Newbie - Wind Turbine Voltages Option Question

Ron
Ron Registered Users Posts: 1
Interested in bying a wind turbine just for hobby and to experiment and learn. But am confused about the voltage configurations.
Looking at 12v, 24v, & 48v options. What should this all mean to me?

The only thing I think I realize at this point is by going AC and high voltage means I can run thinner wires from the turbine to my hobby room. What am I missing and what should I be considering when choosing a voltage on my turbine purchase?

For now I am just playing with a car battery and am toying around with seeing what kinds of charging I can do, measurements, and what things I can run, but anticipate that soon down the road I'll probably run a golf cart battery bank but keep it as a 12v system all wired in parallel. Knowing this should this make my purchse an easier decision? (Not really interested in ever hooking up a DC to AC inverter. Wish to stick with my hobby or house running on 12dc as I am doing this with an off-grid purpose and do not ever plan to tie my system to the grid)

Since charge controllers can reduce 24 & 48 volts down to 12v I'm just not sure the benefits of my options.

Please help. :-)

Thanks.

Ron

Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,433 admin
    Ron,

    Have you picked a MPPT charge controller to run your wind turbine with?

    Alternators usually run at a higher voltage when connected to a MPPT type charge controller. Roughly, a MPPT controller runs most efficiently around 2x Vbatt voltage... A 12 volt Battery charging 14.5 to 15.0 volts or so, would like to run around 30 volts from the alternator ideally.

    If this is a horizontal axis wind turbine, they can over speed if there is no load on the alternator (or the load is too light)--So you need a dump load (resistor bank and some sort of controller) to prevent the battery from over charging.

    I am certainly no expert in wind systems, but here are some links that may help you find the information you need:

    www.otherpower.com (good forum for DIY Wind Power)
    Hugh Piggott - Scoraig Wind Electric site for tons of info
    Scoraig Wind "Recipe Book" for DYI Turbines
    www.greenpowertalk.org (Like here but more wind/less solar)

    And you need to have enough wind, turbine mounted on a tower well above buildings/trees and away from buildings/trees. Mounting a turbine on a roof is typically not a good idea--Too much turbulence and vibrations to the structure.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset