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khi48
Newbie

Joined: 09/03/2020
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 2

Posted: 12:37am 10 Mar 2020

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Hi there,

I am keen to get started with building a wind turbine and have an F&P smart drive to play with.

I was planning to wire the smart drive in a 7X2C arrangement to produce 12/24V then have it hooked up to charge some old car batteries (don't want to buy a new deep charge one). I am a little confused as to how to hook the turbine up to the car batteries.

I like how the simple charge controller linked on the site (https://www.thebackshed.com/windmill/articles/TL084-Controller.asp) would switch to a dummy load once the battery is charged, but am a little confused as it seems that the voltage is not regulated from the turbine. It seems to me that the voltage that the turbine produces would vary with the RPM and could be too high or too low to charge a battery properly. Would this be of concern?

If so, would there be a modified version that can regulate the voltage to safely charge the battery, or is it better to simply buy a pre-made system. I had been looking online and came across a 12/24V, 30A, wind charge controllers from Ebay and wondered if this would be a good option: (https://www.ebay.com.au/i/283806861714?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-139619-5960-0&mkcid=2&itemid=283806861714&targetid=309727335774&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1000142&poi=&campaignid=1669056926&mkgroupid=67513082834&rlsatarget=pla-309727335774&abcId=1123846&merchantid=7364522&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIotvb2NOO6AIVg5SPCh2EtAQ8EAQYAyABEgJYHfD_BwE).

Sorry if this has been asked before, I likely missed something while I saw scrolling through old posts.

Appreciate any help you could lend.

Many thanks

Tim_the_bloke

Senior Member

Joined: 15/11/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 105

Posted: 07:38am 12 Mar 2020

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If the windmill spins too slowly, the voltage will be too low to charge the battery, and nothing much will happen.
If the wind is strong and the windmill spins fast the voltage will be higher, depending upon your charger the battery could regulate the voltage, if it is a nice large battery.
Perhaps more knowledgeable people would correct me...

khi48
Newbie

Joined: 09/03/2020
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 2

Posted: 04:03am 08 Apr 2020

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Yeah, I was wondering if there may be a circuit out there that could bump up the voltage when the windmill spins to slowly and reduce the voltage when windmill spins too quickly.

After some research, I think I could use a buck-boost converter in front of the simple charge controller that is already on the site.

Cheers!

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