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Forum Index : Windmills : Wind Turbine Solar Inverter
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darcyrandall200 Newbie  Joined: 17/01/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 34 |
Hello, The typical solar grid tied inverter has a large input voltage range maybe in the range 110Vdc up. If I found a turbine that produces an output in this range or I installed a transformer, can I connect the turbine to the inverter without the need for batteries? I have seen recommendations in other forum posts to use a battery bank between the inverter and turbine (Lantronix for example). I was wondering if the typical inverter requires a rather steady DC voltage delivered from batteries or if it could handle the turbine dc voltage which is up and down and all over the place. The reason I ask the questions is that it is such a waste to see a Solar panel inverter not being utilized at night. Perhaps a wind turbine could be attached. But then if I have to add 10 batteries I might aswell purchase a 2nd inverter, ie the Windy boy which doesnt require batteries. Cheers Thankyou. Regards Darcy Randall, Perth Western Australia |
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Downwind Guru  Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Its a question that comes up every few times a year, and if the answer was simple, dont you think we all would have done it years before and told the rest of you how its done. For example to wind a mill for 240v compared to a 24 volt mill, it would require 10 times more turns per coil, which is a lot of copper wire to fit in a small area. Nice thought but no easy answer that i know of. Pete Sometimes it just works |
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| darcyrandall200 Newbie Joined: 17/01/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 34 |
Regardless of the output voltage of the turbine. My question is whether or not the batteries before the inverter are necessary. I would think no but then maybe someone knows something about these inverters that I dont. Thankyou. Regards Darcy Randall, Perth Western Australia |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
http://www.latronics.com.au/products/turbine-controller I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Your question was to use the GTI to feed power from a mill to the grid, there is a range of problems here, from high enough voltage from the mill to reach cutin, then anti islanding and connect delay of a GTI, etc. Sometimes it just works |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
360 volt turbine with on grid controller I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| darcyrandall200 Newbie Joined: 17/01/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 34 |
I am informed. Thank you. I noticed the Lantronics Turbine controller still uses a capacitor bank as opposed to batteries. I guess the capacitor bank is necessary to dampen sudden voltage spikes. Thank you Thankyou. Regards Darcy Randall, Perth Western Australia |
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norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Hi Yahoo2, That ebay link to a 360v turbine you supplied, have you sited or had anything to do with their turbines. Their prices are very good, have been considering upgrading to a larger turbine. One higher tower rather than multiple towers with my small turbines, is starting to sound attractive. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
sorry about the bare posts, end of a long and frustrating day, should have just ignored the computer and gone to bed. Usually if I post a link or a picture it is my attempt at widening peoples horizons a bit and get them thinking, without resorting to lecturing or banging on. Which I am quite good at BTW 
I am a bit loathe to make recommendations, but on the other hand I do recognise that a lot of product suppliers can be incredibly hard to deal with, if you are not "in the game" so to speak. the little turbine in chinese turbine anatomy is one of his. I drive past a bigger one (3kw ?)every 6 months and think, "should call in an talk to the owner" but I can see from the road that it needs a new tower, so I am avoiding it, just in case he asks me to do it. It would at least be worth tracking the bloke down (think his name is Peter) and talking to him about what factories the various bits he imports comes from, what to expect for quality and what other stuff is available. Personally I would not buy a larger turbine until I have seen one like it in action for myself and checked out the blades and dump load gear. My problem is I still cant take wind power seriously, I look at it like owning a boat for recreational fishing, we do it because that is what we want to do, no amount of tricky financial accounting will make it viable in my mind. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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wallablack Senior Member  Joined: 10/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164 |
Looks like one of these Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools. |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
I tend to agree, that is why I'm going to put up about another KWatt or two in solar with no tracker either. I have found that all too often when we have a heavily overcast day, there is also no wind and we live in a very windy area. At least when it is overcast, there is still enough light (with the extra panels) to charge the battery bank. The 500Watt OEM wind turbine is a nice extra little bit of power but If we go away for holidays, I dare not leave it flying and so lower it to the ground. I think it needs a mechanical furling system as in strong winds it just seems to bite into the wind. David M. |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Hope this link works! This is the pv output for a 5 Kw system in Mt Gambier during their worst generating week of the year Shalamar 09/06/12 5.824kW 08/06/12 4.011kW 07/06/12 11.481kW 06/06/12 5.442kW 05/06/12 5.738kW 04/06/12 2.365kW 03/06/12 5.642kW only other days for the year under 5kw 13/07/12 4.867kW 21/06/12 1.853kw 20/06/12 4.351kW where are all the sunless days in the south east 
and I have just noticed that the array is facing west  no morning sun!
