We need you Will

[Deleted member 1888]

Would Will be willing to make some vids on how to set up home wind turbines. I have been looking online and the info available is limited and not well explained. I have had about a week of cloudy days and my solar is struggling to keep up. If I could help it out with wind when the sun is down it could be the best of both worlds.

 

[Deleted member 1888]

Its sad to see that none is interested in wind power, it could be a counterpart of solar.

 

[nwillitts]

i have a 600 watt wind turbine.been sitting in storage for 6 years.brand new.
will incorporate it into system some time in the future.

 

[Stupid Monkey]

small scale is noisy and inefficient, it comes down to physics

Remember the Power In The Wind Equation:
P = Power (Watts) ρ = Air Density (about 1.225 kg/m3 at sea level) A = Swept Area of Blades (m2 ) V = Velocity of the wind .

A = pi R2 - so you have a radius squared in the equation, most of the amazon turbines anything sub 3000w basically will be as good as junk.

Get a 3kw, 75 feet in the air and yes, wind power is awesome! But get a 600w on your shed and its bollocks.

 

[Stupid Monkey]

46 - 112inch power comparison (assuming at more than twice the height of any buildings/trees/structures around, highlighted typical wind speeds (but check your area's expected wind speeds, some places in the world have awesome wind potential (generally high plains)

 

[mtt04]

I have two out 7 windmills left on my remote forestry camps.
5 Self Destructed or just simply puked.
Another forestry guy uses thermodyne ones and has success from a reliability standpoint. But up here you need braking due to wind speeds and who the hell is gonna go into the woods to hit a switch.

In Canada here they freeze up and spin and self destruct if they are not top notch quality.
The best I ever got was some top up of the batteries.
It is simply better imho to add battary capacity and panels.
It simply works.

The maintenace on those darn things was incredible.
Crap was breaking all the time.
I think the crows use the two still up as perches.
They are a historical testament to an idea gone stupid.
I tied them dow for the crows
They like them

 

[Deleted member 1888]

I have two out 7 windmills left on my remote forestry camps.
5 Self Destructed or just simply puked.
Another forestry guy uses thermodyne ones and has success from a reliability standpoint. But up here you need braking due to wind speeds and who the hell is gonna go into the woods to hit a switch.

In Canada here they freeze up and spin and self destruct if they are not top notch quality.
The best I ever got was some top up of the batteries.
It is simply better imho to add battary capacity and panels.
It simply works.

The maintenace on those darn things was incredible.
Crap was breaking all the time.
I think the crows use the two still up as perches.
They are a historical testament to an idea gone stupid.
I tied them dow for the crows
They like them

That is disappointing I was hoping wind could make up for the down time at night with solar.

 

[Deleted member 783]

Will has an HOA where he lives, so it seems unlikely that he would be able to use wind power. I would really like to use a turbine as well, but the cost and efficiencies have me discouraged.

 

[brianlowe]

I'm just starting out and I realize that replenishing the 1.5kWh I expect to consume each day will need more solar panels than I can afford. At this time of year my location might get a couple of hours of sun on a good day (and we've had very few good days over the last few months), so I'd need loads of panels if that was the only source, but wind is pretty consistent. I drew the line at 2.2kW on panels and spent a little on a 600W wind turbine. I'm hoping that it will supply enough power throughout the day (and night) to avoid needing to fire up the backup generator.

Nothing's set up yet, but I'll report back anything remarkable.

 

[Deleted member 783]

I'm just starting out and I realize that replenishing the 1.5kWh I expect to consume each day will need more solar panels than I can afford. At this time of year my location might get a couple of hours of sun on a good day (and we've had very few good days over the last few months), so I'd need loads of panels if that was the only source, but wind is pretty consistent. I drew the line at 2.2kW on panels and spent a little on a 600W wind turbine. I'm hoping that it will supply enough power throughout the day (and night) to avoid needing to fire up the backup generator.

Nothing's set up yet, but I'll report back anything remarkable.

Please do report back.

 

[ghostwriter66]

Its sad to see that none is interested in wind power, it could be a counterpart of solar.

SOOO what Will is to solar -- John Daniels is to Wind Turbine ... here is just one of his videos ..

He has tons more videos ...

We have a couple of turbines set up at our monitoring outstations ... bigger is better .. bigger is less noisy .. bigger requires less maintenance ... EBAY has allot of BAD turbines and John Daniel has been able to tell us exactly what to get ... his videos are excellent .. and he will answer questions ...

BUT yes -- we have some 500 and 800 watt wind turbines set up in south Texas and they run almost all the time -- and between the solar panels and the wind turbines i don't think we have ever dropped below 100% SOC on a 800aH rack of batteries ....

Speaking of bad eBay stuff -- Stay away from any video or product with or from the word Missouri in it ... you will see what i mean ... John is 100% correct on that ...

 

[Deleted member 783]

SOOO what Will is to solar -- John Daniels is to Wind Turbine ... here is just one of his videos ..

He has tons more videos ...

We have a couple of turbines set up at our monitoring outstations ... bigger is better .. bigger is less noisy .. bigger requires less maintenance ... EBAY has allot of BAD turbines and John Daniel has been able to tell us exactly what to get ... his videos are excellent .. and he will answer questions ...

