Wind genny advice

[Smelly]

The deal is done and I will be buying one of these at the end of September. It looks an economical solution and a mate of mine who's got one recommends the build quality so I'm sold.

 

Beyond knowing that in pound per amp hour terms it's not going to be as good as the PV panel, at least when it's cloudy or dark it will still be contributing so I reckon it's a worthy purchase.

 

In debating my PV installation last year some pearls of wisdom were shared that I hope to expand on so here goes...

 

The genny has a regulator inbuilt. I'd like to attach it to the 12 volt supply in the same place as my solar controller but have reservations. I've got what I believe to be an MPPT controller (the instructions tell me it tracks the voltage to provide the best charge) and there were concerns voiced about confusing charge regulators when having more than one device attached.

 

My understanding, courtesy of my earlier post about controllers is that if the sun's out the PV and the wind will provide a proportion each of what the battery will accept, but I'm still not sure how the MPPT box will interact with a wind regulator. Might a craftily placed diode or somesuch alleviate the confusion?

 

I anticipate switching the generator to a dump load in the form of a 300w immersion element in the calorifier when we#re static & the engine's running, however other hints and tips would be appreciated.

 

 

Finally, on an entirely different note, regarding mounting, I anticpate using blocks of hard rubber, such as is used for the rubbing fenders at the side of the moorings down past Gas St, fastened back to the bulkhead, with the clamps for the post attached to that to try and buffer any vibration, is this a good idea? How have you mounted it?

 

Ta

 

Dan

[Gibbo]

Right, let's try to nail this "possible problem of two charge sources connected together" once and for all.

 

Many (most? - perhaps because they don't actually understand what is going on) people think you can't connect two chargers together because one might damage the other. This is complete and utter tripe. Forget the notion.

 

There can be a problem with parallel chargers if one of the chargers (of whatever type) is too clever. Some modern chargers periodically stop charging and watch what happens to the battery voltage. From that, it tries to get an idea of the state of charge and then adjusts the rest of the charge cycle to suit. With this type, it can get confused if there is another charger connected. The battery voltage doesn't fall as fast as it expects it to (because of the other charger) and it decides the batteries are in a higher state of charge than they really are. The worst that happens is it stops charging and shows an error, usually something like "High battery voltage".

 

MPPT controllers don't do this trick. Neither do wind turbines. They will fine running side by side.

 

Now having said that, when doing this, some people have noticed that one of the chargers switches off earlier than it used to. That's because the batteries are bl**dy full!

 

Gibbo

[Smelly]

Right, let's try to nail this "possible problem of two charge sources connected together" once and for all.

 

 

Gibbo

 

That's exactly what I hoped to hear...

 

Thank you!

[Smelly]

However the question of mounting the pole still stands... hows your's mounted?

[AjW]

However the question of mounting the pole still stands... hows your's mounted?

 

Square base plate, two triangular uprights welded to it with bolt holes to allow it to be lowered.

Under the base plate and on the inside the roof are two rubber sheets, but I need to put in slightly thicker ones

Can just about make it out in this photo;

 

Guys are held with a kee-clamp thingy bolted through the roof

 

The flex 200 turbine has an even number of blades which can increase the forward/backward motion of the turbine, so get a really stiff mounting pole. To get the turbine out of head/hand reach you'll need a pole about 8ft+. Our boat changes horizonticality depending on how full the water/fuel tanks are and other ballasting so try allow for a bit of variability in how vertical the pole is to keep the turbine horizontal.

A.

[FadeToScarlet]

My Rutland 913's mounted on a black carbon fibre pole. None of this metal malarky!

 

In terms of attachment, it's got a scaffold pole foot (looks like a top-hat with a hole in the crown) which is sitting on 25mm of rubber. It's not actually bolted onto the boat roof at all, although I may change that later; the downwards force from the guy wires keeps it very solidly in place. The guy wires are attached onto fairleads which are near the middle of the boat, and onto the rear steps, so I've not had to make any changes to the boat.

