Chinook 200 experience?

Does anybody have experience with the Chinook 200? I realize that a 200 watt, 1 meter turbine is not going to do much, but the application and budget is modest.

The 700 sf house uses 200kWh/month and is located in a fairly windy part of West Texas. A friend is giving me a 40' tower. There are no trees and only a small one-story house on several acres. This simple turbine could produce 20-25 percent of the energy needed. The Bergey XL.1 would be great but costs 4x.

As the budget is tight, the idea is to start small and build out a hybrid solar-wind system and expand it over time. Perhaps put the pressure pump and the CFL lights on the battery system first. Once the system is working and at capacity, get off the grid. I have a small-scale PV-battery system that I plan to move to this remote site with only one 130W Kyocera panel that I can expand up to four panels easily.

I've read about the SWWP difficulties. I understand that small wind is not as reliable as it should be. I like the idea of a hybrid system with a wind component. I've got a free tower that I can install and climb for service. Does anybody have experience with the Chinook 200 that indicates it will be better than the other small turbines out there?

Comments

  • dwh
    dwh Solar Expert Posts: 1,341 ✭✭✭
    Re: Chinook 200 experience?

    Interesting to note that down at the bottom left of the product page they list MidNite Solar as a "development partner" (though, yes they do mis-spell it, the link still takes you to MidNite's site).

    I can't get a price for the TLG500 from NAWS' store at the moment - the store seems to be having issues and isn't loading properly (actually looks more like eyhosting.com is having the problem).

    Still, you may be better off with a TLG that will put out at least double the power for somewhere around double the price.
  • boB
    boB Solar Expert Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Chinook 200 experience?

    I saw 260 Watts from an early one of these turbines ( couple of years ago) 30 feet up at my house in the city while doing some MPPT software testing.

    It's a pretty neat little turbine that may be small, but it is also not over rated ( >400 Watts) like some small turbines we have seen.

    boB
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Chinook 200 experience?

    The NAWS price is $1375 not including the controller. The swept area of the TLG-500 is about 2.3 times the area of the Chinook 200. The price difference is about the same ratio. The TLG product does seem to be built well. Thanks for the tip.
  • MisterB
    MisterB Solar Expert Posts: 156 ✭✭
    Re: Chinook 200 experience?

    A good tower is just as important as the wind generator itself. 40 feet in the terrain you describe sounds like enough height for the wind generator to be useful in a hybrid system. Having owned a small hybrid system for around 20 years that I've recently upgraded, I recommend wind/solar hybrid systems if you're cablable of dealing with the maintainence of the turbine and you do it right with a good tower. One thing I've learned from experience is that the solar and wind portions should be at least equal in wattage for the system really to rock and roll and if anything, you should get a wind generator with a greater wattage because you are rarely going to see the wind generator at full wattage while the solar array will be producing it's rated wattage on any sunny day between 11 and 2. The wind generator will produce more watts when you need them most--before and after big storm systems and you will get an energy feast in the spring when it is both sunny and windy. Right now, I am mostly trickle charging my batteries at night in low wind fall conditions but when a weather front starts to come in, the wind generator will start to kick in.