Thinking of adding a wind turbine to my solar setup in order to keep my 12v battery bank charged at night. Any suggestions on a good system and setup?
1579413
Wind and Solar can be combined to create a very effective, powerful system but there's a lot of tricks to doing it properly. There is a company that sells products here on Amazon called Windy Nation and they are long-time experts in doing this. They also have web site with a *lot* of free information on how to do this. DISCLAIMER: I am not connected with this company in any way -- other than I've been using their web site as a tech reference for almost 10 years and that I occasionally buy a product from them.
1579414
I often tell people that it is a dangerous thing to ask me an opinion. So here it goes. Don't. 400 Watt wind turbine will supply a trickle more energy than your solar panels. On top of that, it will probably downgrade the production of the solar panels by casting a shadow on them. My advice is to add more solar. Of course I say this without knowing a lot of the parameters, where you cruise, what the weather is, etc.. This being said, if you are researching wind turbine, you will notice that some sellers will offer a solar AND wind charge controller. That's what I would use. Also, if your battery cannot stay charge overnight, the bank is too small. I often tell people that it is a dangerous thing to ask me an opinion. So here it goes. Don't. 400 Watt wind turbine will supply a trickle more energy than your solar panels. On top of that, it will probably downgrade the production of the solar panels by casting a shadow on them. My advice is to add more solar. Of course I say this without knowing a lot of the parameters, where you cruise, what the weather is, etc.. This being said, if you are researching wind turbine, you will notice that some sellers will offer a solar AND wind charge controller. That's what I would use. Also, if... » Read More I often tell people that it is a dangerous thing to ask me an opinion. So here it goes. Don't. 400 Watt wind turbine will supply a trickle more energy than your solar panels. On top of that, it will probably downgrade the production of the solar panels by casting a shadow on them. My advice is to add more solar. Of course I say this without knowing a lot of the parameters, where you cruise, what the weather is, etc.. This being said, if you are researching wind turbine, you will notice that some sellers will offer a solar AND wind charge controller. That's what I would use. Also, if your battery cannot stay charge overnight, the bank is too small. « Show Less
1579415
I highly recommend the magazine "Home Power". Great place to learn from first hand accounts of pro's and users like us in real world application. Comes in magazine or digital format. Digital is dirt cheap and gives you access the whole library of past pubs. Tons of info about solar, wind and micro hydro
1628305
I've hooked up several on a battery that I keep charged with a solar panel. If you are using a power supply just be sure to over size it.
903319
If the generator has clean output I see no reason that the BatteryMinder AGM could fail to charge a big AGM battery. A cleaner solution might be to charge the bank direct from the solar cells, as long as the solar array doesn't have enough power to overcharge the AGM bank.
270175
You must use a solar charge controller and absolutely 'not' connecting the solar panel to the battery bank directly. I'm using Xantrex inverter, but there're a few brands work well also. Make sure it's a "true sine" wave inverter, well worth the money. You also want to look into if you want just an inverter or an inverter with charger? The combined unit may save you some time in troubleshooting problems later on. Talk to a few RV installers before making purchase, and avoid the shops who say they'll do whatever you want.
615414
I use a 20watt panel and a voltage regulator. If you have a battery,you will need a solar regulator.
574679
Dear Al Basha, I am not sure I can answer your question about the charging. Because I do not use it to charge a battery, instead I use a grid tie converter to change the DC current to AC current and send the generated electricity to my grid. I thought of using it a battery. But that would need me to get a charge controller and to get a battery. I am not sure how well the charge controller would work since the wind generator always produces variable voltage.If your charge controller is far from the wind generator, you may need to get extra wire to connect to the charge controller.
159173
I currently have a small system (4-250 watt panels and a battery bank of 20-12 volt batteries), which I use primarily for back-up in case of a power outage. My recommendations are: first, consider how you are going to use the system: total energy supply with the grid (i.e. power company) as a back-up; operate some of your house on solar, with any excess being fed into the grid; back-up in case of power outages. You also need a clear view of the southern sky, since the sun is always to the south in the U.S. Panels mounted on the roof of the house require a licensed contractor, and only the part of the roof that faces south is suitable. Where you live is also important. Solar does not work well on cloudy days and in the winter when the days are short and the sun is low on the horizon. This is especially true in northern climates. Cooling is very difficult, since air conditioners/heat pumps typically run on 220 volt/2 phase electric power, which is hard to produce with solar power. I suggest you find and consult with a qualified solar installer. Typically you need the solar panels, a large battery bank to store the electricity produced by the panels, inverters, which convert the DC to AC for use in the house, plus the appropriate wiring into the house circuits, etc.
