finally got enough wind on my old AIR403 wind generator to see if it still works.  it does, but the regulator did not engage, and battery went up to 16v on gusts.  i’ve learned about machines, love them a little a lot, or love them a lot a little.

maintenance.  here the problem is the seal gasket let moisture in that corroded all the fun metal combinations inside.   one of those things that if replaced before it fails, like every 2 or 3 years, the rest will be ok.  but if the cheap gasket fails, so will every other bit inside.   $2 gasket vs $200 regulator, or worse.

the generator part seems fine, but i’ll replace the bearings anyways since i’m in here.

when time permits, i’ll take the brush ring assembly apart, so to remove the regulator board and diodes.  considering just removing the regulator as it appears the diode out goes straight to the brush.  the controller has aluminium oxide dust all over it, and all the contacts are moderately corroded.  i can just remove the controller board as it just shorts-out the windings at over-V or over-speed and i’ll make my own MPPT type controller with diversion instead of short.

i guess half the state of washington had power outage today. worse case i can just close it up and jumper the reg and not worry about pgne.