I want to play with the wind, recommendations?

[Hogheavenfarm]

Best alt-energy learning experience there is, lots of stuff solar doesn't have. I would much rather watch the mill in action then gaze at a billboard of solar panels. Lots of design as you go engineering involved. There is no adrenaline rush comparable to dodging flying blades in high winds.

 

[ghostwriter66]

Best alt-energy learning experience there is, lots of stuff solar doesn't have. I would much rather watch the mill in action then gaze at a billboard of solar panels. Lots of design as you go engineering involved. There is no adrenaline rush comparable to dodging flying blades in high winds.

So being out here in SW Texas - we do get normally 300 hours of Sun a day -- all of it in the form of HEAT (its 103 second day of fall) ... so solar energy works fine for us ...

However - our super senior engineer has been having another team out here mess with Wind energy .... holy crap -- there is a TON of garbage out BS CRAP that we have tested out here ...

First of all -- VAWT is a total joke -- when a company comes out to set one up and there are 20 pages of caveats (excuses) for their low performance - and ungodly HIGH price -- right there is a non-starter ...

so YES -- we have NOT found a VAWT that actually delivers anywhere what their marketing and sales staff thinks it should ... funny ho that works ...

BUT we have that the good old 48V - 500W HAWT up 25 feet coupled to a "wind solar hybrid controller" (search Aliexpress) - but here is the one we use ...

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803820780398.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.21ef1802kTUUTy&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

and here is the turbines we have up and running ... wow -- they have literally doubled in price in the last 2 years ... but anyway ... they have a huge generator in them unlike many of the other ones these guys tested ... and so far they have all survived (mostly) the high winds and sand and crap out here ..

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832772135748.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.30.17ce1802fA5EqL&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt

we actually get a good amount of energy since these things spin night - day - low winds - storm winds - etc ...

There are differences in the quality of the 500Ws so be careful .... BUT - from where I sit -- we have one right outside this office up on a 37 foot pole that produces well OVER 500Ws many times during 20+ mph winds and easily 250-300 with regular winds ...

we have constant winds here so that helps out allot also ...

PS - i have zero affiliation with any of the companies or products previously mentioned ... just telling you waht works out here ... and its definitely not the VAWT solutions ...

 

[HalfBaked]

Or turn the turbine axis 90⁰ and put the bottom 3rd in a river?

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

yup, hydro is pretty consistent too, night and day and (usually) fairly consistent speeds, until they aren't...like anything else, there are limits that should not be exceeded.

 

[Rednecktek]

Get a sailboat and forget about windmills. I hear they're not worth the trouble.

I work on ships, that's why I have a place up in the mountains. I don't wanna HAVE to Break Out Another Thousand every time I want to play. ?

Or turn the turbine axis 90⁰ and put the bottom 3rd in a river?

The river is about 1500ft down the hill, 3 miles away, and across a major highway and other people's dirt. I don't think that's gonna fly.

Since this toy is going to be roof mounted to try to take advantage of the Aeolin effect, poles aren't necessary. Just curious about how to get the most out of a Homemade Hawt if it actually does get enough wind to be worth anything. It's entirely possible that I'll get my weather station up there and after a couple weeks find that my peak wind was 3 minutes at 6mph the entire time making the whole idea a bust.

 

[chrisski]

so YES -- we have NOT found a VAWT that actually delivers anywhere what their marketing and sales staff thinks it should ... funny ho that works ...

BUT we have that the good old 48V - 500W HAWT up 25 feet coupled to a "wind solar hybrid controller" (search Aliexpress) - but here is the one we use ...
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803820780398.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.21ef1802kTUUTy&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
and here is the turbines we have up and running ... wow -- they have literally doubled in price in the last 2 years ... but anyway ... they have a huge generator in them unlike many of the other ones these guys tested ... and so far they have all survived (mostly) the high winds and sand and crap out here ..

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832772135748.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.30.17ce1802fA5EqL&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt
we actually get a good amount of energy since these things spin night - day - low winds - storm winds - etc ...

Would you recommend this setup on a lithium battery?

I was actually looking at this controller the other day but the two things I noticed were:

1) Couldn't figure out if I the charge voltages were standard or if I could set it to what I wanted. Other 24 VDC wind controllers I looked at the min charge voltage exceeded the 27.6 volts I charge my 24 VDC lithium batteries.

2) Is there any disadvantage to using a 1200 watt wind controller on a 500 watt wind turbine.

This set up may be what I have been looking for to make a few hundred extra watts during the windy nights.

 

[ghostwriter66]

Would you recommend this setup on a lithium battery?

