wind generator

[katelyn]

came across this today http://www.freespiritenergy.com/

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

I want one. If it works like it says it does. Someone here has a windmill on their rig I think.

 

[peacetara]

I was chatting with the guy who has one at the RTR, he said his is a 400Watt for about $600.<br><br>His thoughts (as I remember them, he is on the forum some, I hope he chimes in....):<br><br><ul><li>It's a little noisy apparently, especially in wind storms, it can get so noisy he has trouble sleeping.&nbsp; This isn't a problem for me, since I'm deaf, but I think I'm the minority.</li><li>It's not as consistent as Solar.&nbsp; i.e. the wind has to be blowing for it to work at all.</li><li>It's almost twice the price of Solar, so Solar is the cheaper alternative.</li><li>He seemed to think it was a good addition TO solar, since it works when solar can't (at night, during storms, etc.. assuming the wind is blowing).</li></ul><br>I have no idea what brand his is, but his includes the Charge Controller, so it's as easy as putting it in the sky, and connecting the wires to the battery.<br><br>Anyways, I hope he will chime in, and correct any mistakes I may have made, and share some more of his views.<br><br>With Love,<br>Tara

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

The site says plug right to the battery.&nbsp; Does that mean it comes with an 'onboard' charge controller or are you just trying your luck?&nbsp; <img rel="lightbox" src="/images/boards/smilies/redface.gif" class="bbc_img"><br><br><br>I'm all for alternative power.&nbsp; Not too windy here tho in the mountain valleys so thats an option for later for me.

 

[gadgetMe]

[QUOTEPeacetara: I was chatting with the guy who has one at the RTR][/quote]<br><br>The one I have here at the RTR is an Southwest power AirX wind charger, that I have been using for the past 6 years.<br>Peacetara is correct it will produce 400 watts of power at a maximum flat wind speed of 30 mph.<br>The unit is self contained, meaning it has a built in voltage regulator, and is plug &amp; play meaning just hook the wiring to the battery bank to charge the batteries. <br>I use it as an additional, way to charge batteries in varying conditions around the country when traveling.<br><br>It works very well in open lands like deserts, and farm fields, it becomes less effective when it is around trees and buildings, also the higher it is in the air the cleaner the air flow to run it. I have mine installed at abut 20 ft. high.<br><br>I have had very good luck with the unit when I use it,<br><br>Putz<br>ps. Peacetara I enjoyed very much conversing with you the other day, as you could tell I an not much of a text-ter I do ok with a keyboard, and a paper with pen, I am a old guy, from old school.<br><br>

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

^I know how you feel, i can type 90 wpm n a keyboard with my 2 index fingers but for some reason it takes me an hour to text on a phone with my thumbs <img src="/images/boards/smilies/tongue.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><br><br>I didn't know you could get so much power from wind....this is very interesting to think about with the wind whistling outside my window right now <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[papas34]

I have one of the Southwest power AirX wind charger units at my cabin....I think it is great and have been thinking of installing it on my rv.<br><br>One thing to consider besides the sound is that the vibration causes sound and has a destructive nature on structures it is mounted onto.....my instructions stated not to mount to a house.<br><br>That said I have seen them mounted to all kinds of things even a car once.

 

[DarthMuerte]

That looks great! How much room would it take up while traveling in a van? How secure is it against theft while mounted?&nbsp;

 

[papas34]

One trick I was taught with my first windmill was to run the wires down the inside of the pole after braiding them with lots of slack......make sure to leave extra length so that as the wind changes direction and the windmill turns to follow the wind there is plenty of wire inside the pole to just spin and wind around....eventualy the windmill will go around the other way and unwind itself.<br><br>I do see how this could be difficult with this setup, maybe just extra lengths of wire stuffed down the long pole that return to the top to come out as shown.<br><br>As far as how these units hold up.....I often saw them powering warning signs and such along the freeway in Wyoming and Utah when I was a long haul trucker. Seem to do fine and they are mounted very low maybe 8 feet of the ground.

