Wind turbine dump *novice alert*
- Thread starter Salisburytree
- Start date
DPC
Solar Enthusiast
I think no you need a lot of wind
And we’ll designed blades a proper good generator and what ever the wind equiv of an mppt charge controller is
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
I've long pondered that the ideal wind turbine for ~98% of residential sites would make its peak power at ~16 mph or less. The reasoning is that most sites spend ~98% of their time at wind speeds less than 16mph so why design a turbine for less than 2% of the year?
To do that you would grossly oversize your rotor compared to your generator and then be totally reliant on a yet to be invented furling system that would work 100% of the time for at least 10 years with no maintenance. In other words, a fairy tale.
Bigger blades make more power that the generator, the overspeed protection system and the tower has to deal with.
The longest-lived wind turbines have a relatively small rotor in relation to the size of the generator.
There's a member here with an ARE 2.5 turbine that I think they said is 15 years old, trouble free and still making power. That's a 315lb (143 kg) turbine with an 11.8ft (3.6 m) rotor. Talk about heavy metal.
Years ago, HomePower magazine did a nice write up on small wind in which they used lbs./kw (or maybe it was kw/lb.) as a key metric to determine the quality of the wind turbine.
DPC
Solar Enthusiast
I have a theory that states for wind to be of any value it must be so cheap your rig can sit idle a lot more than solar systems
Ultra cheap so if they break your ongoing to be upset
Ultra simple to build some you can run several turbines at once ( if you have space )
Ultra safe they must have brakes as well as furling incase something goes wrong
Ultra cheap so if they break your ongoing to be upset
Ultra simple to build some you can run several turbines at once ( if you have space )
Ultra safe they must have brakes as well as furling incase something goes wrong
HighDesertOffgrid
Solar Addict
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2022
- Messages
- 628
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
You might get a kick out of studying the wind chargers from the early rural electrification days in the 30's. They had a variety of mechanical overspeed protection systems.
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
DPC
Solar Enthusiast
A car had 3 independent braking systems front back and parking brake
A wind mill should have two
Then you know with good maintenance and t should never grenade on you
A wind mill should have two
Then you know with good maintenance and t should never grenade on you
HighDesertOffgrid
Solar Addict
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2022
- Messages
- 628
She's up there singing today.You might get a kick out of studying the wind chargers from the early rural electrification days in the 30's. They had a variety of mechanical overspeed protection systems.
![20230214_143501[1].jpg](https://diysolarforum.com/data/attachments/134/134850-6b58d4c7d9da46e9ccd8ebea71a52d2d.jpg "20230214_143501[1].jpg")
![20230214_143557[1].jpg](https://diysolarforum.com/data/attachments/134/134851-a51c8dbbab9585bcd9a6f57b2d172318.jpg "20230214_143557[1].jpg")
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
My brother bought one these used, 17.5Kw. https://www.jacobswind.net/
60 foot tower, he has it on a hinges on 2 legs and lowers it using a winch, takes about 2 hours to lower the tower down. He has it grid tie and locks it down once his bank is built up. He originally was paid $0.10Kwh. Pretty good unit, still requires maintenance.
60 foot tower, he has it on a hinges on 2 legs and lowers it using a winch, takes about 2 hours to lower the tower down. He has it grid tie and locks it down once his bank is built up. He originally was paid $0.10Kwh. Pretty good unit, still requires maintenance.
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
Wow that would be neat to see. Those are massive machines. How is he charging the batteries?
About 10 years ago I helped a guy rebuild and reinstall a few of the grid tie models on an existing site so they were grandfathered in. I think the problem with trying to do anything with them today would be getting the utility to approve them for installation at a new site since thier 40+ year old inverters would not meet today's UL1741 or IEE1541.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
They forced him onto net metering when there was merger between the local REC and another utility. He just runs his net meter bank up to the limit, then locks the rotor so it isn't wearing the power head out. He doesn't require a dump load as he net meters. He told me it will output up to 22Kw.
He had some trouble with bearings and rebuilt the head with larger bearings and shafts. He tilts it down once a year for greasing and to check it over. He can't climb due to a back injury 15 years ago sustained from a fall off his shop roof that left him temporarily paralyzed. He walks now with a brace but eventually will have to resort to a wheelchair. His wife had passed away from cancer the year before shortly after giving birth to his youngest son about a year prior. Kinda of a hard road to travel, 3 young children, lost his wife and then fell off a roof and was paralyzed.
He put the tower up since then. It was all grid tie and inspected, my cousin (licensed electrician) did the wiring for the utility connection.
I tell him that eventually they will eliminate net metering or make it so they get the power for nothing. He will then have to decide what he will do next. Windpower is big here in Iowa, we have many wind farms here and more going up.
My older brother purchased one of these used too, he never put it up. I think they both paid around $5K for them. Foundation is 3 foot in diameter and 15 feet deep with 3 legs. It must have some type of disconnect to meet UL1741 or simply the rotor locks down. Probably the rotor locks down (I never asked) as there isn't a dump load. No power during outages unless he has a battery bank as a UPS. I should go look at it again, has been some time since I was there.
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