 

The biggest problem is going to be eliminating metal-to-metal contact, to minimise noise and vibration. All the attachment points are insulated with rubber, so the pole and guy wires don't touch the metal at all.

 

A friend of mine has used engine mounts, which seem like a good idea- a good connection, but no transmission of vibration.

[Smelly]

Thank you...

 

Fastening to the roof is a bit of a no no unless i ask someone to tap holes down into it. I can't bolt through as the roof panels are glued in place

 

There's one next door but three to me that's fastened to the back bulkhead with a scaff pole and two large U bolt clamp type jobbies that seems a good solution however this would inevitably mean the, ahem, verticality, will be slightly off true, will that affect balance?

 

The other advantage is it would be as far from our bed it can get however it doesn't seem common. Anyone with any experience?

[Bobbybass]

Right, let's try to nail this "possible problem of two charge sources connected together" once and for all.

 

Many (most? - perhaps because they don't actually understand what is going on) people think you can't connect two chargers together because one might damage the other. This is complete and utter tripe. Forget the notion.

 

There can be a problem with parallel chargers if one of the chargers (of whatever type) is too clever. Some modern chargers periodically stop charging and watch what happens to the battery voltage. From that, it tries to get an idea of the state of charge and then adjusts the rest of the charge cycle to suit. With this type, it can get confused if there is another charger connected. The battery voltage doesn't fall as fast as it expects it to (because of the other charger) and it decides the batteries are in a higher state of charge than they really are. The worst that happens is it stops charging and shows an error, usually something like "High battery voltage".

 

MPPT controllers don't do this trick. Neither do wind turbines. They will fine running side by side.

 

Now having said that, when doing this, some people have noticed that one of the chargers switches off earlier than it used to. That's because the batteries are bl**dy full!

 

Gibbo

 

Hi..

I have 240w solar and that works fine as an extra source.

I have a travepower and so I tried running the battery charger...that works very badly !!

If I do this...my oil pressure guage shows low..my temperature guage shows high....my Sterling goes crazy.... the batteries take much longer to charge.

The charger works fine on shore power.

All a bit strange really...I think it is best to just have...patience.

Bob

[Gibbo]

Hi..

I have 240w solar and that works fine as an extra source.

I have a travepower and so I tried running the battery charger...that works very badly !!

If I do this...my oil pressure guage shows low..my temperature guage shows high....my Sterling goes crazy.... the batteries take much longer to charge.

The charger works fine on shore power.

All a bit strange really...I think it is best to just have...patience.

Bob

 

First thing I'd be looking for with those symptoms is a dodgy earth. And I'd be about 90% certain of finding one.

 

A mixture of different, apparently unrelated, odd things going on is almost always a dodgy earth.

 

Remember what happens to the light cluster on a car when there's a dodgy earth? Press the brake pedal and the side lights go dim, put the indicators on and the brake lights flash in unison (or contrary) and the reversing lights come on. It all looks totally unrelated and makes people think the gearbox is broke, the side lights need looking at and the flasher unit is faulty etc etc etc. And all it is, is a dodgy earth in the light cluster.

 

Gibbo

[DHutch]

MPPT controllers don't do this trick. Neither do wind turbines. They will fine running side by side.

But wiring the turbines output, together with the solar controlers output. Not running the turbine into the solorcontroler (MPPT) unit.

 

Just to clarify.

 

Mounting wise, ive seen the good the bad and the ugly, but upto about 5-6ft you can proberbly do it using the stiffness of the pole alone with a decent pole and mounting, above than at i would be planning to use stays down from as near the top as feasabl (three or four as easiest) , at which mount the mounting at the base becomes largly acadmic as long as it cant slide out from under itself (which FtoS's case used friction alone).

 

Also, as mentioned, it seams if you want to sleep on the bot while it working, rubber mounting and not having it over the bedroom seems a good plan too!

 

 

Daniel