It is working good for me. It keeps the voltage below 14 volts till I get a big gust. It also does the hunting for a better power point for up to 5 seconds too. Would be nice if they could stop the hunting and just jump to another power point for up to 5 seconds and see if output is better.
Below is the description and specifications of a 500 Watt grid tie inverter, with dump load controller found on ebay for $278 and free shipping. My turbine is a PMA rated at 12V 450W, but will probably produce much more depending on wind speed. To me it shouldn't matter what voltage or current it produces, because the inverter has voltage and over load protection built in. It would be nice to go to a 1000w unit, but they don't make one in 12V. My question is, has anyone tried these units? Would my turbine fry it? The grid-tie inverter can transfer wind energy from wind generators directly into the home grid using no extra equipment. It can be connected to any outlet (conventional network) in the home. The grid-tie inverter controls the phase and the frequency and voltage of the power generated by the wind generator. It produces a pure sine-wave and matches that of the grid. This model grid-tie has build in bridge rectifier and dump load controller, it can maintain the rotating speed of the wind turbine and keep the voltage from the wind turbine always at the range of the rated range of the grid tie inverter. It also has a high voltage protection function, when the wind is too big, and the dump load controlling system can’t keep the output voltage from the wind turbine, the controller will disconnect itself from the wind turbine, so it is very safe to be used.. Features Build In Rectifier Build In Dump Load Controller Build In High Wind Protection High Efficiency Pure Ture Sine Wave LED Indicators Built-in Cooling Fan AC Cables Included Instruction Manual Battery Low Voltage Protection Over Voltage Protection Over Load Protection Over Temperature Protection Short Circuit Shutdown 1 Year Warranty Parts and Labor Technical Data InputDC Voltage 12V 24V Continuous Power Output 450W Peak Power Output 500W Standby Power Consumption <1.5W Total Harmonic Distortion <5% Peak Inverter Efficiency 92% Power Factor 0.99 Output Wave Form Pure Sine Wave AC OutputVoltageRange 90VAC ~ 130VAC Output Frequency 46Hz ~ 65Hz InputDCVoltageRange DC 10.8V~30V Recommend Dump Load Resistor 5 ohm/500 watt Over Current Protection Yes Over Temperature Protection Yes Reverse Polarity Protection Yes Anti-Island Protection Yes Inverter Weight 7.7 lb Dimensions (W x H x D) 13.0 x 10.4 x 5.3 in
Jagged, It should work just fine. A lot of guys on the forum have had success with those grid ties. What 500 Watt wind turbine do you have? Can you send us a link so we can check it out? Good luck with your turbine project - Josh
I built my own, so it would be hard to send you a link. I used a SCS 12 permananent magnet PMA from Thermodyne systems and a 54" dia 3 blade prop. I am enclosing a couple of pics of it and the PMA specs. I haven't let it run yet, I'm still getting things ready. Once I've got everything I need, I will raise it up to it's running height and let er rip!
My guess is that you are going to need more of those blades to get that thing spinning. Probably at least five. You might also need to enlarge the surface area of the tail to track the wind more smoothly. But it is not necessary to change anything if you find it works the way it is. Don't worry about exceeding 500 Watts. It will probably take about 35-40 mph wind to do that. Does it have DC output or 3-phase AC output? If it is DC, make sure you run some thick wires down your tower. Looks like a nice little turbine! Thanks for the pictures - Josh
Yes that is exactly what it is, in 12V DC output. I will stick with the smaller rotor right now for testing purposes. Actually the tail is modeled after the Avro Aero and it tracks very well. We get some pretty good winds in this area on the North Lake Ontario Shoreline. I've already got a 5.75KW grid tie solar array being installed, so this is just a toy.
Once you clamp this to a battery you will be at 12-13V and no more that the short circuit current which likely will never get above 25A in winds under 35mph, so do the math on watts produced.
So around 300W. When hooking the inverter to the grid, what is the best way to go? These inverters can be purchased in either 110V or 220V AC output. My house has 220V coming in from the grid which is split into 110V. I have access to both 110V lines and 220V lines in my garage where the turbine is attached.
We are using 110 volt GTIs. I was looking at 220v but there pictures look like the same plug. At least the ones I was looking at on Ebay. So not being too trusting I went with 110 volt. Even at 500 watts at 120 volts it would only be less than 5 amps.
