I am trying to figure out what size fuse I should use on my battery bank to my inverter. And also from my charge controller to the battery bank if my turbine is capable of up to 1500 watts. It puts out AC 3 phase and I have a battery bank of three 130 amp hour gel batteries.
1. Inverter rating (watts)/Battery bank size (volts); then use next higher size fuse. 2. Max turbine power (watts)/Battery bank size (volts); then use next higher size fuse.
I would like to ask another related question, If I have a 1500 watt inverter and a 12 volt battery bank and I wanted to say run a 1000watt heater that draws 9amps AC, What amps does my 12 volt battery bank have to produce to run this heater? My calulation say! 1000watts/110=9 watts AC or 1000/12=83watts DC please correct me if I am wrong.
I think you meant 9 Amps and 83 Amps ... I should probably let someone more qualified that I answer this question but your answer will depend on a variety of things. What type of batteries are you planning on using and how long do you expect them to last? (e.g. flooded lead acid batteries don't like any more than 50% DOD (Depth Of Discharge) so you will need at a minimum twice the number of Ah (Amp hours) than your load. You also need to take into consideration other loads and losses like the inverter, for example, will only be roughly 94% efficient. You will have losses from your wire depending on size used and length of run. How long to you expect to run your heater and will your wind generator and/ or solar panels keep up with the load? Running a heater is about the quickest way to deplete your batteries as you will find. I think I would seriously consider an alternative heat source. (wood, propane, even kerosene) If you have constant high winds, you might consider using your dump load to supplement your heating, I think Bluejay was talking about doing that. Hopefully others will chime in to more directly answer your question. I'm not sure of the best way to calculate how many Ah you would need in your battery bank but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be very cost effective means of heating. Best of luck in all, Dave
How about 60% efficiency! Similar setup with with a 60w bulb vs. 1000w heater. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMOZD6mskMM If you are using a 110AH 12V battery you will kill it in under an hour. The idea is not to deep discharge EVER. Oversize your battery bank.
Thanks guys and yes I meant amps not watts my batteries are 132 AH gell batteries and I will use three of them. I really don't intent to use the heater just wanted to use that wattage for my example.But I do want to use a 900 watt microwave,but as stated that will be on no more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time. How can I tell the state of my batteries with my multimeter? Example when I charge them with my charger they goe to about 13 volts then settles back to around 12.8 volts. When I left my camp this weekend my charge controller which shuts down at 11volts read 11.9volts. In my example what is the lowest I should go before starting my generator and charging my batteries so as not to hurt them ? I just installed this last week and naturally we have had no wind. As you can tell I am new at this but your info is priceless thanks
Minnesota I watched the video cool info, I would love to have a little meter that would display watts, amps, and volts my controller only shows volts left in battery bank. What is this meter called and where might I get one.
Rake - he used a Turnegy meter. I have several and the cheapest place by far is Hobbyking in Asia. 1/2 the price, cheap shipping, but up to 2 weeks to receive it. There are USA places that sell it but it is a lot more. Only $24 at Hobbyking: http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh ... duct=10080
Hi again Rake1, As Minnesota mentioned, the less you discharge your batteries, the better. It would be a good idea to check out the specifications for your particular batteries if you find a link to the manufacturer. The ideal charger for AGM type or Gel batteries is a 3 stage charger, Bulk, Absorption, and Float, a specification sheet for the batteries should give you the proper voltage for each of these. My AGM batteries require a 13.6 VDC Float charge. (This is the voltage I try to keep them for a normal full charge). I would venture a guess (check specifications) that your gel-cells will like about the same float charge. Leaving these sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries at a lower voltages for any length of time will shorten their life span. As I use my batteries, I try to recharge them to float voltage as soon as practically, possible. Not always possible with periods of no wind but I try to supplement that with a back-up charger. Since batteries are a lion's share of system cost, it pays to keep them in good condition. Dave
Windyguru this is the link, I purchased this a couple of months ago before I started coming on here for info I hope I didn't make a mistake. I purchased the 350 which I was told could produce up to 2000 watts. Now to be fair that 2000 watts was in 70mph wind. http://www.beawindhog.com/ My new charger is a 3 stage charger that I have been using, the batteries are ups 12-475FR from CD technologies. Here is a link to the batteries. http://www.cdstandbypower.com/product/b ... 12_475.pdf
rake = I hate to break the news to you but you were severely mislead. Windfraud advertises the 350 to produce 100kwh/m at 10MPH, which is 3.3KWH/day, which is 139 watts continuous. BS. I'm an engineer and a number cruncher, and this claim is essentially impossible. It turns out that even the most efficient turbine needs at least a 10 foot diameter rotor to generate that type of power at 10mph (see chart), assuming it even starts. With the 35-inch blades/79-inch rotor (6.6 feet) as they advertise with the 350 it will at best do 61 watts (see chart). Being it's a car PMA based generator (not purpose built as a wind generator) I would expect it does far far lower. The other car PMA based units on that market like the 350 (Windblue Lite, Windcutter 1, Mallard LW) do 20, 10, and 2 watts respectively at 10mph (measured). Even if the 350 does 20w, that is still far from the 139w claimed by the 100kwh/m rating on it. Windfraud does not have power charts for their products. A major RED FLAG. Try to get your money back. MY CHART OF BEST CASE POWER BY A WELL DESIGNED WIND TURBINE SYSTEM: As a point of reference, the Windy Nation units do in the 40-50 watt range at 10mph with a 6.6-foot rotor, less than the 61w "ideal" number above. This is mainly due to the PMA not being 100% purpose built for this application. Good wind, Minnesota
Great news to hear about something you just purchased. I did order the Turnegy meter you suggested so I will post some # when I get them. All I can say is when the wind was blowing at 10mph on my anemometer I got 10 to 12 volts going to the charge controller with my multimeter. Now I don't kmow if that can be translated to watts or not. I was told when i bought this thing that the alternator was not a std one it was reworked to produce more power. But as you can tell I am new at this wind stuff, hopefully there is some magic inside there. One thing I did notice if this means anything is the strength of the magnet on the alternator nut was very strong.
Yes, they are all "juiced." They take an original delco alternator which has a wired stator and wired rotor (with brushes) and replace the rotor with one using N40 magnets, and dump the brushes and internal bridge. Some rewind the stator too. This is all he did and that is all the other suppliers do. There is only so much one can do within the shell of these delco alternators to rework them. I doubt his real power is any better than the others out there. As for voltage - it has to be connected up to a battery (load) to count. "Open circuit voltage" can run very high with no load connected - several hundred volts actually.
This was voltage at the controller which is hooked up to the battery which is hooked to the inverter. Is there anyway to convert this to watts?
You should read the volts at the battery under active charge (not float) with a voltmeter. You should connect an ammeter in series with one of the leads to the battery to read amps. Volts x Amps = Watts.
