tr3bjockey
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2020
- Messages
- 5
I live in an area where if the winds kick up to over 40mph, the power company shuts off power to prevent fires. Last time this happened we were without power for 24 hours straight. I am not allowed to use a noisy generator. (which most of you would suggest I use instead of going to the trouble of building a wind power system) and I'm not allowed to have a wind turbine permanently attached to the property.
1. I'm planning to power a fridge. The most continuous power the fridge uses is 700 watts during the defrost cycle. There's probably a 1200 watt burst for less than a second to start the fridge conpressor, but after that it only uses up maybe 70-200 watts. (very efficient multi-speed compressor). I've clocked the energy usage of my fridge for 24 hours at less than 400 watt/hours.
2. I would also need to built a battery bank that can store at least 200 watt/hours but combined with an inverter that can temporarily feed 1500 watt bursts peaks and batteries that could also handle that.
3. As a backup, in case there's no wind and I can travel for 10 minutes to a relative's house that does have power, I would like to be able to charge my battery pack in 30 minutes minimum, 15 minutes optimally.
4. I need a wind generator matched with the batteries that over a 4-8 hours span of time will be able to keep my fridge running. I prefer not to use a dump load an maybe it's possible not to have to use a dump load if my batteries stay 50% charged. This wind generator would need to be able to handle gusts of 60mph, either by design that the spin rate for self destruction is below what a 60mph wind can produce. The other option is have a constant load that keep the wind generator from self destructing.
My original thought was that I could use an LTO battery bank. These banks are safe in case of overcharge or overload and I don't have to worry about fire or explosion. I would not need a dump load since these batteries can accept large C rates that normally would get sent to a dump load. These batteries are also able to withstand large current draws (for fridge compressor startup). I would need to keep the battery state at 80% or less and this would be easy to do by also plugging in a 160 watt fan to lower the state of charge if need be. Also being LTO, I should be able to drive somewhere where there is an electrical plug that I can charge the batteries at. Electricity here is 110-120 volts, 15AMP max.
Some thoughts about charging
I have a 12V 15amp power supply. If I could interface this with a charge/wind controller for On Grid charging, that would save me money in having to buy a charger. This would also mean that I would have to keep the battery series configuration below 12 volt for off grid charging? If it's 80-90% charge at 12 volt, I would be okay with this. I assume that a charge controller could push the voltage higher with it's internal step up transformer to top of the batteries at a lower charge rate due to voltage to amperage inefficiencies.
Some thoughts about parts.
Would a used high amperage alternator be cheaper than the generator made for windmills?
Are there plans or videos on how to build a wind generator that could withstand 60mph gusts? Could designs be modified to remove vanes, change vane angle to be less efficient and produce less rotation? Are there some types of designs that can withstand high winds vs. low wind constant use?
I also don't have much storage space in garage and would like to keep the wind generator modular so that it can be easily taken apart and rebuilt.
Thank you!
1. I'm planning to power a fridge. The most continuous power the fridge uses is 700 watts during the defrost cycle. There's probably a 1200 watt burst for less than a second to start the fridge conpressor, but after that it only uses up maybe 70-200 watts. (very efficient multi-speed compressor). I've clocked the energy usage of my fridge for 24 hours at less than 400 watt/hours.
2. I would also need to built a battery bank that can store at least 200 watt/hours but combined with an inverter that can temporarily feed 1500 watt bursts peaks and batteries that could also handle that.
3. As a backup, in case there's no wind and I can travel for 10 minutes to a relative's house that does have power, I would like to be able to charge my battery pack in 30 minutes minimum, 15 minutes optimally.
4. I need a wind generator matched with the batteries that over a 4-8 hours span of time will be able to keep my fridge running. I prefer not to use a dump load an maybe it's possible not to have to use a dump load if my batteries stay 50% charged. This wind generator would need to be able to handle gusts of 60mph, either by design that the spin rate for self destruction is below what a 60mph wind can produce. The other option is have a constant load that keep the wind generator from self destructing.
My original thought was that I could use an LTO battery bank. These banks are safe in case of overcharge or overload and I don't have to worry about fire or explosion. I would not need a dump load since these batteries can accept large C rates that normally would get sent to a dump load. These batteries are also able to withstand large current draws (for fridge compressor startup). I would need to keep the battery state at 80% or less and this would be easy to do by also plugging in a 160 watt fan to lower the state of charge if need be. Also being LTO, I should be able to drive somewhere where there is an electrical plug that I can charge the batteries at. Electricity here is 110-120 volts, 15AMP max.
Some thoughts about charging
I have a 12V 15amp power supply. If I could interface this with a charge/wind controller for On Grid charging, that would save me money in having to buy a charger. This would also mean that I would have to keep the battery series configuration below 12 volt for off grid charging? If it's 80-90% charge at 12 volt, I would be okay with this. I assume that a charge controller could push the voltage higher with it's internal step up transformer to top of the batteries at a lower charge rate due to voltage to amperage inefficiencies.
Some thoughts about parts.
Would a used high amperage alternator be cheaper than the generator made for windmills?
Are there plans or videos on how to build a wind generator that could withstand 60mph gusts? Could designs be modified to remove vanes, change vane angle to be less efficient and produce less rotation? Are there some types of designs that can withstand high winds vs. low wind constant use?
I also don't have much storage space in garage and would like to keep the wind generator modular so that it can be easily taken apart and rebuilt.
Thank you!
