wind power

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Hi folks, yes I have scanned the search facility but the posts appear to concern the large versions of wind power.

What I'm seeking is a small lantern style wind generator (AC current) just to provide 150w for powering a battery charger for my leisure batteries.
I was considering solar, but whilst long periods of sunshine are rare at this time of year wind is in abundance where we live !

Any recommendations appreciated.
 
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What I'm seeking is a small lantern style wind generator (AC current) just to provide 150w for powering a battery charger for my leisure batteries.
I'm not sure what you would regard as 'small', but something to generate 150W is not going to be physically 'tiny' - as per the two items linked to by Justin ...

upload_2021-11-7_0-2-39.png
upload_2021-11-7_0-3-12.png


Kind Regards, John
 
Thank you Justin, but I see the unit is 24v & I need 230v AC to power the charger.

John ... sorry, I used the term 'small' to differentiate between my requirement & a full size WG capable of off-grid power for an entire home.
 
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Thank you Justin, but I see the unit is 24v & I need 230v AC to power the charger.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds as if the second one linked to by Justin is specifically designed to charge 12V batteries ...
John ... sorry, I used the term 'small' to differentiate between my requirement & a full size WG capable of off-grid power for an entire home.
Fair enough. Do you know (I don't!) how physically big they need to be before they require Planning Permission?

Kind Regards, John
 
Are your batteries like the ones in caravans and yachts? If so, the truth is out there.

For diy-ing I assume you want to build something different.

The electricity bit is almost trivial. To charge eg a 12V car battery you need about 13.8V dc. Enough excess voltage to give you a useful current considering the resistance. Vevor makes several models with different output V/A combinations. They will be able to suggest the model for your particular battery. You wouldn't convert what comes off the generator ( voltage will depend on rotor speed) up to 230VAC just to supply your charger - no converter is 100% efficient. Low voltage boards for changing voltage, and charging, are very cheap now.
Those turbines have regulated outputs - fair enough, they have to provide something nominally useful!

The size of the things I picked above are about what you want in terms of watts so give you a size and price, and
this isn't quite what you want but it's close enough to be a guide
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002688394229.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.4b274c2eUrkLll&algo_pvid=fca82ca0-607d-4f3f-a34b-893ee4aa4cbe&algo_exp_id=fca82ca0-607d-4f3f-a34b-893ee4aa4cbe-18&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id":"12000021722820997"}
NB that's using a string of 18650s but illustrative.
 
Shipping: £1.97
To United Kingdom via AliExpress Standard Shipping
Estimated delivery on Dec 03

Not so bad - it is China! Most things arrive at the short end of the estimate. Popular things are in the uk already.
 
Shipping: £1.97
To United Kingdom via AliExpress Standard Shipping
Estimated delivery on Dec 03

Not so bad - it is China! Most things arrive at the short end of the estimate. Popular things are in the uk already.
Are we looking at the same thing? I'm seeing shipping to UK as £0.96 but, if the order is less than £4.42 (which one of those would be), delivery would be by January 08. Am I missing something?

upload_2021-11-7_3-53-18.png


Kind Regards, John
 
As has been said by several people.

Using wind to produce a small amount of power at 230 Volts AC will waste a lot of power in creating the AC at 50 Hz from the variable frequency output of the turbine.

The electricity bit is almost trivial.

A bit more than trivial.

The most efficient system would have a means control the current in the field winding ( Stationary coil ) to obtain an output from the generator at the required DC voltage not matter what speed rotational speed of the generator. ( obviously there would be a minimum rotational speed )
 
Rutland was back in 90's when I was playing the leader in small wind chargers used for farms and boats for electric fence etc. I know on the Falklands known for wind, farmers found even back in the mid 80's early 90's solar worked better as more reliable.

I tried building my own, copying the Rutland furlmatic idea, and realised the problem was rotating mass, wind tends to come in gusts, before the blades get up to speed there is a force bending them backwards, so they need to get to speed fast.

I tried using a wagon alternator rewound so lower cut in speed, but the idea of using power for the rotation field did not work, a little success wired in series rather than parallel but needed load from zero volts so would work a bulb direct, but not charge a battery.

Best results was an old bicycle hub dynamo (they are not really a dynamo they are alternators) used insulation tape around the spokes to form blades, fixed facing up down valley as wind always either up or down valley did not matter which direction it rotated still charged batteries.
 
Any recommendations appreciated.
Suggest you spend some time on a forum devoted to wind and solar power. In general people's results from this kind of project are very disappointing. You need a massive mast, and need no houses or trees in the area. Typically a field may do. I have read endless tales of woe about wind turbines in residential areas. The decent forum for this got closed down recently but many of the members moved to camelot-forum. I should ask the question there and see if you get a better idea of the feasibility.
 
Aliexpress - there are several shipping options you can dig for, they highlight the cheapest which is of course slow.

Canal boats, sail boats and caravans impose restrictions - horses & courses. We don't know the situation here.

No need to worry about the internals of the generator, that's part of the design you're buying. Dealing with the output they give you is cheap/easy. It needs a little knowledge but you aren't breaking new ground - it's all been done before so it's question of findng what you need and putting toigether.

It's easy to overestimate wind, you don't notice when it's quiet!. Solar is easier to predict in that respect. Upcoming perovskite panels will make them more attractive, depending on cost. Solar's quieter, too, ask a fish!

My roof doesn't suit solar too well. I have a 20m x 2m fence though!
 
Everybody's replies are greatly appreciated, though it seems that the subject is more complex than I thought ... but for most people of my generation that's not difficult :whistle:
 

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