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141
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by MaryB -
Water is an insidious enemy and even on a sealed motor moisture WILL get in!

I have electronics at the tops of my ham radio towers... So many seal the box which is a mistake. A weep hole for condensation to find a way out is a must!

On a motor conversion I would add a weep hole in the lowest point of the case... doesn't have to be big, I use a 1/16 inch drill bit to add it... water will accumulate and as the motor heats it will expand the air in the case pushing the water out.
142
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by SparWeb -
I'm not kidding.  I never finished it.  I've been using it in my wind turbine for years, but it wasn't done.  I knew it, but I didn't do anything about it.  Until now.

Here's how its rotor looked in 2008 when I stopped working on it:

DSCN7108 - Copy - Copy.JPG

The magnets have slight offsets, but are lined up on the axis of the shaft and secured with screws only.  No skew, no sealant. Then I moved on to do other wind turbine projects, built more motor-conversions, and used those for a long time.  The Toshiba conversion sat on a shelf.  Waiting.

Then in 2021, I did something stupid. While putting the blades on the shaft of the genny I was using at the time (a Baldor motor conversion) I neglected thread locking.  Less than a year later, the blades wiggled themselves off the shaft.  Surprisingly little damage, considering the blades flew free and fell 70 feet down (I was very lucky it wasn't a write-off).  However, the Baldor genny was unusable.  But I did have the spare Toshiba gen...

So the Toshiba was put to service at last, 13 years later.  It's been running for years like this, with 10-foot cedar blades on it, working rather well.  No - the real problem, which I have finally fixed, is that I never FINISHED the Toshiba conversion.  On motor conversions that I finished after the Toshiba, I carefully bonded the magnets in place, and fastened them with screws.  I didn't do that with the Toshiba conversion, probably intending to try various changes (I can't remember now).

Last month the Toshiba started making little grinding noises.  Subtle at first, but impossible to ignore after a week.  I shut it down, lowered the tower, took the blades off, and started inspecting.
Huh, at first I couldn't see anything wrong.  So I put the blades back on, and gave them a free spin...  grind grind grind.  I had to dismantle the wind turbine a lot more to find out.  The Toshiba was lifted off the mount, and brought into the shop.
Once I took it apart, this is what I found:

20260408_214534_Rusty_Magnet - Copy.jpg

Several of those magnets have rusted.  There are other signs that water got inside the case.  In the winter, the water, in the form of frost, infiltrated all of the gaps and spaces between the magnets and the rotor.  When corrosion started, the particles coming free stayed stuck, but CAKED in ways that lifted the magnets off of the surface of the rotor.  The worst of the magnets (shown here) has a lot of magnetic particles packed underneath it, probably from repeated cycles of ice forming, expanding, rusting, and leaving the particles to pry up the magnet for the next cycle.  Once the magnet was pried up enough, it started scraping on the stator.

So I took it all apart, cleaned it up best I could, and then bedded down the magnets with epoxy, and replaced all of the screws.  Plus a few coats of paint to keep water from seeping in.  While I did this I also DECOGGED the damn thing, too.  I've been listening to it hum for years now.

20260419_154125_Painted - Copy.jpg

With all that done, the shaft turns virtually cog-free, and it's being put back on the tower soon. Hopefully back in operation this weekend.
143
Growing Food & Cooking / Re: 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by Bruce S -
We use OKRA in a variety of things, good in a gumbo, great as a soup thickener and if ALL HELL breaks loose it's a half decent substitute for coffee. Takes a boat load of seeds to make even a 10 cup pot, BUT when 1 plant will make pods until the freeze kills the plant  ;) .

Cheers
Bruce S
148
Storage, Batteries & Management / Re: Clear LiFePo battery
Last post by Bruce S -
It is a neat battery to say the least.
Yes , there is a BMS mounted onto the top of the battery .
The plastic makes getting decent pics and challenge.
I have an opaque light that I'm going to try and backlight it for better pics this coming week.
I put a little 17W 12Vdc panel on it yesterday, just to see how it's going to workout.
 It ran right up to 13.75 and just seemed to stay there.
I know the smallish panel will take a month to even get close to charging it up and believe once the battery got up to 13.75 I was at the panels best output.
I had veggies to get out in the raised beds and covered before the overnight chill came whistling in.
More to follow.

Cheers
Bruce S
150
Storage, Batteries & Management / Clear LiFePo battery
Last post by Bruce S -
I'm turning to the learned community people here for some informed decision making.
I was given this cool looking CLEAR (see-thru) 12Vdc 100Ah LiFePo Battery and I'm trying to decide which way to go with it.
 
