines are not "set-it-and-forget-it" in NY State. I know of two machines that crashed to the ground (mine is one) and I know two other machines that stopped working because they have not been serviced (they don't turn in the wind any more).

--Mel 
--- In small-wind-home@yahoogroups.com, "dougselsam" <doug@...> wrote:
>
> Mel:
> Out of 127 Bergey 10 kW machines installed locally by the Guasti's in SoCal, 127 are running, so I was told.  Brent S. of Windtesting.com has had a Whisper H-40 up for many years without checking it, during which time it never had a problem besides a burnt diode or 2.  When I say "set-it-and-forget-it", I mean no annual lubrication.  Why?  You gotta either climb the tower or drop the turbine once a year?  Easy if you are a pro - daunting for the casual owner:  That is not set-and-forget.  That is more like "Yeah I was supposed to lubricate the gearbox but we had a wedding to go to and now my uncle is in the hospital..."

> What happens when someone doesn't do the prescribed maintenance?  Meanwhile, has science figured out how to do an automatic reset yet?

> :)
> D.S.
> with wind energy you never run out of problems to solve!
>
> --- In small-wind-home@yahoogroups.com, "meltyree1" <mel.tyree@> wrote:
> >
> > Re: Doug's account below:
> >    This is a very useful story. To this list of "reliable turbines" (based on long experience) I think we can add the Jacobs. Jacobs turbines were being installed on farms before electricity from the grid came to farms. Some reconditioned 50-year-old Jacobs are still in service (see Home Power Magazine). You can still buy the Jacobs and assuming it is fabricated today to the same standards as the past then it will be reliable. For all turbines we have to hope the fabrication standards are maintained each production year.

> >    Doug says: 'I would recommend: A Whisper 100 from SWWP, and a Bergey Excel 10 kW. Those are the only models I have seen are basically "set-it-and-forget-it",...'

> > I don't think you can characterize any turbine as 'set-it-and-forget-it" The Jacobs need an annual grease job of the gear box, the SWWP units need to be furled when it gets too windy, and the Excel will stop producing power if you ignore it because it needs manual resets when it overloads the inverter.

> >     All turbines last longer if annually serviced.
> > --Mel

Mel Tyree, BA PhD (Cantab.) LLD (h.c.) FRSC
Professor
Department of Renewable Resources
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University of Alberta
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