New to wind power, need advise

Phillip · 11-14-12, 06:50 PM

I am new to wind power, but have been tinkering with an ac inverter and battery bank for a few years now. I have one in my house 3000 watt with 5 batteries in my bank currently charging my system with an ac charger and running a few plugs on the main floor of my house. I also have almost the same setup in each of my company e-250 vans. Except the banks are being charged by a 200 amp altenater.
I am currently looking at a wind setup and want to pull a couple of the smaller circuts in pannel box Ie: some plugs and lamps and connect them to a wind powered system.
Namely a
Apollo 650W AC 12V Wind Turbine
+ SolarWind Hybrid RX Charge Controller
for Land or Marine Use
Basicly what I need to know
1. Is this an ok system (best bank for the buck)
2. When I pull the circuts from my pannel.
1a. Most ac inverters have plugs on them, according to code you cannot plug in a house circut to the controller, the system has 3 outputs and I know that ac inverters are to be hooked in to them then the load hooked in accordingly.
3. The only ac inverter I see around that can be hard wired through a pony pannel is the grid tie inverters. I do not plan on feeding the grid. Can I for example hook up the wind system as per instructions and code where applicable. Then feed the grid tie inverter from the controller then into a small pony pannel, then wire up the circuts from the house to the other side of the pannel. Of course there will be disconnects and other things in the circut....I guess what I am trying to do is mimmic the pannel in the house now on a much smaller scale and substitute the power utility company with the wind setup.

As I can see the above Apollo system has what I need and can be expanded.

Thanks from the Newbee

nibs · 01-22-14, 10:11 AM

As a now retired once upon a time maker of about 600 small wind turbines and an aficionado thereof, I recommend that you do not spend your money on a wind turbine unless you live in a particularly windy place. At todays prices, it is very difficult to beat photovoltaic which of course has the advantage of no moving parts.
Tony

WisJim · 08-11-14, 09:05 PM

Remember too, that you need to have your wind turbine 30 feet higher than anything within 500 feet, as a general rule of thumb. And never mount it on a roof or other structure, and it should be 60 to 80 feet up, at a minimum, higher if there is vegetation, trees, hilly ground, buildings, or other obstructions within a quarter mile or so. When you take the height requirements into account, you can see that a small turbine isn't cost effective, because the tower is going to be a large percentage of the installed cost. You need to have a wind turbine up in the WIND, where it is steadier and higher speed, and you just can't do that with a 30 foot tall tower.

PVs are so much cheaper than wind turbines in small system sizes that it really isn't worth considering a wind turbine. I speak from experience, having installed our first wind turbine in 1977 or so, used the wind to power our home for almost 12 years, then moved, taking the turbine along and reinstalling it, and we are still using it, but it wouldn't be cost effective to do that again, with the price of solar electric panels as inexpensive and maintenance free as they are.

philb · 08-12-14, 05:52 AM

Look at your wind charts for your area. You need an average wind of 10 mph if you want to produce meaningful power.
Usually, a mix of sun and wind power does a good job.
Unless you have to have 12 volts for some reason, I would suggest using 48 or 24 volts in the RE system. Since you have a 12 vac wind turbine, you could take the power through a transformer or use a switching power supply to get the voltage higher in order to transport it to the batteries/inverter.

WisJim · 08-12-14, 08:05 AM

Here is a link to a rough map of wind speeds at 30 meters height (over 90 feet but a good minimum height for a wind turbine). WINDExchange: Residential-Scale 30-Meter Wind Maps 10mph is about 4 1/2 m/s, so an area that is yellow or higher speed on the map MIGHT be suitable (any area with less windspeed isn't worth considering for economical energy production). Personally, I would say 12mph or more would be a minimum, and the map s just going to tell you areas where it isn't windy enough, to actually decide if wind power is a good idea for you, you also need to consider terrain, vegetation, and buildings, etc.

johnsol · 11-17-14, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WisJim

Here is a link to a rough map of wind speeds at 30 meters height (over 90 feet but a good minimum height for a wind turbine). WINDExchange: Residential-Scale 30-Meter Wind Maps 10mph is about 4 1/2 m/s, so an area that is yellow or higher speed on the map MIGHT be suitable (any area with less windspeed isn't worth considering for economical energy production). Personally, I would say 12mph or more would be a minimum, and the map s just going to tell you areas where it isn't windy enough, to actually decide if wind power is a good idea for you, you also need to consider terrain, vegetation, and buildings, etc.

