Wind turbine dump *novice alert*

[Salisburytree]

hello to whom may be reading this,

I'm very new to this renewable energy world.

I have myself a tropical house which is heated via means of a climate battery and and an electric fan heater. I have recently purchased a 400 watt wind turbine with a hybrid charge controller (will be looking to add a solar panel in the future). Also i have 3x 100ah leisure batteries.

My fan heater is 400 watts ac , my ideal is for the turbine to power my heater which runs at a cold spell 24/7 and when the weather is mild it kicks in at night for approximately 5-6 hours total . I also run a 25 watt inline fan for my climate battery. This runs a total of 6-8 hours in the day and night.

I think I get the idea of the setup... turbine to charge controller - charge controller to battery bank - batteries to inverter - then off to my load (heater and fan)

I understand the turbine needs a dump so if my batteries are full the excess power goes somewhere and gives the turbine resistance. Now I dont mind my heater running more than required as its only set at minimum temperatures and can be plenty warmer with no damage being done, actually the warmer the better!

So im wondering for a dump can I hook up an inverter into a second fan heater of equivalent wattage? This wouldn't cause any harm to the 600 watt inverter and work as a sufficient dump?


Sorry that was very long winded, I was trying to cover as much ground to save questions!

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[MisterSandals]

So im wondering for a dump can I hook up an inverter into a second fan heater of equivalent wattage? This wouldn't cause any harm to the 600 watt inverter and work as a sufficient dump?

If you could find a 12V heater, that would greatly simplify this dump load.

Introducing an inverter would be high on my list of things to avoid.

 

[Salisburytree]

Trying to find a powerful 12v fan heater isn't proving so easy as that was my first thought. They seems to max out around 200 watts. Id need atleast the 400 watt to match the turbine?

 

[MisterSandals]

Id need atleast the 400 watt to match the turbine?

I think wind turbines have WILDLY exaggerated output. If you actually achieved 200W output, that would be astonishing.

Which turbine do you have (or are considering)?

 

[OzSolar]

What's a climate battery?

Sadly you'll have zero chance of reliably heating your house with a 400 watt wind turbine for a few reasons.
1) A 400 watt wind turbine will rarely as in seconds a year produce 400 watts and will spend most of its time making zero power
2) 400 watts isn't much heat

Maybe I don't quite get what you're trying to do plus you did offer *novice alert*

If you still want to proceed take a look at something like this load controller. You need to learn about ohm's and watts laws then you can choose an appropriate load to hook up to it.

 

[Salisburytree]

I think wind turbines have WILDLY exaggerated output. If you actually achieved 200W output, that would be astonishing.

Which turbine do you have (or are considering)?

Yes I had a feeling that might might be the case, I guess having a dump load at 400 watt is for that very rare occasion we have crazy strong wind the its running flat. I should have added to my first post, I live in a windy valley so hopefully I can achieve atleast 200-300 watts. Might just need two turbines!

 

[pollenface]

I made a brake instead of using a dump load, it requires 2x automotive relays to short the 3 phases together and a voltage sensing gadget to trigger the relays.

Most cheap wind turbine controllers will already have a brake.

 

[Salisburytree]

I made a brake instead of using a dump load, it requires 2x automotive relays to short the 3 phases together and a voltage sensing gadget to trigger the relays.

Most cheap wind turbine controllers will already have a brake.

I think mines certainly on the cheap side, it came with the turbine.
Not too sure if it has the braking capability?

 

[pollenface]

you can see it written on the label in your picture

 

[MisterSandals]

So im wondering for a dump can I hook up an inverter into a second fan heater of equivalent wattage?

Going back to the top, is your primary goal to "use" the dump load to heat or something useful or to simply dump the load (or brake) as easy as possible?

Braking sounds like a great way to control your turbine and prevent damage.

Super simple dump load would we water heater element in a bucket (barrel?) of water. There are other easy ways to waste power.

Using the dump load to heat or anything requires a more complex solution.

What is your preference/goal?

 

[Salisburytree]

Ok I see wind braking voltage. Can I presume when the battery hits 14.5v the charge controller will the brake the turbine?

 

[Salisburytree]

Going back to the top, is your primary goal to "use" the dump load to heat or something useful or to simply dump the load (or brake) as easy as possible?