try this one Jebediah and Jebediah June 2012 I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Where do you live? I am not sure why one would put up a fixed array facing west but I suppose people do if that is the only mounting space they have. We often go three or four days in a row with dark overcast skies where the trackable 680 watt array only produces around 5 amps max for the day. Mount Gambier is somewhat further inland from us and very often has different weather to us. We are pretty well on the coast. In any case, I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say. David M. |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I live on Upper Eyre Peninsula. Mt Gambier was the closest place I could find to you that had good panel data online. What I am trying to say, is that if you are getting a lack of sunlight to that extent, you will be the first one that I have ever seen. Modern mono's are remarkably good at hitting charging voltage with almost no light. I have even seen a system wake up and try to charge in moonlight. I know it can get pretty miserable there, but I am a little suspicious that you may have some voltage drop making things worse. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
My array is an old poly silicon type and doesn't take kindly to low light or shadow. I reckon you are right there - it is only wired up using ordinary twin core earth 4mm household wiring. The distance from the array to controller is only about 4 metres. I am in the process of permanentising the whole set up as it has moved from pillar to post over the last few years as I got sheds etc built, whilst trying to run a beef cattle farm. Days like today don't make things any easier either. Currently 42.5degC ouside at the moment. Inside is 26deg and no air con fitted, just verandah all the way around and dark canvas awnings on all windows. It might be a bit dim inside, but it is quite pleasant. I've got some 10mm cable which should improve matters. Just need a round tuit. 
David M. |
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| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Why? it keeps better on the roll. Sometimes it just works |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
And... I've got a couple of them there "round tuit's . I've done a stocktake around here , only 4,371 jobbies to finish ,,then the big pine box with the fake gold handles. Anyway , youse friends have a nice New Year and keep chattin Bruce Bushboy |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Mobi, Your current wiring may be enough, would depend on the number of panels wired in seies. My system has 3 banks (arrays) of 6 X 12v panels. Which equates to up to 120 volts per array max(6X20v) Cells are poly also. Wiring is only 4mm which is ample as time has proved. Of course if the panels are not wired in series, the wiring size is way down. On wiring size check out the Windempowerment forum, there was a disscussion on this awhile back. Hugh expands a little on this subject and his experiences in regard to wind turbine wiring sizes. If your panels are in series changing to 10mm wiring may give give you bugger all gain. The new mono panels are certainly the way to go at present,a new crop of mono-poly combination panels are on the way, it looks like they maybe the bees knees. I have an old 60watt BP mono (15yrs+) its output is only marginally better than the same era polys when shaded. Also have a couple of new mono`s on my camping setup and they leave the old polys for dead, especially when shaded. Technology advances. REUK have handy line loss calculators and conversion charts from AWG mm and mmsq We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I would be doing the boring stuff first. Get the multimeter out and probe the back of the panels and see what potential you have to work with. Then break out the toolbox and spend an hour a day for the next week going over ALL of the connections in the entire system, battery terminals,panels, the lot. I'll bet my extensive collection of antique spirit level bubbles that some sandpaper, a pressure pack of nail gun cleaner (acetone) and the soldering iron will find those missing volts. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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