Wind turbine that works.

[Windbag]

Depending on the budget, and space the Gaia 13 is really good.
Auto Start, Finds the wind, simple (ish) mechanics. Phone app with data. Slow rotation speed so noise, stress, bearings, vibration etc are not an issue.
The design pedigree I am told goes back to Norway in the 1980's

Yup. I like it. And I can see this making its money back really quick as it qualifies for export @ 49p (no that's not a typo)

[Ph.]

So my dream of a 1kW turbine ticking over nicely in the Welsh breeze, topping up the batteries is just that, a dream??

For many years it was a dream of mine! During which I did some research. I agree with many of the things said but not all.

Here in wales permitted development will allows turbines of up to 3m diameter & a ground to blade tip height of 11.1m so long as that can fall over entirely on your property!

Data logging was out of the question at this scale, it would have cost more than 1/2 what we eventually spent on generating power. Instead I combined power curve numbers with hourly average wind speed data from local weather forecasts. I quite quickly decided the only cost viable option was a DIY Hugh Piggott, & also that a Turbine of 2m or less wasn’t going to produce anything much except in a storm. However the numbers from a 3m Turbine combined with our then 2.1kWp solar looked like they’d make a significant difference & bring us close to a target of 5kWh/day.

Arranging a course to build a 3m turbine was quite a task but very rewarding & the result has been well worth it for me. Initial generation wasn’t quite what I’d predicted, but fine tuning has changed that.

The economics off grid are different, but getting as much power during the winter would cost more in solar, & more importantly would need double the battery capacity to store it through the dull periods & with LA batteries there’s always the problem that charging to 100% requires hours of absorption. Keeping the batteries healthy is much easier with wind in the mix than just solar & enables me to use a much greater proportion of generated electricity.

Ph.

[nowty]

Depending on the budget, and space the Gaia 13 is really good.
Auto Start, Finds the wind, simple (ish) mechanics. Phone app with data. Slow rotation speed so noise, stress, bearings, vibration etc are not an issue.
The design pedigree I am told goes back to Norway in the 1980's

Yup. I like it. And I can see this making its money back really quick as it qualifies for export @ 49p (no that's not a typo)

I think that kills the business case for batteries.

[Windbag]

I thought so, but it is nice to discuss.

I should have added they are really nice to watch. Strange but true, I think it is the almost 60 rotations per minute thing. Dunno.

Perhaps I need to get out more

[NikoV6]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies, much to ponder!

[ALAN/ALAN D]

Putting the Turnip on top of the 150ft tower Today would have
beeeen a challenge with the 45 M.P.H. wind Gusts.

[ALAN/ALAN D]

Record broken. Turnip peaked at 32 milli amps charging the 24 volt battery.

Just in case any one gets confused. It is milli amps and not Amps.

[AlBargey]

Record broken. Turnip peaked at 32 milli amps charging the 24 volt battery.

Just in case any one gets confused. It is milli amps and not Amps.

I had to read the thread and your earlier pic to see what was on top of your tower!

In reference to the original question, I have some Belgian friends who came over to see us 15 years ago to pick up a new 1kW Bergey WT from Cornwall, it's been running non stop for 15 years on the top of an 18m radio mast tower on their 51m barge charging their 24v battery bank. They only just replaced the bearings last year, apart from that they've never had to do anything to it! The only fettling was the first year with the mast cables snapping (too thin) and the rubber engine mounts on the top plates they used to minimise vibration also being too flexy. I think the reason all the other mechanicals being fault free is down to the well designed simple Bergey control box too, but I'm always surprised how well it's done for them.

If I ever saw one for sale, I'd snap it up.

Sadly Bergey don't make them anymore and the smallest is now 10kW.. which if the 1kW gives up then they're considering getting the 10kW instead, but the 1kW just doesn't want to die!

I quite enjoy sleeping in their spare cabin under the tower and listen to the whirr being transferred down the tower and cables, it's like listening to whale sounds for RE geeks.

The 18m Mast stands out!

[Joeboy]

Record broken. Turnip peaked at 32 milli amps charging the 24 volt battery.

Just in case any one gets confused. It is milli amps and not Amps.

I had to read the thread and your earlier pic to see what was on top of your tower!

In reference to the original question, I have some Belgian friends who came over to see us 15 years ago to pick up a new 1kW Bergey WT from Cornwall, it's been running non stop for 15 years on the top of an 18m radio mast tower on their 51m barge charging their 24v battery bank. They only just replaced the bearings last year, apart from that they've never had to do anything to it! The only fettling was the first year with the mast cables snapping (too thin) and the rubber engine mounts on the top plates they used to minimise vibration also being too flexy. I think the reason all the other mechanicals being fault free is down to the well designed simple Bergey control box too, but I'm always surprised how well it's done for them.

If I ever saw one for sale, I'd snap it up.

Sadly Bergey don't make them anymore and the smallest is now 10kW.. which if the 1kW gives up then they're considering getting the 10kW instead, but the 1kW just doesn't want to die!

I quite enjoy sleeping in their spare cabin under the tower and listen to the whirr being transferred down the tower and cables, it's like listening to whale sounds for RE geeks.

The 18m Mast stands out!

Always said to SWMBO that if we ever go our separate ways i'll end up living on a barge in Europe! Big fridge of beer, bag of weed and another of Viagra. Off we go! So far its worked (the idea not the Viagra). Windy day up here and seeing tenths of Amps output.

Amps


Volts