Braking sounds like a great way to control your turbine and prevent damage.

Super simple dump load would we water heater element in a bucket (barrel?) of water. There are other easy ways to waste power.

Using the dump load to heat or anything requires a more complex solution.

What is your preference/goal?

Id be happy with either braking or dumping into an element for water heating

 

[pollenface]

Ok I see wind braking voltage. Can I presume when the battery hits 14.5v the charge controller will the brake the turbine?

I would presume so.

 

[Dona40]

I think the way that the Chinese rate their wind turbines is they measure the output in hurricane winds with no brake and record the figures right before it blows apart. I bought a 400 Watt turbine a couple years ago to play with and have never seen even half the rated output.

 

[pollenface]

Most I ever saw from my Chinese 400watter was 221w in stormy conditions.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

Most I ever saw from my Chinese 400watter was 221w in stormy conditions.

I saw 256w in 30-50 mph gusts.

 

[OzSolar]

At the end of the day (or month or year) the crux of the issue is that one really needs to understand the difference between power (watts) and energy (watt hours). I'm not telling anyone already here something they don't already know but 250 watts for a few seconds here and there adds up to pretty much zero usable energy at the end of the month.

I so wish people would set up energy datalogging on thier wind turbines. Seriously, I think I would be willing to loan a Victron Smart Shunt and a GX LTE cellular modem to anyone who was willing to set it up on thier turbine. Certain conditions would apply of course.

 

[rhino]

At the end of the day (or month or year) the crux of the issue is that one really needs to understand the difference between power (watts) and energy (watt hours). I'm not telling anyone already here something they don't already know but 250 watts for a few seconds here and there adds up to pretty much zero usable energy at the end of the month.

I so wish people would set up energy datalogging on thier wind turbines. Seriously, I think I would be willing to loan a Victron Smart Shunt and a GX LTE cellular modem to anyone who was willing to set it up on thier turbine.

Oh, I had data logging until the turbine bearings disintegrated

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

At the end of the day (or month or year) the crux of the issue is that one really needs to understand the difference between power (watts) and energy (watt hours). I'm not telling anyone already here something they don't already know but 250 watts for a few seconds here and there adds up to pretty much zero usable energy at the end of the month.

I so wish people would set up energy datalogging on thier wind turbines. Seriously, I think I would be willing to loan a Victron Smart Shunt and a GX LTE cellular modem to anyone who was willing to set it up on thier turbine. Certain conditions would apply of course.

I agree 100%
Food for thought: My micro turbine generated. 6.2kwh 01-10-23 to 02-10-23. That is 8.6w/hx24. Not much. But it is 8.6, 24 hours a day, which is infinitely more than all solar panels on earth. Considering power generation during January in the northern hemisphere is maybe 4-5 hours on clear days that is around 40 w/h. Which is still not much.
Secondary "but"..., that also is some percentage of 200w/h of storage because it was generated when batteries would be needed otherwise.
Yes. I know it is a toy. But a real 1kw turbine (Hurricane wind power) with some 5' blades and a dump load going to the hot tub would be sweet.

 

[pollenface]

At the end of the day (or month or year) the crux of the issue is that one really needs to understand the difference between power (watts) and energy (watt hours). I'm not telling anyone already here something they don't already know but 250 watts for a few seconds here and there adds up to pretty much zero usable energy at the end of the month.

I so wish people would set up energy datalogging on thier wind turbines. Seriously, I think I would be willing to loan a Victron Smart Shunt and a GX LTE cellular modem to anyone who was willing to set it up on thier turbine. Certain conditions would apply of course.

I made about 10wh in 4 months with mine. I lived in an area which would catch gusts here and there but get a lot of turbulence.

I have a friend who lives near the sea, he had a 700watter and was dump loading through his outdoor lighting almost 24hrs a day with an almost constant sea breeze. His neighbors would query why his patio lights were on all the time.

At the end of the day it was my toddler who got the most excitement out of my turbine when he would see the blades spinning up. My advice to anyone on a budget is to buy another battery if you need more juice to get you through the night. If you're not on a budget and can't get the idea out of your head, just do it, it's your journey and/or learning experience