Need Advice On Wind power

[WayneB]

Most of the big ones all look the same

So it is jails (I think there are five (5) state prisons in Franklin County alone and now wind mills!

 

[charlz]

Sort of off the original topic but I found this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/business/27grid.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Big problem for the future of wind and other energy projects like solar.

 

[Deerlope]

I have been seriously looking into generating power from wind. The main reason is our power goes out due to storms. The reliability of our power company is not great. When our power goes out we do have wind! We live in a good/decent area to generate power. I am told one of the best areas in the state. I decided on wind verses solar due to cloudy days, snow, and bang for the buck DIY 12 volt wind generator. Yes, there is more service involved with wind. I was looking to start rather small with a homebuilt 12 volt system to at least power some 12 volt landscape lights and run 12 volt power into the house for a 400 watt inverter. Side benefit would be alternating stored batteries keep them fresh when Spring comes. Granted this would probably not power our propane furnace, but a step forward though to getting my feet wet! So for the short term for heat is I am looking into fixing a old RV 6000 watt onan generator for the furnace and well.

This is the plans I am looking at for starters
Purchase_Plans

I have a 60 foot tv antenna I dropped this summer that could modified and used. So is that cost is covered. Long term....eventually I would like to build one big enough to power us "partially", and maybe break even with cost in 15 years.

Any good or bad input is much appreciated!

Thanks!

You will need to know the max wind speed for whatever you buy because a high wind can and will tear the blades off.

 

[excelagator]

Wow......I thought some would look at this pretty good idea even given there is work involved? I would have thought there was someone that has done a electric windmill here? Those are not cuts just statements.

Birds vs windmills.......

I spoke a while back with the DNR that deals with windmills and the bird issue. Their statement was, "everything kills birds". I have a neighbor that has birds fly into barns and kill themselves no reason for it.

Inverter and batteries.......

Ok lets say I can store the power developed in batteries. Yes a single deep cycle battery will not power our furnace. But a large barrery bank will. Now I draw lets say 20 amps on the AC side of the inverter. I am drawing on the DC side would be 222 amp DC. Yup that is alot of amps. If the battery bank had 10 batteries wired in parallel the amperage draw would be 22.2 amp per battery...roughly I have reasons for that. The bank could be expanded to drop the amperage per battery lower.

Yes I have played with inverters enough they are not efficient. Then again I to say I am not running gas engine to run something AC powered

Windmills here.....

I do know of a gentleman up here that powers his cabin with wind. Ironically he owns a well to do small engine shop. He has powered the cabin with generators and prefers wind now. So something said there??

Structure and location....

If some of these can be put on a pole. I think a three sided TV antenna
with deadmans with work rather well. I have planned to have rigging to lower the tower for service. The location is a mile from Lake Superior and I am 348 feet above it on a hill. Generally the wind is very good. I will have to do further studies into what the wind speed is.

My project was proposed nothing more than learning experiance. I am going to have pitfalls oh yeah!

 

[Defective]

Dan,

If you have the time and energy for experimenting with it, I'd say go for it. Even just building and setting up the system to try it out can be rewarding.

I'd not want to trust the antenna tower though. They're just not engineered for that much side loading. I lost a tower with just a small antenna on it to a storm and it was properly assembled and braced.

Don't bet on your furnace being too much for an inverter. Mine runs quite nicely off a small industrial UPS quite well. The fan motor is the biggest draw and can be switched out for one that will run straight off the batteries if you want.

 

[excelagator]

Dan,

If you have the time and energy for experimenting with it, I'd say go for it. Even just building and setting up the system to try it out can be rewarding.

I'd not want to trust the antenna tower though. They're just not engineered for that much side loading. I lost a tower with just a small antenna on it to a storm and it was properly assembled and braced.

Don't bet on your furnace being too much for an inverter. Mine runs quite nicely off a small industrial UPS quite well. The fan motor is the biggest draw and can be switched out for one that will run straight off the batteries if you want.

Thanks Defective

I will look further into towers. The TV antenna was a thought. It has seen better days, but honestly was not maintained. The sections are bolted together and honestly I would weld the whole thing up to make it one structure. Other than that it is straight.

I have spent time around 1500 foot antennas that are subjected to hurricane force winds in Florida. They are supported in a pivot underneath the main structure. Think of a ballpoint pen on a base for lack of a better word.

Wow Defective I'm impressed..........What size UPS did you use?

If more people lost power in the Great White North for a day. Maybe they would understand?

 

[Defective]

The UPS on my furnace is rated for a 300W load and has sufficient batteries for about 2 hours runtime at full load. It is currently set to shut off the furnace after half an hour and turn on an indicator light. If I'm not home when it happens, it doesn't kill the batteries. I can turn the furnace on again and warm the house back up. (after closing vents to unneeded rooms...) I plan on switching the fan motor out for a DC motor when finances allow and hooking in a battery bank just for the motor. I'm also hoping to replace my generator before winter hits again as the silly thing died 2 years ago & repairs would cost more than simply replacing the cheaply made hunk of junk.

Fortunately, we don't often lose power here for more than a few hours at a time. Quite a difference from when I lived in Huntsville. Usual outages there averaged 2-3 days at a time & happened at least half a dozen times each winter. Might have had something to do with living in the bush as compared to just farmland here.

For a good laugh, when the big outage happened a few years back (can't recall which year it is right now...couple of rye & gingers 'll do that...) I was living in the city. Everyone in the neighbourhood was in a panic & the wife & I just hung out on the porch with the house lights on watching the fun.

If you compare your TV tower to those made for higher loads you'll quickly notice a difference between formed tin and actual steel. I wouldn't weld a TV tower, it's designed to be bolted.

 

[tommu56]

Yes I have played with inverters enough they are not efficient. Then again I to say I am not running gas engine to run something AC powered

Try their invertors dont look at the ones in the box stores
OutBack Power / Home


i got my silar stuff from
Backwoods Solar Electric Systems

I got about 1800 AH of batteries that we run our cabin on pumping water microwave and some lights I suggest Trimetric metet and leave it in the current mode so its like a speedodometor start the microwave and it is running at about 145 Amps at 12v but it recovers quickly
I have look at a couple of other solar instulations (mostly HF parts) and most of the time the dc wiring is under sized and when I suggest to the people to make it bigger and they will get better results most don't spend the cash.

tommu

 

[excelagator]

YouTube - How to build a home made wind generator part 3

I like what he did with the power!