I've certainly tested the charging with a proper LiPo solar charger from my current controller and 1/2dozen panels & I've tested it
with a 900W 12Vdc inverter, It did just fine.
Here's a nice view of the bolt holes for mounting proper connections to the top.
My current solar set up is nice and balanced.
I do have one of Glen's diversion controllers that'd I'd like to get back to using.

My quandary: Do I redesign my other little setup that has a cute little 12V 30W portable panel and use the diversion controller OR go with a new  proper charger and use the diversion to charge down stream batteries?
My Veggie grow light don't have any problems with running off a MSW inverter and this would free up the ProSine inverter.

 Whatcha think?

Kind Regards
Bruce S
Clear_LiFePo 100Ah Battery.jpg
151
General Discussion / Re: Weather!
Last post by Bruce S -
Walked out with the dog at 03:40 with 25mph winds and 18F.
By Friday it'll be near 80s ,,, go figure

However on a good note: this has been a very good test of a diesel heater I picked up a year back!!
I also was wise enough to purchase diesel at <3.50/gal. That along with waste oil is working out very well.

Only issue is the noisy pump, but since I have it running outside (not the best idea, but,,,) and hooked up to a 3gal pale. It's doing nicely.
FYI: I only run the waste oil at 1/3 instead of 1/2 like most others do.
Happy St. Patty's DAY!!
Cheers
Bruce
152
General Discussion / Re: Weather!
Last post by MaryB -
-1f this morning! luckily not much wind... shoveled out to my mailbox yesterday, snow was like concrete, I could have walked on top of it!
153
Growing Food & Cooking / Re: 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by Bruce S -
We do leaf lettuce in containers now , can't keep up with the rabbits! freezers currently full.

We found out the hard way , our resident marsupial (Marsha) likes young spinach leaves.
 Don' t mind too much as she hates squirrels and runs them off, right up a tree and out of the area if she sees them, but those leave looked so good,,, right up till she ate them.

We've done spinach in our cool basement in different years, always does really well, but the local Farmers were all but giving it away so we stopped. We're now back doing it since prices are going nuts for this stuff.
154
General Discussion / Re: Weather!
Last post by Bruce S -
First came the wind, then came the high winds that knocked all the tree buds off the limbs onto my car.
Rain followed by sleet followed by 30+mph winds.
Was a perfect day to work on getting lazy inside  :)) .

St. louis, MO went from a great Saturday in the mid 60s to 25 went our coffee pot started up this Monday morning.
Winds cranking up to 40+ on the drive in this AM was a whole lot of fun!!
Cheers
Bruce S
155
General Discussion / Weather!
Last post by MaryB -
MN just got smacked by a huge winter storm. I only got ~2 inches of snow but 45mph winds have it a total whiteout/all the roads in my part of the state are closed until they can clear cars/semi trucks that are stuck/in the ditch.

SE MN got 19 inches of snow in less than 24 hours! I am SW/West Central area(~60ish miles form South Dakota) so opposite side of the state.
156
Growing Food & Cooking / Re: 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by MaryB -
I have grown spinach in winter is my south facing bay window, lettuce too! Gets a LOT of sun and lettuce does okay with shorter days. Slower to bolt. It just bolted 2 weeks ago and got bitter! Small 24 inch by 12 inch flats but I am just feeding myself and lettuce regenerates after being picked. Beginning of March I think it starts to get to much sun heat during the day...
157
Growing Food & Cooking / Re: 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by Bruce S -
Mary B;
We grow our veggies from saved seeds.
Got 12 Beefsteaks 12 heirloom 12 sweet 100s. All in 6" pots just waiting for this weekend's snow before they go outside to harden off.
Butternut Squash 3 plants for us, 2 plants for Marsha the Marsupial :_)
two types of cucumbers 1 for making fridge pickles :-)
Trying out 3 different types of Okra this year.
Couple mild peppers
Tons of flowers
3 1/2 meter flats of leaf lettuce.
trying out indoor planting of spinach , held up well over the winter in our basement.

Cheers
Bruce S
158
Growing Food & Cooking / 2026 garden season, what are you growing?
Last post by MaryB -
So far my seed order has 2 types of lettuce, spinach, carrots, broccoli raab, cabbage, beans, peas, taters(seed taters), onions(sets)... I will pick up tomato plants in May, and pepper plants. Maybe some strawberries to start in a raised bed. Cukes and squash/pumpkins too have been ordered. Cutting back more this year, my back is not happy with me lately!
159
Solar / Re: Free Panels !
Last post by Bruce S -
Wow! Those are nice. You're going to need to update your sig at the bottom soon :-)
160
Solar / Re: Free Panels !
Last post by MaryB -
should be fine, most breakers are rated for surge currents that are quite a bit higher.

I would run it and feel the breaker body, see if it is getting hot. If an older breaker replacing it wouldn't be a bad idea, they do wear out over time.