So you built a turbine! How fun! About the only "modern" (~1980 or newer) wind turbines that I heard or saw much positive about were the homebuilt ones, in particular the designs that High Pigott writes books about and puts workshop on. The ARE wind turbines were very interesting but they were only around for a few years (around 2005??) but are long gone now.Yes, I built it two years ago from an F&P motor per instructions from TheBackShed site, 4x3C Star pattern for general 12v or 24v use. As for "usable energy", it feeds a set of 12v AGM 100ah batteries (parallel for now) when the wind blows (like yesterday) and has filled the battery to full given the sounds of the relay clicking the dump load on and off. I also have a PowMr MPPT solar controller (and two dedicated 100w panels) hooked up to the same set of batteries for days when there is little wind available. This system runs a 40w heated water basin in the winter along with the pond bubbler (40w also).
Never heard of infrasound until now. You read that wind turbines can produce this low frequency?I also worry about infrasound that might be a health hazard
Only the really ginormous commercial turbines hundreds of feet high with huge blades that turn very slowly can produce these high amplitude sub audio frequencies.Never heard of infrasound until now. You read that wind turbines can produce this low frequency?
See if you can find a Windrose chart for a location close to you. It will help you determine how many hours per year the wind blows at a certain speed. I just found one for a site in Sweden here. It might take a few minutes to learn how to read them but they are quite powerful tools.However, all I've seen is either way too expensive, or seems to be very low quality. Most are too small. When you read the fine print you'll realize how little power they give in modest winds.
That would be wise, you can probably buy at least 10 years worth of petrol for what you'd spend on a even a cheap wind turbine by the time you got the tower and wire in between. What is your current annual spend on petrol for the generator? (in USD if you don't mind making the conversion for me)For now I'll rely on an over sized solar array in combination with a petrol generator in the winter.
If you have an airport nearby, they will have all the information available.See if you can find a Windrose chart for a location close to you.
You're probably right, perhaps doesn't apply to smaller turbines. Infrasound is a big problem with the big installations here in Sweden. Many residents in nearby areas complain of headaches, etc.Only the really ginormous commercial turbines hundreds of feet high with huge blades that turn very slowly can produce these high amplitude sub audio frequencies.
Anything you could build at home will be much smaller and turn much faster, and any noise produced will be of a higher frequency and of much lower intensity.
Great find, thanks. I'll contact them for the data.See if you can find a Windrose chart for a location close to you. It will help you determine how many hours per year the wind blows at a certain speed. I just found one for a site in Sweden here. It might take a few minutes to learn how to read them but they are quite powerful tools.
I still have to really study them closely but at first glance I can gather that the wind typically comes from the SW and that green, yellow and orange account for least 50%, if not much more, of the graph's area. That means the wind speed was less than 6.5 m/s well over half of the of the time during the period this data was collected. Perhaps even as much as 75% of the time. 8.5 m/s or above doesn't just happen that often. 10m/s is the minimum I've seen most turbines rated at.
Ideally they would have already tabulated the data for you but still this is a good example.
The practical takeaway is that at this site a small wind turbine on a 10M or less tower will spend most of time making almost no energy.
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That would be wise, you can probably buy at least 10 years worth of petrol for what you'd spend on a even a cheap wind turbine by the time you got the tower and wire in between. What is your current annual spend on petrol for the generator? (in USD if you don't mind making the conversion for me)
Please let us know how that experience works out! It would be amazing to learn you had a site with a 8 m/s average at a hub height you can get to. The Global Wind Atlas defaults to a 100m hub height so you might be sure you are selecting 10m and see if what it tells you changes.Great find, thanks. I'll contact them for the data.
I get it, I really do. Sounds like you've got realistic expectations. Look into the home made "brake disc" turbine plans by Hugh Piggott.'I'd rather have it be a backup if something fails, than to be an integral part of my winter experience.
no no no no. wind is not yet to be discarded.This is what people do since it is the simplest and most reliable long term. Install enough solar to cover you over winter and yes you will have more excess in Summer but so what? Much easier and less complicated than dealing with flaky wind turbines that will last only a fraction of the time a solar install will.
I love your input, and please never stop. because that is what our community is built on. But I am not sure we all can fully appreciate what it is you meant.I briefly worked for a long term maker of wind turbines in VT, they started out in the sixties salvaging old Jacobs type 1930s style turbines and eventually started building them including the first turbine near the South Pole. They kept at it and with government funds built winterized turbines for wind/diesel installations that were popular in Alaska to reduce diesel costs. Many of the core group had been around turbines for decades but very few had operating units for their own as they didnt have the time to maintain them. The way to keep a wind turbine running is to maintain it once a year and that means either climbing the pole or dropping the pole and working on it on the ground. Almost all of them switched to solar as it was a lot less work.
BTW on their larger units they had an option to slowly turn the blades, it was represented as means of rotating the blades in place to be inspected but it was a popular option for turbines in visible areas to give the illusion that the turbine was actually running.
Not sure about how many folks are from abroad but the short form is unless you like wasting your money dont buy or install small wind unless you are in the very small minority of locations where it might make sense.I love your input, and please never stop. because that is what our community is built on. But I am not sure we all can fully appreciate what it is you meant.
Perhaps it is a formatting issue or a something lost in translation? Please remember that most of us are from abroad.
Northern Power Systems I assume.BTW on their larger units they had an option to slowly turn the blades, it was represented as means of rotating the blades in place to be inspected but it was a popular option for turbines in visible areas to give the illusion that the turbine was actually running.
Very familiar with all of that. One of my retirements was cleaning up the messes the buffoons made.I worked for the Northern Power when it was a division of Distributed Energy and Wall Street drove it in the ground. They were pushing the Artic grade Northwind 100s real hard onto the market and they were being installed all over the place mostly for PR projects.
I consume around 100 L (22 gallons) of petrol per year for the inverter, relatively little. With Swedish prices that comes to around $200. So money isn't an issue, but the fact that I have to rely on it. It's another part that might break in middle of winter and leave me exposed. I'd rather have it be a backup if something fails, than to be an integral part of my winter experience.