Adding Wind Generator to 12V Solar

[LMHS]

Increase your battery bank.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Increase your battery bank.

At times good advice. However this rig is on grid, and the desired outcome is emergency backup. Although it would not be my choice, due to a past life experience! I can follow what the desire is. Remember batteries have a shelf life. Large banks, not used still go south in time. I am intrigued by the idea of a fairly large super capacitor bank for this setup. Yes I know! deep pockets required! But think about the life.

 

[mjeds]

I know!
My problem is I think others should understand me .

So one panel will produce what the x-air I used as an example. When I tried the generator I had the wize idea of strapping the blades to the back of the rv as I traveled about, so I wouldn't have to disassemble the turbine. First stop I found the tips of the blades had fractured because they caught wind on the tips and vibrated.

Further I found that I will choose a location out of the wind if I have my druthers. Even the forest trees reduce the output.

The x-air has a built-in regulator. Other schemes sink the power to a water tank to slow the turbine to maintain the charging voltage. You can compare it to any other charger. The output is charging voltage, so will work in parallel to your existing system.

And yes as thelooks said, I am suggesting another panel, it will serve you much better.

ok I will be the first admit I know zero about wind turbines,

but one would think that this style would be best for driving vs. the blade style:

both claim to be vibration free and stable up to 100mph winds.


*EDIT*
so.. reading about these. completely useless, they are rated for ~1200watt they claim, but it appears that claim is 1200 over 24 hour day, so ~50watts per hour in 35mph sustained winds.

so yeah, just get another solar panel and more batteries.


FWIW: I have an ecoflow delta max 7200wh system in my RV, with 4x300 watt solar panels (came with the unit), Those 4 panels keep the delta max between 80% and 100% even with the June gloom SoCal has been experiencing.

for me that is 9 - 14 hours of battery power on the Delta Max. The nice thing about these units is they have a 30 connector on the unit, the controller, etc is all inclusive. All I had to do was plug it in to my RV and I have full power.

If I run the HVAC, I only get about 2 hours out of it, but for everything else (12v lights, Micro, Water Heater, TV, etc.) I see 9-14 hours battery only.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

ok I will be the first admit I know zero about wind turbines,

but one would think that this style would be best for driving vs. the blade style:

View attachment 19259View attachment 19260


both claim to be vibration free and stable up to 100mph winds.


*EDIT*
so.. reading about these. completely useless, they are rated for ~1200watt they claim, but it appears that claim is 1200 over 24 hour day, so ~50watts per hour in 35mph sustained winds.

so yeah, just get another solar panel and more batteries.


FWIW: I have an ecoflow delta max 7200wh system in my RV, with 4x300 watt solar panels (came with the unit), Those 4 panels keep the delta max between 80% and 100% even with the June gloom SoCal has been experiencing.

for me that is 9 - 14 hours of battery power on the Delta Max. The nice thing about these units is they have a 30 connector on the unit, the controller, etc is all inclusive. All I had to do was plug it in to my RV and I have full power.

If I run the HVAC, I only get about 2 hours out of it, but for everything else (12v lights, Micro, Water Heater, TV, etc.) I see 9-14 hours battery only.

Yah when you read analysis of the beater style turbine, you start adding up the hype.

Because I want to run the A/C soon, I am looking into micro inverters.

 

[mjeds]

Yah when you read analysis of the beater style turbine, you start adding up the hype.

Because I want to run the A/C soon, I am looking into micro inverters.

I had 40 200 watt panels on my home with enphase micro inverters, 8kwh system. Typically generated 40-50kwh per day. From 2012 until divorce court took my home I had not paid an electric bill.

Installed the system myself. Cost me $20k in 2010 and recovered that in roughly 4 years. Avg electric bill prior was $500/month.

14ish years not one failure with the enphase micros

 

[GTS225]

ROI is important but we don't have room for anymore panels we already have 3 100 watt panels and it's not going to solve our need for power on cloudy rainy days and at night we only need 300-400 watts anyway.

OK, TX.....you aren't stuck with 100 watt panels anymore. (I don't know when you got these.) There are residential panels that produce as much as 300 watts each, but I don't know how they compare (dimensionally) with your existing panels. I suggest that you might want to consider a panel upgrade.
I do still applaud you for the wind harvesting effort, though. I was starting to think along the lines of an alternator available to the aviation crowd, that pivots out of the fuselage, into the airstream for power, but you won't benefit from that unless you're moving, which you don't, by choice.
You might also want to research the effect (negative) of surrounding trees on the available wind energy when considering the best choice for your endeavors.

Do watch out for the hype-hucksters, though.

Good luck.....Roger

 

[TheLooks]

I had 40 200 watt panels on my home with enphase micro inverters, 8kwh system. Typically generated 40-50kwh per day. From 2012 until divorce court took my home I had not paid an electric bill.

Installed the system myself. Cost me $20k in 2010 and recovered that in roughly 4 years. Avg electric bill prior was $500/month.

14ish years not one failure with the enphase micros

My guess is you didn't live in Maine or someplace like it.

 

[Rich W.]

ROI is important but we don't have room for anymore panels we already have 3 100 watt panels and it's not going to solve our need for power on cloudy rainy days and at night we only need 300-400 watts anyway.

My 30’ Bay Star had room for five 315w panels. But the real key, as mentioned above, is storage. Increasing your storage would also work well as a backup since you are on the grid which is reliable most of the time. I’m guessing the real problem is the occasional outage that lasts for several days?

 

[mjeds]

My guess is you didn't live in Maine or someplace like it.

SoCal

 

[TXheat]

OK, TX.....you aren't stuck with 100 watt panels anymore. (I don't know when you got these.) There are residential panels that produce as much as 300 watts each, but I don't know how they compare (dimensionally) with your existing panels. I suggest that you might want to consider a panel upgrade.
I do still applaud you for the wind harvesting effort, though. I was starting to think along the lines of an alternator available to the aviation crowd, that pivots out of the fuselage, into the airstream for power, but you won't benefit from that unless you're moving, which you don't, by choice.
You might also want to research the effect (negative) of surrounding trees on the available wind energy when considering the best choice for your endeavors.

Do watch out for the hype-hucksters, though.

Good luck.....Roger

Thanks for the upgrade suggestion, if we were going to hang onto the motorhome we would consider upgrading but since we won't be keeping it, it doesn't make much sense.