BUT yes -- we have some 500 and 800 watt wind turbines set up in south Texas and they run almost all the time -- and between the solar panels and the wind turbines i don't think we have ever dropped below 100% SOC on a 800aH rack of batteries ....

Speaking of bad eBay stuff -- Stay away from any video or product with or from the word Missouri in it ... you will see what i mean ... John is 100% correct on that ...

Good conceptual info, but not many details. I'll have to check out his other videos...after I get some dramamine

 

[mtt04]

SOOO what Will is to solar -- John Daniels is to Wind Turbine ... here is just one of his videos ..

He has tons more videos ...

We have a couple of turbines set up at our monitoring outstations ... bigger is better .. bigger is less noisy .. bigger requires less maintenance ... EBAY has allot of BAD turbines and John Daniel has been able to tell us exactly what to get ... his videos are excellent .. and he will answer questions ...

BUT yes -- we have some 500 and 800 watt wind turbines set up in south Texas and they run almost all the time -- and between the solar panels and the wind turbines i don't think we have ever dropped below 100% SOC on a 800aH rack of batteries ....

Speaking of bad eBay stuff -- Stay away from any video or product with or from the word Missouri in it ... you will see what i mean ... John is 100% correct on that ...

Yeah John is probably the guru on this stuff. My neighbor as I mentioned has a couple thermodynes and they have held up after a year.
I think in lower latitudes they probably really kick butt.
The freezing rain we get makes them unbalanced and they self destruct.
I have first hand knowledge of this. I have a beautiful 1 bladed (formerly 4 blade one) that I stare at everytime I come up hunting.
My guys laugh at me but it just a great reminder that half the crap they sell on the Internet is just taht - Crap!
However, my neighbor used Johns recommendation to try a couple and they seem to hold up so far.
But....
He has had to climb up on his camp roof several times to free them up from Ice.
One thing he says is that they seem to produce power but he isn't sure whether or not they actually charge the batteries.
Again, we don't geek out on these things so I can't say for sure whether they actually work.
You seem to have had success so thats great.

 

[brianlowe]

Good conceptual info, but not many details. I'll have to check out his other videos...after I get some dramamine

Yes, the camera work in his vids does make you dizzy sometimes. Lots his vids get comments about motion sickness and suggestions for steady-cam use or even a static camera, but he seems to like it the way it is. Good info though, so maybe worth the nausea.

 

[ghostwriter66]

Yeah John is probably the guru on this stuff. My neighbor as I mentioned has a couple thermodynes and they have held up after a year.
I think in lower latitudes they probably really kick butt.
The freezing rain we get makes them unbalanced and they self destruct.
I have first hand knowledge of this. I have a beautiful 1 bladed (formerly 4 blade one) that I stare at everytime I come up hunting.
My guys laugh at me but it just a great reminder that half the crap they sell on the Internet is just taht - Crap!
However, my neighbor used Johns recommendation to try a couple and they seem to hold up so far.
But....
He has had to climb up on his camp roof several times to free them up from Ice.
One thing he says is that they seem to produce power but he isn't sure whether or not they actually charge the batteries.
Again, we don't geek out on these things so I can't say for sure whether they actually work.
You seem to have had success so thats great.

LOL - ICE is NOT a problem at all for us ... right now in South West Texas the thermometer reads 82 at 1030 in the morning - in the middle of January -- aagghhh ... and looking at the log for a 1000 Watt remote turbine further down the road it says it has generated on avg 275 watts per hour last 24 hours ... so 6600 watts ... rough estimate - with 10 hours of sunlight -- you would need approx. 1700 watts of solar panels to replace that one turbine ..

BUT once again - we rely and trust SOLAR not wind ... Turbines require maintenance - and break - and bigger is always better for both of those ...

PS - and I forgot to say N O I S Y ...

 

[brianlowe]

PS - and I forgot to say N O I S Y ...

Noise would be a problem, so I've opted for a vertical, lantern type turbine, believing the sales material (and some review comments) that this unit is almost silent in normal use.

We'll see.

 

[ghostwriter66]

Noise would be a problem, so I've opted for a vertical, lantern type turbine, believing the sales material (and some review comments) that this unit is almost silent in normal use.

We'll see.

I have seen those in operation and they do look interesting .. i have never played with one though ... as for noise - you may be right ... i think that the difference will be the noise from the damn blades are gone

 

[svetz]

Wind power, in general, is awful... details: see: www.solacity.com/small-wind-turbine-truth/
TL;DR: Most people just don't live in a windy enough area to get power from wind. (Wind maps)

 

[brianlowe]

Most people just don't live in a windy enough area to get power from wind.

Over the last few months I've needed to move some quite heavy stuff around the site to find places where the wind won't move it or knock it over. I'm hoping that's a sign that there's enough wind for this 600W VAWT.

 

[svetz]

I get gusts where that happens too, but my average wind speed is 3-7 mph (seasonal) and AFAIK you want your average well over 12. The states running down the center of the US are pretty good, but even then you'd probably need a 30m tower (if your house is on the top of a hill you might in an ideal spot). You could also get a hand anemometer to see what the local conditions are.