I was actually looking at this controller the other day but the two things I noticed were:

1) Couldn't figure out if I the charge voltages were standard or if I could set it to what I wanted. Other 24 VDC wind controllers I looked at the min charge voltage exceeded the 27.6 volts I charge my 24 VDC lithium batteries.

2) Is there any disadvantage to using a 1200 watt wind controller on a 500 watt wind turbine.

This set up may be what I have been looking for to make a few hundred extra watts during the windy nights.

2) Is there any disadvantage to using a 1200 watt wind controller on a 500 watt wind turbine. --- NO

The system that we are using is completely USER configurable for LiFePO4

We allow our BMS to take care of any spikes or over voltage issues coming from the turbines ...

hope that helps

 

[Zwy]

So I was thinking, at my cabin I have an old TV antenna up on the roof that does precisely nothing, not even FM radio. I spend 6+ months at a time away from the camp and I was thinking to myself,

"Myself, I wonder if you could throw a small turbine up there to help keep the batteries topped up while you're at sea." (You talk to yourself a lot when at sea )

Now, I don't regularly deal with wind, and I'm going to be revamping my whole camp to a Real Size solar array and controller and wiring and such. My plan now is to use a couple of 100w solar panels that I already have up there and re-use my MPPT controller in parallel with the new system just to keep the batteries topped up.

If you were to recommend a Fisher Price My First Wind Turbine kit, what would you say I should go with?

The system is based on 24v FLA batteries, 360Ah "on paper" capacity if that makes a difference.

I figure a couple hundred watts would be plenty and small, and it would need the don't-fry-the-batteries-controller with it, but I have lots of wire.

Ideas? Be prepared for a LOT of n00b questions.

It's quite simple. Take the money you would spend for a turbine, hold the cash in your hand. Pull out one $20 bill.

Next, pull out a lighter from your pocket and start the remaining money on fire using the lighter. Let it burn completely.

Take the $20 and buy some beer. You will enjoy that more than buying a cheap turbine.

Pretty simple and easy and you won't break a sweat.

 

[Rednecktek]

It's quite simple. Take the money you would spend for a turbine, hold the cash in your hand. Pull out one $20 bill.

Next, pull out a lighter from your pocket and start the remaining money on fire using the lighter. Let it burn completely.

Take the $20 and buy some beer. You will enjoy that more than buying a cheap turbine.

Pretty simple and easy and you won't break a sweat.

Other than beer tasting like beer (Yech!) that sounds like a good idea most likely, but it doesn't alleviate boredom and isn't as fun. ?

This coming from the guy who built his own tank battery box.

Plus, if all goes well it'll be practically free anyways for starters.

 

[ghostwriter66]

It's quite simple. Take the money you would spend for a turbine, hold the cash in your hand. Pull out one $20 bill.

Next, pull out a lighter from your pocket and start the remaining money on fire using the lighter. Let it burn completely.

Take the $20 and buy some beer. You will enjoy that more than buying a cheap turbine.

Pretty simple and easy and you won't break a sweat.

I don't know -- I checked what the one 500W turbine produced here for the last 24 hours and it was approx 3000W ... or about 125 constant watts for the last 24 hours ... there was some peaks of over 500 and some dead time also ...

 

[JBertok]

I've had an Air 303 for over 25 years. It's a 12V unit bought when PV was still $6/Watt and pursuing alternatives made sense - obviously no longer the case, like axis trackers for PV. The 303 was the design the AIR 403/30/40/Breeze/X are all based on.
All wind turbines have to employ one of several methods of controlling controlling overspeed. On the original Air 303 it was accomplished solely through the distortional twist of the blades that would cause a turbulent stall in the airflow. When this happens, which is about 30mph, the thing begins to howl and scream so loudly that it permeates the neighborhood. Subsequent designs use a combination of air foil distortion and electric governing to reduce the howling in stall. Also, all of these small turbines spin at a high RPM, even normally, and are not possible to perfectly balance, so they vibrate. They also create a whisp noise any time they're spinning fast enough to make power. There is a silent model that they've changed the blade geometry to reduce the running noise. Although still up above the house (53 feet), I don't use it any more. It's annoying for a very small amount of power it puts out, and I had to shut it down every time we have seasonal Santa Ana Winds here. (Shutting down most of these models is accomplished by disconnecting it from the DC bus while simultaneously shorting the DC feeds to themselves coming from the turbine.
Some of the larger models available control overspeed with furling. It's a simple and reliable method of pivoting or tilting the axis of the rotor away from the airflow direction. Also noisy, but the bigger the diameter the turbine the lower the noise, because they generally spin slower.
In terms of reliability on a 25yo Southwest Windows turbine - ZERO ISSUES. It still works exactly as it did new.