 

[rokguy]

Hi Guys,<BR>&nbsp;Yes the air X southwest power is a great unit. I did have one on a sliding pole on the back of my old motorhome. 400watts or 33amps (@ 25m wind speed) was real and it was brilliant. Mine was the first gen one called the air 403, it did everything it was advertised to do but it was noisy. The newer ones are much quieter<BR>You had to run a STOP switch on them to feather the blades in really high winds. <BR>The whole controller for batteries regulation is built in and it is designed to hook up directed to your battery bank. The three cables (pos,red, neg, black and neutral, green) do run down the inside of the pole cause of it contact plate&nbsp;which allows it to swivel. The blades are aerolastic and do feather anyway when the wind reaches 40 mile an hour (this is the fluttering noise you here)<BR>I like&nbsp;the guarantee on the booklet 100mile an hour wind speed.<BR>I did have the most bizarre accident with it though when I was staying in a beachside RV park. I guy who was kiteboarding on this 60mile beach lost control in a huge wind gust and guess where you think his parafoil landed, on the front of my roof (some 80 yards away from the sea) It would have been Ok if he had just let go of his control lines, but no, he dragged the whole setup into my razor sharp blades. Nice one. Boofhead !<BR><BR>Here is the testimonial for the Air 403 it chopped up his rig like a blender but didn't suffer any damage.<BR>He called me every name under the sun but like I stated I was in a RV park and he was supposed to be on the sea !!<BR>I still use it on a yacht. Attached picture<BR><BR>Really good investment if your in the right location.<BR>The air X family needs a high initial wind speed to kick start it.<BR>There is a good english brand called Rutlands which produce 100watts all day and night cause of it extremely low inertia the slightest breeze keeps it running.<BR>This will be my next one.<BR>Geoff<BR><BR>PS. Yeh the pole has to be mounted on rubber feet attached to your motorhome due to the vibration, it hardly takes up any room on the back ( I would remove the 8mm allen key bolt on the single nosecone with blades attached when driving) and NO you don't drive down the Superslab with the thing up. ( Like I was asked plenty of times.)

 

[kyuubs]

Has anyone tried building one? &nbsp;They are super duper simple mechanically. &nbsp;Wind goes through curved blades on a circular hub, turning a dc motor and generating electricity, which goes through a charge controller to your battery. &nbsp;There's some great plans here: http://www.thekevdog.com/projects/wind_generator/ and also some infos on converting a car alternator into a low speed generator so it can be used in the setup: https://www.windynation.com/jzv/inf/all-about-delco-style-alternators-use-wind-generators Seems to me like this could be done for really cheap money with some ingenuity and elbow grease.

 

[rokguy]

<EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Yeh Kyubbs,</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">There's plenty written about building your own down under too&nbsp;but they are usually based on big home installed units. The biggest problem your going to have on&nbsp;a portable road version is being able to keep the blades down to a certain size but have enough start up speed in them. The air 403 type windgenerators blades are around 4ft - 5ft in diameter and thats using sophisticated electronics</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Using an alternator for instances you would need something in the order of 10ft diameter blades to overcome the alternators internal windings to kick start it. .I can be done but it would be pretty big to lug around.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Geoff</SPAN></STRONG></EM>

 

[mobilekev]

I built about a half dozen and sold them when I was cruising on my boat. I can give somebody the rundown on how to carve the blades if they're interested. I used an 8' 1x4, cut it in half and bolted them together to make a 4' diameter 4 blade prop. It started well at low wind speeds and was a good bit quieter than the 3 bladed commercial units. I had a few of those as well so I could compare them side by side.<br>&nbsp;I used to use surplus NASA 90 volt computer drive motors I got from Skycraft Salvage in Orlando. Back then they were $35 but from what I gather the cruisers scarfed them all up. I saw one on ebay a couple of years ago for about $100.<br> I would just put a 35amp diode on the positive wire along with a switch and a fuse and hook it up to my batteries. I used a lot of juice back then so I didn't use a charge controller but it would definitely burn up a battery if you left it on.&nbsp; I mounted my first one on my car and waited for a calm day and at 25mph I was getting 28 amps. I told the neighbors I was building a wind powered jeep&nbsp; <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><br>The best way to stop the blade if the wind is blowing too hard is to use a boat hook or something similar and turn the tail around into the wind until it stops spinning. Then I'd just tie it with a bungee cord.<br><br>