Rv wind turbine

Prince16 · April 2022

I'm looking to add a small turbine to my solar on my rv.looking for suggestions.

BB. · April 2022

Welcome to the forum Prince.

I am not a fan of small wind... You need lots of wind (>~12-25 MPH--Or reasonably miserably windy conditions). Ideally the turbine needs to be installed 30 feet above the ground, and at least 10 feet over any nearby obstructions. And mounting a turbine to a vehicle (or building) can be really noisy/vibrations to structures... Ideally the turbine should be on its own tower/guy wires, etc.

What are your expectations/need from the wind turbine... Will you be in windy locations where there will be enough wind to "matter"? How many Watt*Hours/Amp*Hours @ xx volts per day are you looking for?

Anyway you can add more solar panels to roof, tilt for better angle to sun, or even making a "solar panel awning"?

-Bill

706jim · April 2022

What he said. Not worth the trouble IMO.

Prince16 · April 2022

Thanks for the info, not alway in windy conditons, not alway sunny.

BB. · April 2022

I will point to a small wind turbine that our forum host sells (Northern Arizona Wind & Sun) sells... (I am a volunteer here. Don't work for NAWS). But to look at the specifications:

https://www.solar-electric.com/primus-wind-power-air-30-12-volt-generator.html

At 12 mph wind (pretty high wind speed in normal/non-stormy weather), you get a rated--Say 32 kWH per month, or:

30 kWH = 30,000 WH per month
30,000 WH * 1/30 days per month * 1/24 hours per day = 42 Watts
42 Watts / 14.5 volts charging = 2.9 Amps charging current
Assume mayby 5 hours for evening winds (depends where you are) * 2.9 amps = 14.5 Amp*Hours
14.5 AmpHours * 12 volts = 174 WH per day

46 inch diameter, 13 lb body. Not including mounts/tower. You have to unbolt 1-3 blades and umount to "put away", etc. $952.00

If you wanted something in solar---3 hours per day of sun is a "reasonably" sunny climate in winter:

174 WH * 1/0.52 off grid system eff * 1/3 hours of sun per day = 112 Watt solar panel "similar" to a $1,000 turbine (in "windy" conditions)...

I am sure you can find smaller/larger/less expensive turbines out there... A big issue (I have seen) is trying to get spare/replacment parts for turbines--Especially a few years down down the road.

At least with the Primus--They seem have spares available (and used market/after market parts too).

-Bill

BB. · April 2022

If you are still interested in a wind trubine, you might want to look at some sort of logging Anemometer. Here is a simple one that will work with Bluetooth/Android phone ($44 or so):

https://www.amazon.com/Anemometer-Handheld-100-APP-Velocity-Bluetooth/dp/B086P354HP

I was looking for a low cost/logging/non-directional wind meter... But did not really find any with some quick searches on Amazon.

The wind measurements (especially at low speeds) needs to be pretty accurate... The "energy" in wind goes with the cube of the wind speed... For example the difference between 10 and 12 MPH winds:

12 mph ^ 3 = 1,728 mph^3
10 mph ^ 3 = 1,000 mph^3
1,728/1,000 = 1.7x more energy in 12 mph wind vs 10 mph wind

And the turbine needs to in "clean/non-turbulent" air flow (or wind). If there is turbulence (up wind trees, building, RVs, etc.), the resulting turbulent airflow will have almost most no "useful energy" for the wind turbine to harvest (horizontal or vertical axis turbines--Does not matter).

Put the Anemometer on a stick at the elevation you plan to mount the turbine and see what the actual airflow is (need to point the above meter "into the wind".

-Bill

Rv wind turbine

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