Cheap Horizontal Wind Turbine/MPPT 1 Year Results

[SajgZi]

I've thought about buying one of those "400W" wind turbines from Amazon and designing/fabricating some larger blades for it, potentially 3d printed with wood spars (or similar). I would imagine the "400W" rating is reasonable for the generator/wiring and wishful thinking for the power able to be captured with the included blades.

Edit: but then I wrote some python to analyze the wind speeds in my area (measured on my roof) and found that at best, it would be a fun experiment to watch the blades spin. Solar + battery would be a much better ROI in terms of both time and money.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

but then I wrote some python to analyze the wind speeds in my area (measured on my roof)

Cool. What was the duration of your study? Did you parse daylight/night wind energy?

 

[NC_hydro]

Edit: but then I wrote some python to analyze the wind speeds in my area (measured on my roof) and found that at best, it would be a fun experiment to watch the blades spin. Solar + battery would be a much better ROI in terms of both time and money.

The big desire is for those dark windy days....sure it's got a horrible ROI vs solar when you look at the big picture. However, for someone living in, say, Alaska or some other cold/rainy/dark place, having even a couple hundred watts coming in goes a long way toward not needing a generator in a totally off-grid situation when the sun goes away for 3-4-5 days in stormy weather which is often also windy weather. I'm powering two houses off of 350watts continuous hydro and will be adding a small amount of solar to supplement when I switch from the Magnum to the new Victron setup. But with all that, I would like to add something like a cheap 400-watt wind turbine. Christmas week was a perfect example; this year, it was cold grey with 15-30mph winds for 2 days. Something small that doesn't need a massive tower, etc. It could be especially useful for people with these cheap Chinese inverters with high idle consumption, basically enough to mitigate that parasitic draw.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

I'm powering two houses off of 350watts continuous hydro

Living the dream!

 

[chrisski]

I'm powering two houses off of 350watts continuous hydro and will be adding a small amount of solar to supplement when I switch from the Magnum to the new Victron setup

I’d like to see a thread and pictures on this to see what 350 watts of hydro looks like.

 

[Zwy]

I thought about wind again this winter with 4 weeks of non stop clouds, with only 3 days of sun.

The problem is finding a good wind generator, from what I've seen out there they just don't hold up. If you find a good one, I wouldn't mind hearing about it.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

If you find a good one, I wouldn't mind hearing about it.

There are several whole-home sized turbines in my area. They have yellow nose cones and tails. They are mounted 40-80 feet agl. Not sure what make they are.
The closest of them to me had a failure of some sort last year. It was 60-80 ft agl. I saw a crane working on it one day, then the blades were gone for some weeks, then it was operational again.
I surmise it was worth fixing or the owner likes to throw away large sums of money.

 

[Zwy]

There are several whole-home sized turbines in my area. They have yellow nose cones and tails. They are mounted 40-80 feet agl. Not sure what make they are.
The closest of them to me had a failure of some sort last year. It was 60-80 ft agl. I saw a crane working on it one day, then the blades were gone for some weeks, then it was operational again.
I surmise it was worth fixing or the owner likes to throw away large sums of money.

My brother has a 17.5Kw Jacobs, 110 foot tower and something like a 26 foot swept area.

He used to sell to the rural coop, now they put him on net meter. Way overkill for what I would want and I prefer as little maintenance as possible. He tilts his down yearly for service, he can't climb since a fall off a roof.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

He tilts his down yearly for service,

That would be interesting to see. How does he tilt it?

 

[NC_hydro]

I’d like to see a thread and pictures on this to see what 350 watts of hydro looks like.

Definitely can do that. I need to get before and after pictures before I start my upgrade. Plan is to add three more 2” pipes. It can accept 4 but currently only running one at 58psi. The upgrade will relocate down stream where it would be around 80psi.

 

[OzSolar]

There are several whole-home sized turbines in my area. They have yellow nose cones and tails. They are mounted 40-80 feet agl. Not sure what make they are.
The closest of them to me had a failure of some sort last year. It was 60-80 ft agl. I saw a crane working on it one day, then the blades were gone for some weeks, then it was operational again.
I surmise it was worth fixing or the owner likes to throw away large sums of money.

Those sound like Bergey's. You should try to befriend any of the owners to see if you can get any production data. Last I checked new blades for a Bergey we're over $6k before any labor or crane. Best month I ever saw one do was just over 1,800 kWh, rest of the year it averaged less than 400 kWh.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

Those sound like Bergey's. You should try to befriend any of the owners to see if you can get any production data. Last I checked new blades for a Bergey we're over $6k before any labor or crane. Best month I ever saw one do was just over 1,800 kWh, rest of the year it averaged less than 400 kWh.

The two I drive past several times per week are both on gated properties. One of these days I'll catch someone at the gate and ask.

 

[Zwy]

That would be interesting to see. How does he tilt it?

You had to ask.

I don't know why he uses his phone with some screen protector on it but here you go.