Affordable DIY Wind Turbines- Produce your own affordable electricity

19-04-2008 12:43pm

Best suggestion I can give to anyone considering a wind turbine is to invest in a home weather station and place the annenometer in the intended location and see just how much wind you actually have! It may change your mind.

judepf · 21-06-2008 11:39pm

what type of batteries are used

air · 21-06-2008 11:56pm

Deep cycle lead acid batteries normally for residential applications

ECOLOGICAL · 25-06-2008 12:12pm

I've done a bit of research on this myself haven't been following this thread can I ask you all as you would be people who are in the know your opinion on these links
www.energievair.com

same company in Canada have this linked to ebay

http://search.cafr.ebay.ca/_W0QQsassZddoomm666

and also found even cheaper supplier of the hornet 600 see below
http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/

and might be digressing from windpower but not so much

anyone know much about this
www.tcoalternativefuels.com

baldieman · 30-06-2008 6:29pm

AlanD wrote: »

I live in a typical 4 bed semi-detached house. We have quite a bit of wind here all year round, so I'm wondering if a micro wind turbine would work attached to a semi-d, assuming the wind turned out to be workable (i.e. after an assessment)?

What do you think?

A good book on micro wind is WIND ENERGY BASICS by Paul Gipe.
For anyone seriously considering wind there's a lot of good info in it.
If you fancy your hand at DIY, Hugh Piggott is running a course somewhere in galway in Sept. this year,
I've built one and am very pleased with it, very quiet machine and have learnt a lot about micro wind and it's limitations

GG66 · 02-07-2008 6:34pm

baldieman wrote: »

A good book on micro wind is WIND ENERGY BASICS by Paul Gipe.
For anyone seriously considering wind there's a lot of good info in it.
If you fancy your hand at DIY, Hugh Piggott is running a course somewhere in galway in Sept. this year,
I've built one and am very pleased with it, very quiet machine and have learnt a lot about micro wind and it's limitations

Go on, do share what you've learned. I know someone who built a piggott turbine and it didn't work out

air · 02-07-2008 6:44pm

What didnt work exactly? It's a proven design and works very well when properly constructed. The issues that I would advise to be careful of would be corrosion of the magnets / magnet plates (rotor plate design has been modified in latest plans I think) and tuning the tail - it is important to use a power meter and adjust the tail weight to ensure the turbine furls at the correct speed to prevent it from burning out.

baldieman · 03-07-2008 11:24am

It took me a year to build and erect from the time I did the course. The course only showed how to build the machine and a basic tower princable and you do have to follow the instructions carefully. I erected first just before last Christmas to test, connected to an old car battery and it over charged it stright away, so I droped it down pritty quick. Anyway, I had to learn about controlling and using the power. Got a charge controller, a couple of 250amp/h deep cycle battries, a cheap inverter (although I need bigger one) and its been running now since Feb. mostly just lights and TV at the moment, but with a bigger inverter I should be able to run the fridge in it. I'm dumping a lot of power also at the mo. when there's a good wind, rather then waste the power, I'll heat water with it for tea or washing dishes etc..
In a light to moderate wind it will give between about 2 to 12 amps at 12v but when the wind gets up to 20 or 30 mph, it can give between 10 and 40amps and even higher. I've seen it peek at 72amps but at that speed she furls and that seems to be working well also, so I'm thinking of the bigger 24v next.

air · 03-07-2008 11:35am

What diameter model did you build baldie?

baldieman · 03-07-2008 1:26pm

2.4m diameter, I'm now thinking of the 3.4m which is about 2.6 times as powerfull. The 4.5m machine could even supplement heat, but the blades are more complicated. So, anyone got any good ideas about 8' blades, let us know.

lanod2407 · 05-08-2008 12:25pm

Quick question - I asked a reasonably knowledgeable spark friend of mine recently what he thought of wind turbines and said I'd seen threads (this one) where people were powering TVs and PCs from wind turbines, among other applicances. One of his concerns regarding TVs and PCs specifically was the ability to provide a "clean 50 Hz" supply of power to the appliance and the potential damage that could be done if the power is not clean .......... any comments?

I'm strictly on the ditch here - v interested in using micro wind as I've a few acres to play with, so I'm just asking questions about it's application and feasibility.

Saruman · 05-08-2008 12:33pm

Perhaps an APC (or other) UPS would be a good idea. Will protect from surges and power fluctuations, i think you can even set your tolerance level.

oscarBravo · 05-08-2008 12:45pm

lanod2407 wrote: »

One of his concerns regarding TVs and PCs specifically was the ability to provide a "clean 50 Hz" supply of power to the appliance and the potential damage that could be done if the power is not clean .......... any comments?

That's entirely a function of the inverter you use. My eeePC doesn't like running off the inverter in my car - it works mostly fine, but the mouse is "jumpy".

I can't imagine it doing damage, though. If you're truly concerned, a fully online UPS should help.

05-08-2008 8:04pm

oscarBravo wrote: »

That's entirely a function of the inverter you use. My eeePC doesn't like running off the inverter in my car - it works mostly fine, but the mouse is "jumpy".

I can't imagine it doing damage, though. If you're truly concerned, a fully online UPS should help.

is it a true wave since inverter? alot of pcs dont like inverters because they arent proper sine waves

oscarBravo · 06-08-2008 10:08am

Nope, pretty much square wave, ergo the eeePC problems - the eee runs fine off direct DC from the ciggy socket.

The point is that a less-than-clean inverter may cause some ultra-sensitive devices to behave in slightly squirrely ways, but I can't really imagine it hurting your average appliance like a TV. Not an electronic engineer, though, so I couldn't say for sure.

06-08-2008 10:41am

oscarBravo wrote: »

Nope, pretty much square wave, ergo the eeePC problems - the eee runs fine off direct DC from the ciggy socket.

