adding wind power to self contained RV

staracker

Hello,
 Im new here and im about to go get my "new" travel trailer today,  It has a self contained system with generator, and i saw 2 batteries near the trailer hitch. I plan on putting it on some vacant land i own and eventually living in it full time. The land is in northeastern az and its always windy, sometimes way too much wind. My question is: what would be the best way to install a wind system? I know i need a turbine, probably a charge controller, and connect direct to the 2 batteries?

animatt

Wind turbine will have to be mounted off the rv and on a structure on the land.  If mounting on the land already I would consider solar. If mounted correctly solar usually does not have the maintenance issues that wind turbines do. Moving parts always wear out.

Maybe something as simple as a shed with solar panels on the roof and batteries inside. Then you cook up your rv with an extension cord like an rv park.

Being solar panels are getting to be priced very inexpensively[as compared to past] it probably much more efficient to use solar vs wind. Solar is definitely the more simple setup.


The consideration of wind only seems viable if there is consistent winds at night.

During the day solar seems to be the winner in most locations. Northern arizona is generally sunny.


So you could have a solar only setup, but would need batteries sufficiently sized to get you thru the night and mild weather, or resign yourself to generator run time.
You would have evaluate your power needs.

If your wind was like clock work and always happened in the evenings you could maybe get away with slight less batteries.


Just some thoughts.

For a wind setup. You will need a tower. It should have some kind of reinforced base as well as guy lines which are anchored properly. I had my turine improperly mount on a short section of 2 inch schedule 40 pipe. High winds bent the pipe.

A tower to get you up over turblent [useless] air flow.
This is recommend to be 30 feet above surround area. Surround area would be anything sticking up within 300 feet.

Diversión controller of adequate size.
DiverSion load,

You maybe set on wind. If you still have an open mind I would recommend doing a design on paper. It will require a bit of time on your part to learn. But the people here are very helpful.  They can help save $$$, and reduce headaches. 

First step in design is calculate/estimate power needs. From there you can design a system that will meet that need for energy production and storage [batteries].

Estragon

People use wind turbines on boats in places like the caribbean with consistent winds. They obviously aren't mounted on towers, but likely don't perform as well as tower mounted. If your site is wide open (no trees, etc.) that might be an option.

As Animatt said, solar might be a simpler solution, and if viable, wind can be a useful compliment to solar.

Either way, you want to start by estimating loads and design things from there.

Estragon

Also, when I was considering wind, the tower was around $10,000. Then there was turbine, controller, dump load provision, etc.

chelliet

Hi,
I'm also considering installing a wind turbine on my rv. Is there a turbine that I can put on my RV and use the wind when traveling to generate electricity and charge batteries?

mike95490

The wind, while traveling, is generated by the drive engine under the hood.  You are adding air resistance it must overcome. Much more efficient to tap off the alternator to charge from.