 

[Zwy]

I don't know -- I checked what the one 500W turbine produced here for the last 24 hours and it was approx 3000W ... or about 125 constant watts for the last 24 hours ... there was some peaks of over 500 and some dead time also ...

My brother has a 17.5Kw wind tower at his acreage that powers his shop and house. He admits he sometimes wishes he went solar instead. Maintenance can be a killer.

It was a good deal when he was paid $0.10/Kwh. But the rules changed with the coop utility and then it went net meter so he locks down the rotor once he hits his bank limit.

My cousin bought one of those small windchargers for his chicken coup. I told him to send it back but he didn't listen. It lasted about 2 months when some 60 mph winds threw the blades across his yard.

 

[ghostwriter66]

My brother has a 17.5Kw wind tower at his acreage that powers his shop and house. He admits he sometimes wishes he went solar instead. Maintenance can be a killer.

It was a good deal when he was paid $0.10/Kwh. But the rules changed with the coop utility and then it went net meter so he locks down the rotor once he hits his bank limit.

My cousin bought one of those small windchargers for his chicken coup. I told him to send it back but he didn't listen. It lasted about 2 months when some 60 mph winds threw the blades across his yard.

not making excuses but 60mph are WHOLE GALE FORCE winds and the NWS says at 60mph "Considerable structural damage occurs, especially on roofs. Small trees may be blown over and uprooted." ... so no surprise your wind turbine was damaged ... sounds like he did not have a braking system installed ...then again .... i have seen solar panels completely destroyed at 20 mph ...

 

[brandnewb]

I'm gonna resurrect an old thread here because my noodle got fired up again...

So, I've been thinking that small wind turbines are krap, and small VAWT's are krap compared to just getting more panels for most situations...

Well... I've been keeping an eye on RidgeBlade for a few years now, and watched videos about making turbines from junk and I want to re-explore this idea a bit.

Disclaimers:
Yes, I know it's not going to produce 1.21Jiggawatts between the trees at my camp.
Yes I know it's going to be a lot of work.
Yes I know there are products I can spend thousands of dollars and just buy.
Yes I know I need to explore what real wind I have to work with and run it through calculators to see what I could "reasonably" expect.
Yes I know it would be fun anyways so PTHBTHBTHBTHB!!!! ?
Yes I know everyone will say "Just get more solar!" but I'm over paneling my array by 20% now and most people don't understand just how worthless solar is in the PNW during fall, winter, and spring. Every watt helps!

So since treadmills and front load washers are pretty much free on Craigslist anywhere you go, I was thinking of cutting up a washing machine drum (since it has the heavier axle and bearings and I have grinders) and belting the pully to a DC motor from a treadmill (to get a nice gear ratio) then feeding that to an MPPT controller (not a Victron, I don't have that kind of cash) and seeing what I can get out of it.

Now, I guess my questions come into play if I wanted to make it "better". Would a PMG and rectifier be worth the $250 for a simple 12v/24v over the DC motor? What could I do to the housing to funnel the wind off a rooftop in better? At this point I'm thinking just a box with some flaps to help "scoop" the air in. If I buy a "48v PMG" can I still feed that to a "24v" rectifier? How would I size the PMG for the turbine? Is there a rule of thumb or some such?

I've got a basic 8-in-1 weather station coming tomorrow and heading to camp Saturday so I'll be setting the station up on various roof ridges to see what kind of wind I actually get VS what the maps all say. Yes, I have a generator backup but if I have to run that 90% of the time because the 2400w 3Kw 24v system can't get enough solar while I'm there, then why the hell did I waste all the money making it happen?

wow, I am so late to the party. Nah my sea faring brother. If you are still looking for wind I'd say do not loose hope.

I mean I am guessing on your voyages you get brutal wind So that must be inspiring

 

[brandnewb]

I must admit though that it is not easy. And it will become BIG before you can show off any produce

 

[Rednecktek]

Well, I've given up on it for here at least. According to the weather station, my wind speeds are 0Mph or 22Mph, but the only time it's anything else is when it's briefly going FROM 0 TO 22 and back again. That's not going to accomplish anything.

 

[Zwy]

not making excuses but 60mph are WHOLE GALE FORCE winds and the NWS says at 60mph "Considerable structural damage occurs, especially on roofs. Small trees may be blown over and uprooted." ... so no surprise your wind turbine was damaged ... sounds like he did not have a braking system installed ...then again .... i have seen solar panels completely destroyed at 20 mph ...

I don't think the cheap Amazon windcharger my cousin purchased for his chicken coop even has a brake.

I know this guy, his voice is quite familar. This is my brother's windcharger.