The point is that a less-than-clean inverter may cause some ultra-sensitive devices to behave in slightly squirrely ways, but I can't really imagine it hurting your average appliance like a TV. Not an electronic engineer, though, so I couldn't say for sure.

These days more and more equipment is using switched mode PSU's or similar to convert 230V AC down to say 12V AC before rectification.

The PSU samples the input voltage at fixed intervals and is assuming a sine wave, if the input is square wave or similar, it may confuse the electronics in the PSU and the output would not be regulated correctly.

baldieman · 06-08-2008 9:49pm

Hi,
I googled inverters and potential damage to TV's etc.. the info I got back suggests some noise or interverance and some difficulty charging cordless tools. this seems to back up my own experience. But Im still reluctant to use my loptop, just in case. My 1000w modified sine wave inverter costs about 130 euro. A full sine wave inverter may be better but 4 or 5 times the price.

riccol1966 · 19-09-2008 12:37pm

This is a long standing thread, and rather than go over old ground you can check our the tests I did with the PSW and MSW inverters, one from SP and the other bought separately. http://www.richardcollins.net/winsol_inverter.html

I am surprised to find anyone still using the MSW inverters, I would suggest they are only good for lighting. Aside from the higher purchase price, I have done a controlled test and found the PSW inverters to be as efficient as the MSW versions, with none of the downsides. .

Re: TV interference and running inverters through UPS etc: don't be surprised to find a UPS wont work with an inverter. Usually that's because most inverters don’t have identical line structure to the GRID. The UPS, I believe, measures/detects current on both live and neutral. I hope to test this at some point but I'm 99% sure the only way a UPS will work will be if you have a neutral-earth bonded inverter, such as a Sterling, Mastervolt or Victron as the source, with 230V on the live.

Gizbon, might be better to bite the bullet and buy a separate standalone PSW inverter in the meantime. Steca, for example, are known for battery chargers, I've never seen any of their inverters so would be curious to see how well they are made etc.

gizbon · 19-09-2008 1:24pm

well i spent my hard earned money buying the product from them and it should have worked i sure as hell not spending more to get it working
they either replace the faulty units with quality working units or i want my money back

Capt'n Midnight · 20-09-2008 12:23am

riccol1966 wrote: »

Re: TV interference and running inverters through UPS etc: don't be surprised to find a UPS wont work with an inverter. Usually that's because most inverters don’t have identical line structure to the GRID. The UPS, I believe, measures/detects current on both live and neutral. I hope to test this at some point but I'm 99% sure the only way a UPS will work will be if you have a neutral-earth bonded inverter, such as a Sterling, Mastervolt or Victron as the source, with 230V on the live.

or maybe you could use a car alternator in the turbine and take the 14.4V directly to the UPS's batteries , and let the UPS act as the inverter ?

no idea if the ups would be able to take that duty cycle or the effect of wear and tear on the battery and it would only work on a few UPS's since most seem to like 2 or 6/7 "12V" batteries

Tabnabs · 26-09-2008 7:37pm

Coming in very late to this discussion, but I was talking to a person who works for the Irish lighthouse service (CIL) and he mentioned that they have just one wind turbine left producing electricity at a lighthouse. After extensive use and considerable expense, they have been forced to withdraw all but one of the turbines due to the extremely high level of maintenance and the frequent problems they have had with the various units they installed. They will not be returning to this method and instead have found solar panels the more suitable and viable option instead.

Disappointing to hear, but very interesting none the less.

air · 26-09-2008 8:00pm

Not a huge surprise, marine turbines are subjected to massive stress and strain. GE Energy have reportedly withdrawn indefinitely from the offshore wind turbine market for basically the same reasons.

26-09-2008 8:48pm

Something for the more ambitious DIY'ers, not built it myself - just passing it on.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How_I_built_an_electricity_producing_wind_turbine/

pkmwgs · 15-12-2008 1:20pm

Hi,
just to let you all know the esb and cer are finally discussing payment for excess power from microgeneration. the figure is expected to be around 9 cent a kw, it should come to fruition jan 09. this figure could change as the proccess moves forward. finally coming out of the dark ages.

jobrok1 · 20-01-2009 12:09pm

Probably a stupid question, but here goes anyway!

I have a 12v wind turbine/battery system.
Is it possible to get a grid tied inverter that will work at this voltage rather than us batteries and off grid inverter?

Found a few links to inverter suppliers in china, but how reliable would these be. Is it safer to us a turbine with a higher voltage output?

air · 20-01-2009 2:13pm

Unfortunately all the grid tie inverters (at least the ones that I'm aware of) require a DC input above 200V.

baldieman · 20-01-2009 7:33pm

jobrok1 wrote: »

Probably a stupid question, but here goes anyway!

I have a 12v wind turbine/battery system.
Is it possible to get a grid tied inverter that will work at this voltage rather than us batteries and off grid inverter?

Found a few links to inverter suppliers in china, but how reliable would these be. Is it safer to us a turbine with a higher voltage output?

It's unlikely,
Turbines are usually designed as, grid connect, battery system, or direct heat. Even if there is a grid inverter suitable for your machine the ESB may not be too keen. I wouldn't touch the Chinese inverters.
Whats the problem with the battery system?

adamlyons · 29-06-2010 10:08pm

Windman, I am fascinated by what you've been saying. I am at the stage of looking at what options are there. I have never really considered wind. In your opinion what can I NOT power from a wind turbine. What would you suggest as a secondary power source.

djpbarry · 30-06-2010 10:10am

Windman has not posted anything since 2005 - I think it's unlikely that he'll be back any time soon.

Affordable DIY Wind Turbines- Produce your own affordable electricity

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