Hi, thanks for this url, that was very useful for me .

11-14-12, 06:50 PM	#1
Phillip Lurking Renovator Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Canada Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	New to wind power, need advise I am new to wind power, but have been tinkering with an ac inverter and battery bank for a few years now. I have one in my house 3000 watt with 5 batteries in my bank currently charging my system with an ac charger and running a few plugs on the main floor of my house. I also have almost the same setup in each of my company e-250 vans. Except the banks are being charged by a 200 amp altenater. I am currently looking at a wind setup and want to pull a couple of the smaller circuts in pannel box Ie: some plugs and lamps and connect them to a wind powered system. Namely a Apollo 650W AC 12V Wind Turbine + SolarWind Hybrid RX Charge Controller for Land or Marine Use Basicly what I need to know 1. Is this an ok system (best bank for the buck) 2. When I pull the circuts from my pannel. 1a. Most ac inverters have plugs on them, according to code you cannot plug in a house circut to the controller, the system has 3 outputs and I know that ac inverters are to be hooked in to them then the load hooked in accordingly. 3. The only ac inverter I see around that can be hard wired through a pony pannel is the grid tie inverters. I do not plan on feeding the grid. Can I for example hook up the wind system as per instructions and code where applicable. Then feed the grid tie inverter from the controller then into a small pony pannel, then wire up the circuts from the house to the other side of the pannel. Of course there will be disconnects and other things in the circut....I guess what I am trying to do is mimmic the pannel in the house now on a much smaller scale and substitute the power utility company with the wind setup. As I can see the above Apollo system has what I need and can be expanded. Thanks from the Newbee Last edited by Phillip; 11-14-12 at 08:21 PM.. Reason: info left out

01-22-14, 10:11 AM	#2
nibs Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 206 Thanks: 1 Thanked 18 Times in 17 Posts	As a now retired once upon a time maker of about 600 small wind turbines and an aficionado thereof, I recommend that you do not spend your money on a wind turbine unless you live in a particularly windy place. At todays prices, it is very difficult to beat photovoltaic which of course has the advantage of no moving parts. Tony

08-11-14, 09:05 PM	#3
WisJim Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 42 Thanks: 7 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts	Remember too, that you need to have your wind turbine 30 feet higher than anything within 500 feet, as a general rule of thumb. And never mount it on a roof or other structure, and it should be 60 to 80 feet up, at a minimum, higher if there is vegetation, trees, hilly ground, buildings, or other obstructions within a quarter mile or so. When you take the height requirements into account, you can see that a small turbine isn't cost effective, because the tower is going to be a large percentage of the installed cost. You need to have a wind turbine up in the WIND, where it is steadier and higher speed, and you just can't do that with a 30 foot tall tower. PVs are so much cheaper than wind turbines in small system sizes that it really isn't worth considering a wind turbine. I speak from experience, having installed our first wind turbine in 1977 or so, used the wind to power our home for almost 12 years, then moved, taking the turbine along and reinstalling it, and we are still using it, but it wouldn't be cost effective to do that again, with the price of solar electric panels as inexpensive and maintenance free as they are.

08-12-14, 05:52 AM	#4
philb Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 155 Thanks: 58 Thanked 17 Times in 14 Posts	Look at your wind charts for your area. You need an average wind of 10 mph if you want to produce meaningful power. Usually, a mix of sun and wind power does a good job. Unless you have to have 12 volts for some reason, I would suggest using 48 or 24 volts in the RE system. Since you have a 12 vac wind turbine, you could take the power through a transformer or use a switching power supply to get the voltage higher in order to transport it to the batteries/inverter.

08-12-14, 08:05 AM	#5
WisJim Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 42 Thanks: 7 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts	Here is a link to a rough map of wind speeds at 30 meters height (over 90 feet but a good minimum height for a wind turbine). WINDExchange: Residential-Scale 30-Meter Wind Maps 10mph is about 4 1/2 m/s, so an area that is yellow or higher speed on the map MIGHT be suitable (any area with less windspeed isn't worth considering for economical energy production). Personally, I would say 12mph or more would be a minimum, and the map s just going to tell you areas where it isn't windy enough, to actually decide if wind power is a good idea for you, you also need to consider terrain, vegetation, and buildings, etc.