895475
Please do not do this. Every time you convert energy to another form, overall you loose energy. Darn physics. The added resistance would lower your gas milage at a higher rate then you could be charging your batteries with the wind turbine. Wind turbines can only theoretically harvest about 60% of the winds energy. Wind must be allowed to easily pass through the blades. Then magnetic resistance in the turbines generator will produce the electricity. Then flow to your batteries, which also do not have 100% efficiency. Loosing power at every step.
1571526
Bad idea. Mine was so unbalanced that it self destructed the first time we put it in wind. Try Missouri Wind and Solar. Better machine, but none of them create any power in low winds. It will take 30+ mph winds to get anything decent out of any of them. I should correct myself. I have a 48 volt battery system. 12 volt should work better.
1508345
I use mine this past weekend. I had the panel charging a 12V marine battery through a solar controller and had a 12v fan running in my trailer at the same time. Seemed to work just fine.
2249727
I would keep the configuration the same because you will above 13 volts to charge the battery. If your looking for amperage in series, it's best to have a power capacitor wired on the 30 amp solar controller battery input side, and the output on the capacitor to the battery with a resettable 20 amp fuse on the red cable to the battery. The capacitor depending on the Faradays you pick, will act as solar storage and help the backup battery recover fast if your running an AC Inverter on the battery output cables. Remember these panels are only outputting at 35 watts, so the amperage is low and need capacitors for storage.
914977
12 or 24 or 48 Volt so I would suggest reconfigure system to use Morn TS-45. Might Also consider MidNite Solar Kidd, same setup.For 60V maybe have to go Outback.
449749
Joe, I used mine to charge a battery in our horse trailer that powers led lights. In full sun I think you can count on about 3/4 of an amp. If the fan you want to run draws less than that it will likely work. I wouldn't expect a wind storm. Some time ago I used a 5W solar panel to power two 6 inch computer fans and it worked pretty well, in full sun exposure. Just a suggestion, but if it were me I would have the panel charge a battery and then tap the battery to run the fan. Hope this was some help.
1000455
This is designed to charge your battery or batteries, not to directly power lights and fans and whatnot. I have mine set up in conjunction with a solar panel grid. Each runs through a charge controller of its own and into a distribution block before going into the battery bank. To run lights or AC powered items you will need to either use a power inverter connected to your batteries. This is a great little turbine but its not designed to power something all by itself. Since wind speeds vary its power output will vary. you will want a charge controller to cut off power flow if the winds blow too hard or if your batteries are fully charged to prevent overcharging. think of the wiring like this: turbine&gt;charge controller&gt;battery bank&gt;power inverter&gt;lights and fans. I hope that helps. If not search YouTube for a guy named LDSprepper. I wired my solar and battery bank like his but I added the turbines for cloudy days.
891722
If the wind is strong enough for long enough. If you have a 12v TV, you could attach it directly to your battery. If you have a 120v TV you will need an inverter rated a little higher than you TV. You will need to do some math to determine your battery size and the length of time it will take to charge the batter. So, assuming your TV takes 150W of power and you want to watch it for 1 hour, you need a 150WH battery. The turbine will take about 15 hours of continuous wind to store that much energy in your battery (150WH/10W). If you use an inverter assume about 10-15% loss to the inverter. This means about 55 minutes of watching instead of an hour. If the wind is strong enough for long enough. If you have a 12v TV, you could attach it directly to your battery. If you have a 120v TV you will need an inverter rated a little higher than you TV. You will need to do some math to determine your battery size and the length of time it will take to charge the batter. So, assuming your TV takes 150W of power and you want to watch it for 1 hour, you need a 150WH battery. The turbine will take about 15 hours of continuous wind to store that much energy in your battery (150WH/10W). If you use an inverter assume about 10-15% loss to the inverter.... » Read More If the wind is strong enough for long enough. If you have a 12v TV, you could attach it directly to your battery. If you have a 120v TV you will need an inverter rated a little higher than you TV. You will need to do some math to determine your battery size and the length of time it will take to charge the batter. So, assuming your TV takes 150W of power and you want to watch it for 1 hour, you need a 150WH battery. The turbine will take about 15 hours of continuous wind to store that much energy in your battery (150WH/10W). If you use an inverter assume about 10-15% loss to the inverter. This means about 55 minutes of watching instead of an hour. « Show Less
469257
This kit will work, the kit is great! However the windturbine itself......better have ALOT of wind. If you don't have an average of 10mph winds or more, better to get solar.
113360
Yes, but must use a CHARGE CONTROLLER device between the windmill output and the battery bank.