HAWT DIY July 2017 Light Array Experiment

Trying to have an "its doing something" machine I looked long and hard for an LED array voltage meter but to no avail. I need / want something that covers around 4 - 35 volts DC and most everyone is using them for battery charge indicators; they just don't have a wide range.

The object is to have something real time active that can be seen from shore.

I am going to try the LM3914 but getting the range I want is still a challenge for me.

I went old school electro-mechanical, like might have been found around WWII

As voltage rises the little 9mm bayonet bulbs slowly brighten and then the relay shuts down and lights up the next one.

Its working perfectly within the component constraints

The 1st relay is a 6V which switches at around 3.5vdc
That lights up the second relay, a 12v which switches at 7vdc
And that lights up the 3rd relay, a 24v which switches at 13vdc
That turns on the last one.
 And I learned that using relays like this is troublesome; their switching voltage is different from their rated voltage (need spec sheet for each) and they remain switched until the voltage drops substantially below the switching voltage.

The incandescent are great because they go dim to bright and back unlike LED.

They are using some serious amperage too so the start up wind speed is around 3 - 4 mph

You can hear the little stepper motor grinding away its pretty cool. I can't get video at knight but it steps thru each bulb as designed, mostly stays on bulbs 3 and 4

The people at BulbTown were very bad at notifying me regarding my order, I needed a progression of bulbs to make this contraption work and they didn't get them out to me yet.
when I get a 3 volt bulb the 1st stage will light up to the max, and when I get a 24 volt bulb the 4th stage will not burn out!

Its looking like I get very roughly 1 volt per MPH

I am going to try to get amperage / wattage numbers next

I started to look at the wagon-wheel effect too, I should be able to get a more accurate TSR by videoing the windmill and the anemometer at the same time. I think that when the blades appear to stop with 6 blades showing that means 60 RPM

Convinced now that I like the incandescent bulbs because they put a heavy load on the machine.
I have figured out where to get a reliable series of 3v, 6v, 9v, bulbs (Mag-light)
And am going to figure out the Arduino controller with relay pack some how.

Best results from a day of readings