Wind and Solar

[Sunking]

What I have noticed is a huge drop in solar power, I am now getting orange light on regulator which has got me looking for another way to keep the batts alive during winter months.

You need more solar panels. Battery systems have to be designed for worse case which is winter or the month of December. If you design for summer months, your system dies in winter and you go dark. So if you think it is bad now, wait till November, December, and January.

[Kimba]

Hi Kimba,

Finally managed to find the Stansted airport on Weather Underground. You do live in a windy place!

Wind at rooftop level would be less than indicated and I believe your choice for an additional panel is your best bet.

A HAWT on a tall tower in your area just might work out well.

Russ

Just took this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMHtO2aMskU

I was planning on mounting it on the roof of my canopy.

What I have noticed is a huge drop in solar power, I am now getting orange light on regulator which has got me looking for another way to keep the batts alive during winter months.

[russ]

Hi Kimba,

Finally managed to find the Stansted airport on Weather Underground. You do live in a windy place!

Wind at rooftop level would be less than indicated and I believe your choice for an additional panel is your best bet.

A HAWT on a tall tower in your area just might work out well.

Russ

[Kimba]

[QUOTE=MarineLiner;13350]

[Kimba]

Hi Kimba,

A quote from the manual, 'Produces 12V up to 4amp ( 50 watts) in a 35 mph breeze'.

Second quote from the sales site, 'Effective with wind speed of 8 - 10m/s'. (say 20 mph)

A 35 mph wind is not a breeze - it is a serious storm. A 20 mph wind just blew your hat clean away into the next county.

If the unit starts up with a wind speed of 8-10 m/s I doubt you will ever get any production out of the unit. It is an extremely expensive toy at almost 300 USD.

Ok I feel I should not buy this unit as the wind here is not constant enough, right now its blowing 28km and that is quite an average but it's on and off.

Thanks a lot guys for the wakeup call, I shall invest in more solar panels.

[russ]

Hi Kimba,

A quote from the manual, 'Produces 12V up to 4amp ( 50 watts) in a 35 mph breeze'.

Second quote from the sales site, 'Effective with wind speed of 8 - 10m/s'. (say 20 mph)

A 35 mph wind is not a breeze - it is a serious storm. A 20 mph wind just blew your hat clean away into the next county.

If the unit starts up with a wind speed of 8-10 m/s I doubt you will ever get any production out of the unit. It is an extremely expensive toy at almost 300 USD.

[Mike90250]

Unless you have to tie your hat on, each time you go outdoors, you generally DO NOT have enough wind to be useful .

This is how to tell if you have usable wind.

[MarineLiner]

I do get a decent amount of wind where I live, the min for that product is quite common.

[Kimba]

Hi guys thanks for replys.

The website selling it is:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=396269

I do get a decent amount of wind where I live, the min for that product is quite common.

Pdf manual:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/media/pdfs/N91HX_%20manual.pdf

[russ]

What is the web site for the turbine? I will look at it.

1) Normally mfgs call for rated production at 12 m/s wind speed or higher which very very few places have
2) A small turbine like this they often tell you can be mounted on the house which to total BS - the wind available at roof elevation is very much reduced from higher up.
3) Mounting any rotating equipment on a roof is something a structure is not designed for - chances of vibration problems are high like say 99%
4) Like Mike pointed out, the potential for a direct connection to the batteries is an out & out lie

Russ

[Mike90250]

I thnk you need to look for a more reputable turbine:

There is no need to use a charge controller when charging the battery. The battery can be connected directly to the battery terminal of the Wind generator for charging. When the battery is fully charged, the generator will automatically cut off the power to battery and the display will go out.

is bogus, and will soon ruin your batteries, AFIK.

Unless you have to tie your hat on, each time you go outdoors, you generally DO NOT have enough wind to be usefull.

[Kimba]

I think its time to add a back up to get me through the winter months, my needs are to maintain the health of the batteries through out winter, so as per my other post my specs at the moment are:

160watts solar panel and 2x75 amp batts.

I was thinking to add a 50W Telescopic Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, as above its role will be say like a trickle charger during winter:

pic:

http://images.maplin.co.uk/full/n91hx.jpg

I was thinking to connect it to the plus on one of the batts and the neg on the other is this correct, and is there any reason wind and solar can't be connected.

Voltage output: DC 12-16V
Current output: 4A maximum



Edit added some info from the site:

There is no need to use a charge controller when charging the battery. The battery can be connected directly to the battery terminal of the Wind generator for charging. When the battery is fully charged, the generator will automatically cut off the power to battery and the display will go out.

Thanks.