| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| RichardW |
Wind turbine
I have bought a cheap (£270 inc del) 200w 12volt (250watt max) off eBay as a test to see how well it works in our less than ideal site. Took about 2 hours to assemble it & another 2 hours to install it using temp base & anchors. As soon as it was up it was producing a max of 18 amps & a min of 3 but mostly around the 12 amp mark. Tonight its not turning as its still but tomorrow should be a good power day. Its a low wind model with its rated speed at 6m/sec & starts at 3m/sec. Needed to change the cable clamps as they were to big for the supplied cable. Also used much longer poles for the wires as the supplied ones are only 2 foot & I used 5 foot long. Going to fit a amp/h meter so can actualy see whats its producing 24/7 once I find a cheap enough one. So far the solar is hardly producing any thing each day. Richard |
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| vegplot |
Sounds fine to me. 3m/s start is better than some. Solar is not good this time of year. | ||||
| RichardW |
Yeh sun is to low in the sky for me. Today the wind is doing very well. Sat and watched the metrer for a couple of mins, lowest was 12 amp spent most of its time at 18 amps often at 24 & went to over 30 amps at one point. Thats well over spec. Voltage was 13.1 so
12amp =157 watts 18amp = 235 watts 24amp = 314 watts 30amp = 393 watts Well over its spec Richard |
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| Nick |
Is there a Wind Turbine For Idiots page/guide, anywhere? We've got land, exposed roofs, lots of wind, often, and a big electricity bill. | ||||
| vegplot |
Not really. Any photos of your landscape, it's worth a thousand, and more, words? Need to see the lay of the land, obstructions etc. Wide angle shots would be good. Also, you post code would be useful to see if there is any wind data available for your area and have a look at the local topography. The essential thing to remember with wind turbines is the higher the better. Caveats galore. |
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| Silas |
All of them. |
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| Nick |
Map. This is my place. We own the field the house is in, and the one with trees in, south of it, all the way until they hit the green lane in the back. The wind mostly comes from the south west, so drives straight up the two fields. The roof of the house is above almost all of the trees, as they are mostly apples, or hedges. The ground slopes slightly up to the lane at the top of the fields. |
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| vegplot |
Terrain is fine. The trees are your biggest problem they will produce a fair deal of turbulence. If the predominant wind from the south west then those trees leading down the trees will produce the worst of the turbulence. What you could do if buy wind speed indicator and monitor its output. If the voltage and or wind direction indicator varies a lot then turbulence might be to blame. Don't mount a turbine on the roof of a house. Vibration will, over time, fracture the masonary or loosen the mountings. The roof itself will be producing a lot of turbulence. Get as far away from buildings and onstructions as you can. |
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| RichardW |
Check out the navitron site & its forum lots of good info.
Keep away from house mounted choc teapots (turbines). Whilst I agree that turbulance is a big problem & that you should not have trees etc in the way mine is in the middle of a small woods & works very well with little yawing so not much turbulance. Check out your average wind speeds. Some times better to have a lower spec turbine with a lower design speed than a high power one that only produces power in a force 10. Richard |
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| mousjoos |
In the absence of said idiots' page, what can I reasonably expect to power from the same or similar turbine such as you've bought?
I assume that any power generated goes to supplement & not entirely replace your connection to the grid. We live in a valley that gets wind from the Med. & from the Atlantic, both very strong at times; so I feel I'm wasting a good potential source, but have no idea what to even start looking for, so any pointers are gratefully received |
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| RichardW |
Well at the moment I am producing about 18-30 amps (its very windy), I am consuming 15-26amps (both at 12v nominal). I am running a large fridge, two laptops, router, digi box & a large screen LCD TV plus a few low energy lights & the water pump as needed all on mains via an inverter so losses there too. When the freezer was on earlier we were consuming upto 56 amps peak. If this wind stayed at this level (say 24amps) all day I would produce 576 amp/h's or 7.2kw/h's.
That is well over its rated power of 16 amps / 20 amps peak. At its rated power you are talking 384amp/h's or 4.8kw/h's At its peak power 480 amp/h's or 6kw/h's Richard |
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| vegplot |
There is a lot to consider. Post questions here. Why do you want to ultilise the wind? Is it to save costs? Avoid using fossil fuels? If it's to save costs you won't unless you build it all yourself (not impossible). Your capital outlay will mean over the next 10 - 15 years your total cost per unit will be higher than using mains at current fuel prices. However, you will be offsetting your carbon generation or eliminating it altogether. It's cheaper and more convenient to remain connected to the grid find out the price your power company pay for the electricity you generate. |
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| vegplot |
A very good point. Matching the turbine to site conditions is very important. |
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| mousjoos |
As if to emphasize my point, this is the 3rd time I've tried to post a reply & each time the power has blipped & the computer has switched off before I've finished.
I suppose the monetry thing plays a part, but mostly it's the "fossil fuels " argument & a feeling that I'd like less reliance upon the t055ers that are EDF. I dont know how much independence it would give me, or indeed, how far I'd have to go to achieve what I'm looking for, but I do feel it's worth exploring further. I'm also about to install some solar panels for hot water; again seems daft not to, when we get a lot of sun. Similarly, with the wind that we get here why not the turbine idea? For instance, is it possible(/worthwhile) having a back up system running , let's say, "essentials" ie fridge/freezer, some lighting, etc., to be usable in the event of power cuts? I ask this as 2 years ago we had a storm here that left certain parts of the region with no power for a week; of course this is exceptional, but, as with tonight, sometimes a puff of wind can disrupt the power supply. In the case of 2 years backs, it was reputedly 1 HT cable that was brought down, that blacked out almost the entire region. |
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| vegplot |
If independance from mains is what you want then you need some way of storing generated electricity. The most common method is to use batteries but other methdoas such as pumped water hydro is an option if you have the right topography.
First step is to analayse how much electricity you use. The simple way is to take reading off your meter, you might alreay have this information as part of your electricty bill. Once you have an idea of how much you use you can start planning your system. Solar hot water is by far the cheapest way of gathering solar energy. |
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| RichardW |
You might want to read THIS but be warned its currently 52 pages long & by the end you will be chomping at the bit to build or tinker with SOMETHING lol
Richard |
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| shadiya |
Brilliant, loved it though have had to abandon reading at page twelve as pigs needed feeding! I feel the new wind turbine could be going up some time soon...... | ||||
| RichardW |
Well get back on there & finish it lol. I did warn you. Richard |