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Wind Turbine questions

TankFish

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Joined
Feb 2, 2021
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67
Hello everyone!!

I have been researching to add wind turbines to my current solar setup. I'm pretty good on the solar side, but want some love at night and some additional production in the day. We are in a fairly windy area. Nothing crazy, but I get winds that throw my awning around at night, and I want to harvest it, since I have to deal with the noise in my RV.

I currently have 3 24v lifepo4 batteries I built with overkill BMS'. I have 6 24v 200w panels in Series to 48v and 4 48v 320w panels. I have a Victron quattro 5k 48v. I have a Victron 250/100 on my 320w panels and 100/50 on my 200w. I know thats well over what I need, but I had the 250/100 from my last build.

The main question here is the one I have searched for and have seen multiple different yes and no's. I'm going to just guess it has to do with equipment capabilities. Can I just tie wind turbines into my current Solar or do you have to use the wind charge controllers?

If you can just wire them into your panels, does any one have a source that sells turbines without controllers? Not looking for a lot. Maybe start with one or two, see if it's worth it and go from there.

Thanks guys!
 

Love at night is a good thing but wind is a bad place to find it, she's way more trouble than she's worth. Comb all of the posts in the wind sub forum and I think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone sharing a success story.

What turbine are you thinking about? Some require dump loads for protection when the batteries are full. Others can free spin and when they do they are so loud you'll think a jet is crashing.

Side note: How does one get 48v from three 24v batteries?
 
Well, after reading that I am completely discouraged from them. I wanted to use the little spots I had left on my rv's roof (where I can't fit more panels) but now I think I'll just keep it as is. Thanks for the info!

Mistyped, it's a 24v quattro. Apologies.
 
Well, after reading that I am completely discouraged from them. I wanted to use the little spots I had left on my rv's roof (where I can't fit more panels) but now I think I'll just keep it as is. Thanks for the info!

Mistyped, it's a 24v quattro. Apologies.
Wise decision. Sorry that you had to hear from me. Yep, it just stinks that small wind will never love us as much as we love her. She (or whatever she identifies as...) will eternally continue to be quite the temptress luring well intentioned lovers to to thier doom.
 
I've gone through two 1kW turbines, both on 100ft tower. They were nice when they were working but they did not last long unfortunately. They are a mechanical system with moving parts compared to a PV panel with no moving parts.. which will last longer? :) If I were to really want to pursue it further I would go with a 10kW turbine which is where I believe they are built a lot better than the small turbines but then you are looking at $30k - $40k or more.
 
I've gone through two 1kW turbines, both on 100ft tower. They were nice when they were working but they did not last long unfortunately. They are a mechanical system with moving parts compared to a PV panel with no moving parts.. which will last longer? :) If I were to really want to pursue it further I would go with a 10kW turbine which is where I believe they are built a lot better than the small turbines but then you are looking at $30k - $40k or more.
Great job on using a 100' tower! What turbine were you using?

Last I paid any attention a new Bergey 10kW with tower will set you back at least $60k and would be lucky to produce more than 10,000 kWH per year at a pretty windy site.

A ~7kW PV system for $15k or less would would easily out produce that Bergey and would still be working just fine in 20 years.

Used Bergey 10kW's turbines pop up on eBay with some frequency. In fact there's two there right now but they are still more than 7kW of PV.

If I ever fiddle with wind again it will be to build one of Hugh Pigott's machines.
 
I've gone through two 1kW turbines, both on 100ft tower. They were nice when they were working but they did not last long unfortunately. They are a mechanical system with moving parts compared to a PV panel with no moving parts.. which will last longer? :) If I were to really want to pursue it further I would go with a 10kW turbine which is where I believe they are built a lot better than the small turbines but then you are looking at $30k - $40k or more.
How many solar panels could be mounted on a 100 foot tower?
I'm not trying to be stupid & suggest surrounding the tower from top to bottom with panels.

I have seen one or two panels on towers but I wonder if it could work for folks with shading issues.
 
I went through an African Windpower turbine and a Kestrel e300i. The Kestrel was significantly higher quality than the African Windpower one but still failed after only couple years. The blades won't turn now because it is grinding inside the alternator head and entire blade system wobbles in there. Did not open it up to see what happened.
How many solar panels could be mounted on a 100 foot tower?
Maybe one? The wind resistance would be too great for the design of the tower to add too much surface area.
 
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