Hi Greg, and welcome to the message board.

Well I read the above, and the other info on OtherPower.com. It can all be done, but.....

Your going to need a bigger windmill. The F&P makes about 1 watt per rpm, so for normal use we expect about 200 to 400 watts for a HAWT windmill, and over 1000 watts for water wheels. EcoInn ( see the links page ) has a lot of info on the F&P for both wind and water use.

My windmill is 2.2 meters in diameter, so has a sweept area of about 3.7 meter square, and that gives me 20 amps peak into a 12 volt battery, or 240 watts, when its blowing a gale. On average I get 10 amps, or 120 wats.

VAWTS are almost as efficient as HAWTS ( see ED's new design ), so you would need a VAWT about 2 meters high and 2 meters wide to get the same sort of power. See where I'm heading? Your little wirly bird just wont have the power to drive the F&P. Its a good idea, but you need to go bigger. Why not build your portable box with the controllers, inverter and batteries, and buy a 200 watt windmill from Oatley Electronics for $499 AU. It come with a simple tower and would only take 30 minutes to put up.

Glenn