Wind Generator Charge Controller

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Matt, perhaps the difference is the blade configuration. IIRC, the Aerogens use a multi-blade array with a lot of blade area. Low efficiency, but high torque at stall speeds. The air-x uses long skinny blades, relatively low blade area, low torque at stall, high efficiency when spun up.

Thus, when shorted, the Air-x just stops, or turns at a few rpm, because it can't generate enough torque to overcome the very high drag of the shorted alternator*, and thus generates near to zero power... so no heating of anything.

The Aerogen when shorted continues to spin fast enough to produce some power and hence some heating... a insidious result of that high torque at stall.

*And yes, the Air-X is an alternator, but uses permanent magnets rather than field coils to produce the required mag field. The regulation is done with PWM, not by reducing the field current as in an automotive alternator. I dunno why one would not call it a "generator", 'cause it does generate electricity. The devices HelloSailor refers to are DC generators... a different breed of cat, and not relevant to our discussion.

So, continue to tie off your silent but deadly Aerogen and leave the shorting to others!

Jim

Sounds like a feasible explanation. You science-geek you.

[Locquatious]

Seabourne Solutions LLC PropPurr Antifoulant and Polish For Bronze and Brass Propellers is in the process of manufacturing a controller for any 3-phase wind generator that:
Stops the wind generator when the batteries are charged to a set voltage
Attempts to stop the wind generator before it overheats
Obtains more energy out of a wind generator at wind speeds below 12 knots

The last two features are tuned for a Kiss wind generator. The overheat feature will be tunable for other three-phase wind generators. The increased energy at low wind speeds will work with any three phase generator, but tuning is preferable.

[omaolchonaire]

What I'm using in my system for my dump load https://www.altestore.com/store/char...pt-male-p2327/

[Mike OReilly]

Thanks GILow, I guess it's an electronic brake on my Silentwind. Never gave it much thought ... it just works. With my old Air-x (may it's remains rest in noise hell) I just shorted it as Jim says. Always worked fine to dull the banshee howl [emoji6]

[JohannDW]

Not an expert but I had a problem buying a controller for solar and for a wind generator. And they were expensive. So I tracked down a wind generator that has a controller that also has solar panel ports. Installed- it has worked for about a year now with no drama. I don't know if the wind generator is great- but it was worthwhile just to get the controller. Ista Breeze- made in Turkey- sold through Germany. It is 12 volt but they might do 24 volt as well. All in it was about $650.

[Locquatious]

Using a load diverter is not a preferred solution, especially if it only diverts the energy to resistance heat. Any wind generator is much quieter stopped. In high winds, the wind generator will eventually overheat and then spin freely and noisily. But in the stopped condition, the Kiss at least, will remain stopped in winds up to 42 knots.

The Kiss Extractor™ will automatically stop a three-phase wind generator for ~90 seconds when the batteries reach a set point of 12.6V (for some lithium batteries), 13.2V (for tropical storage charging), 13.6V (for maintaining a float charge), or 14.4V (for those wanting extra charging). The wind generator will remain stopped if other charging sources (solar, engine alternator, generator) keep the batteries above the set point. The stopping circuit is solid state electronic so there are no relay contacts to corrode.

[Bleemus]

My Superwind furls its blades in higher winds. Never need to worry about high winds.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

My Superwind furls its blades in higher winds. Never need to worry about high winds.

Feathers its blades?

[Bleemus]

Originally Posted by GILow

Feathers its blades?

Yes. That is a better word for it.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

Yes. That is a better word for it.

Hmmm... I like the sound of that if it is reliable. Had not seen it on anything other than really big generators. I will have a look at the manual for that device.

[Bleemus]

Originally Posted by GILow

Hmmm... I like the sound of that if it is reliable. Had not seen it on anything other than really big generators. I will have a look at the manual for that device.

You will be impressed. The construction is robust enough to be deployed untended and it is virtually silent. Used for remote weather stations and communication towers. Pricey but worth it in my opinion.

[CapnCrunch]

Someone mentioned using a watermaker as a dump. I had actually wondered if/how that could be done?

[GILow]

Originally Posted by CapnCrunch

Someone mentioned using a watermaker as a dump. I had actually wondered if/how that could be done?

A couple of ways come to my mind. The original owners of our boat did it manually, they would run the water maker in conjunction with the wind generator. They were trade wind sailors and the power output of the generator in those conditions matched the water maker pretty nicely.

If you wanted to get all technical, then a relay switched circuit in parallel with the manual circuit for the water maker would work. Just send power from the dump circuit to a relay. It would need to be a dual circuit relay though, as it would have to switch on the water maker and at the same time send the power from the wind generator straight on to the battery bank. There's no way you could run the power straight from the dump circuit of the wind generator to the water maker, voltage would be all over the place and the current would probably be inadequate. If you went down this path, the addition of a small timer set for, say, fifteen minutes operation once activated, would ensure the water maker was not short-cycled, which would probably be bad for the motor. This way, once the battery charge level reached a point where the wind generator was dumping power, you'd know that you'd get a good fifteen minutes of water making at which point, if there is still enough charge in the battery, the water making continues, otherwise the battery returns to a charging phase.

Matt

[Argyle38]

Resurrecting an old (but not that old) thread rather than starting my own topic since my question is related.

I'm looking at installing a wind turbine and I'm wondering how people handle the batteries' need, or strong request, for multi-stage charging. Are there intelligent charge controllers robust enough to handle the current from a turbine yet provide two or three voltage states based on acceptance current in to bank? In other words, is there a system that will charge at bulk voltage and then divert a portion of the energy in to a dummy load while continuing to maintain the bank at acceptance or float voltage?


I'm looking at a D400 system and all of the vendors strongly suggest a very simple, but robust, charge controller that simply diverts to a load resistor when the voltage reaches a set level. This voltage is set using a screw head so it certainly isn't intelligent.

Just wondering if a charge controller as described in the top paragraph exists, or if single stage charging is the only real solution, what voltage people set it at.

[GILow]

I believe the Morningstar Tristar can do this, at least from my reading of the manual. But as noted I could not see how it could be made to play nicely with other controllers. So I let the solar handle the multistage stuff and just let the wind generator contribute to the bulk and absorption phase.