I have not installed a wind turbine, but I have installed a hydro turbine. There are similarities but the big difference is that with the hydro, I pretty much know what the most water will be. With a wind turbine it is hard to know what the most wind will be.
Having said that, they both should not be allowed to be 'disconnected'. If the generator is left open circuit, it does not put a resistance on the turbine shaft so it will spin as fast as the wind (or water) can turn it. This is known as freewheeling and in the worst case, the overspeed can destroy the windmill.... Even if the windmill does not tear itself apart, the overspeed is very bad on the bearings. Consequently, you always want an electric load on the turbine. That leads you to the problem of what to do if the batteries are full and the load does not need the power that is being generated...... that is where a dump-load controller comes in. Rather than shut off the excess current it diverts it to a 'dump load'. Sometimes the dump load is just a very high wattage resistor that burns off the energy. (More on that later).
For small wind turbines, they don't have mechanical breaks and depend on the resistance from the load to keep the rotation speed down. (I have always wondered if that is really enough for all conditions, but apparently it is for the small turbines).
Warning: the following is my best understanding.... but it is not based on direct experience.
Apparently the really cheapo controllers out there just short out the wind turbine when it does not need the current....That keeps the current flowing and prevents freewheeling, but from what I have read that is really bad on the generator.
The other thing I have heard about the cheapo wind controllers is that they just drive to a fixed voltage.... the don't really have a charge profile.
The next step up in controllers have a charge profile but they use the dump load to manage the voltage at the batteries.
If the controller wants to let the voltage go up, it quits dumping to the resistor. If the controller wants to hold the voltage, it sends the current to the resistor. I think the Xantrex C35 works this way.
Stepping up from there... the midnite solar classic has provisions for dump loads and I hear it is considered one of the best for this type of application. From what I have read, the Midnite MPP algorithm works well for finding the optimal Voltage-Vurrent point for the amount of wind the turbine is getting. (Turbines have an MPP curve just like solar panels do)
Some people work out schemes to use the dump load as a water heater or even a space heater. I have not really investigated that a lot, but it seems to me that at some point the water heater could get too hot.....so you then have to divert to a traditional dump load.
BTW: When choosing the rectifier..... they are not all the same. You want to get a full wave rectifier with low energy loss. (I have heard some of the rectifiers being sold for wind turbines are only half phase rectifiers.)