I am trying to learn about wind turbines and make a purchase of $300 or less. I would like to get the best bang for my buck. I already have some things I might be able to use like solar charge controllers and other electrical supplies that I have purchased and have not yet put into use. I would like advice on buying my first wind turbine. here are two I am considering.
wanting to purchase a small wind turbine
- Thread starter RLloyd
- Start date
There is physically very little power in small scale wind.
Learn about wind energy generation and turbines FIRST, then maaayyyybbbbeeee you will find that you are one of the of the very few to be in a proper location to benefit from wind power. Search these forums first for lots of threads to learn from. Do a web search for Hugh Piggot who had a great website and books on wind power.
Both your links are to junk, toy scam type turbines. Wind is quite violent in the long term and at the CONSISTENT wind speeds required for usable power. You will also need the proper landscape and a 50+ foot high tower as either a lattice that you can climb or a pole that can tilt to ground to maintain it. Both can be very expensive. No fun climbing 50 foot towers with tools and parts or trying to get a problem turbine to the ground and back up again.
Buy more solar panels which is much less expensive and trouble free in comparison.
I find it more effective to always search forums first, as most questions have usually been asked and answered already and do not need repeating. Then you will have more knowledge to ask for specific help.
Learn about wind energy generation and turbines FIRST, then maaayyyybbbbeeee you will find that you are one of the of the very few to be in a proper location to benefit from wind power. Search these forums first for lots of threads to learn from. Do a web search for Hugh Piggot who had a great website and books on wind power.
Both your links are to junk, toy scam type turbines. Wind is quite violent in the long term and at the CONSISTENT wind speeds required for usable power. You will also need the proper landscape and a 50+ foot high tower as either a lattice that you can climb or a pole that can tilt to ground to maintain it. Both can be very expensive. No fun climbing 50 foot towers with tools and parts or trying to get a problem turbine to the ground and back up again.
Buy more solar panels which is much less expensive and trouble free in comparison.
I find it more effective to always search forums first, as most questions have usually been asked and answered already and do not need repeating. Then you will have more knowledge to ask for specific help.
You might think I am crazy, but my wind turbine intent is only for extreme circumstances. like for some reason we go into a new ice age, polar shift or some crazy reason I am still alive with little sun and have not lost my wind turbine, batteries and lightbulbs I will still be able to see in the dark. I do not need to have it for everyday use at the moment, but it would be nice to be able to charge a battery over a period of a month or so. Is battery charging not realistic with a small wind turbine?
robby
Photon Vampire
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- May 1, 2021
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Don't waste your money!
You need lots of wind and height and when the wind is right it will work but only for a short period of weeks or maybe months.
The cheap ones are just not dependable, it will constantly need parts and repairs and they can become horribly noisy when they are having bearing issues. You will be begging for darkness when it is screeching at night!
You need lots of wind and height and when the wind is right it will work but only for a short period of weeks or maybe months.
The cheap ones are just not dependable, it will constantly need parts and repairs and they can become horribly noisy when they are having bearing issues. You will be begging for darkness when it is screeching at night!
No. The law of physics are against it. Just like the law of gravity won't let you fly without a lot of money thrown at it as in extra power sources as and aid or the force against gravity.
Small low to the ground wind turbines produce very little power as there is very little wind power near the ground. As well, there is so much turbulence and very brief wind gusts, that to the human brain seems like power, but is not enough power to the science or the physics.
You need SUSTAINED constant wind, not brief gusts of 1-30 seconds. You need big blades, a high tower, a big turbine. I've read here that $10,000 is a start point IF you have a suitable location.
But you can read for yourself, though it seems that you don't want to know. Let us know how your experience works out for you.
Small low to the ground wind turbines produce very little power as there is very little wind power near the ground. As well, there is so much turbulence and very brief wind gusts, that to the human brain seems like power, but is not enough power to the science or the physics.
You need SUSTAINED constant wind, not brief gusts of 1-30 seconds. You need big blades, a high tower, a big turbine. I've read here that $10,000 is a start point IF you have a suitable location.
But you can read for yourself, though it seems that you don't want to know. Let us know how your experience works out for you.
Thank you, you were very coherent in explaining yourself. It might be better for me to spend the money on candles or lamp oil. rather than spend it on the snake oil wind turbine
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
Those appear to be a clone of the Primus which used to be known as the Air403. Which is actually a good thing but still it's not that good.
For wind it's all about energy production. From painful experience I will offer that you need to apply at least a 50% discount to this chart when making a decision.
EG: your site averages 13 mph and you can actually get the turbine up high enough into clean air to capture that (you can't) you might get ~20 kWh on the best months. Most months you'll be lucky to 10 kWh and you'll get most of it in a two-to-four-day period which you can never predict.
For wind it's all about energy production. From painful experience I will offer that you need to apply at least a 50% discount to this chart when making a decision.
EG: your site averages 13 mph and you can actually get the turbine up high enough into clean air to capture that (you can't) you might get ~20 kWh on the best months. Most months you'll be lucky to 10 kWh and you'll get most of it in a two-to-four-day period which you can never predict.
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
Eh... we're all a bit crazy.
Mark this day.... the forum's chief hater of wind turbines is going to say that at that price point there's no harm in trying either of them as long you go into it with zero expectations. You will likely have least 3x's that cost of the turbine by the time you get it installed with wiring and piping for a tower. Don't put it on your house for sure. Have fun and report back!
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
They might be junk but at least you can buy one. Plus it's copy of a turbine that has proven to make power, not much albeit, and last for years. No doubt that it's probably not worth the cardboard box they ship it in.
Now this is a scam turbine. Harmony Wind Turbines. It's just another variation on the long line of VAWT's that are bird friendly, don't need expensive towers, etc. I've been watching them for somewhere around 4 years. Yet to produce a single turbine. They spend more time talking about thier next round of financing then they do making a product.
I recently watched a YouTube video where they fumbled around trying to explain why they couldn't do a KickStarter campaign and finally admitted they couldn't do one because they have no intention of ever delivering a product to anyone.
Because we have some property on a hill, I decided to buy a cheap (300.00) turbine to play with. It was rated @ 400 Watts but never have seen it. Its mounted a top a shed and prevailing winds come right up the roof slop so it gets pretty high speed. The best I could get was about 4 amps into a 12 volt battery bank. 50 Watts roughly. Problem is, when it started making some real power the brake would come on. Didn't take long for the (supplied china) controller to fail. I bought a new one and it seems to be working better but still acts like it's braking before it should. We get wind most evenings so it's a good way to charge battery's at night for the sheds inverter but still trying to decide if it's worth the effort to get something to tie into my EG4's
I bought two on clearance from northern tools...
You want them?
You want them?
Nah, The mounting of them and listening to the helos landing all the time, (I do love helicopters though) gets a bit annoying when you're just trying to enjoy the evening. Revisiting this gave me an idea though. Use the windmill to charge battery's to run an inverter to feed though a bridge rectifier for the 90+ volts needed and input it to the solar input on one of the EG4-6500 EX inverters. And then, all of that heat created by the wasted energy could keep the mechanical shed warm.
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