Just wondering what amps people are getting from their wind gennys.

I recently bought a S/H AC genny & I thought I'd be getting more amps coming in than the few I'm getting.

I've had cheapo DC gennys before but never had separate monitoring before so I can't compare.

Does it matter which way the 3 wires are connected to the (new) controller - they are all green??

Also does it hurt anything by having the brake on - which is the 3 wires shorted together??

TIA Larry

My el'cheapo turbine produces approx:
2 to 4 amps below 10 kn
4 to 6 amps from 10 to 15 kn
6 to 12 amps from 15 to 20 kn
12 to 25 amps from 20 to 30
It is a 3 phase unit and it has no order in which to connect the 3 phases
I have made a manual brake switch for it that shunts the three phases together and I was advised that because of the length of the power cables to the brake switch, it was unlikely that heat damage to the windings would be an issue if the turbine was to slowly windmill during strong winds. I could have also made a brake switch for it that disconnects the DC output from the batteries and shorts the + and - output together.
All was not sweet with my el'cheapo though, at first it was battling to make two amps in 20kn. First I mechanically drove the unit to prove whether or not it could make power and its output was awesome. I then checked out the controller rectifier/regulater box and it was working as it was designed to. This all lead me to believe that the blades where unable to harvest the energy from the wind so with a simple modification to increase the pitch on the blades,,, problem solved
I have the 12v output from the turbine running though my plasmatronics pl-20 solar controller via a shunt so that it's output performance can be logged. I think that the turbine is one of the best things that I have put on the boat

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Jolene said..
My el'cheapo turbine produces approx:
2 to 4 amps below 10 kn
4 to 6 amps from 10 to 15 kn
6 to 12 amps from 15 to 20 kn
12 to 25 amps from 20 to 30
It is a 3 phase unit and it has no order in which to connect the 3 phases
I have made a manual brake switch for it that shunts the three phases together and I was advised that because of the length of the power cables to the brake switch, it was unlikely that heat damage to the windings would be an issue if the turbine was to slowly windmill during strong winds. I could have also made a brake switch for it that disconnects the DC output from the batteries and shorts the + and - output together.
All was not sweet with my el'cheapo though, at first it was battling to make two amps in 20kn. First I mechanically drove the unit to prove whether or not it could make power and its output was awesome. I then checked out the controller box and it was working as it was designed to. This all lead me to believe that the blades where unable to harvest the energy from the wind so with a simple modification to increase the pitch on the blades,,, problem solved
I have the 12v output from the turbine running though my plasmatronics pl-20 solar controller via a shunt so that it's output performance can be logged. I think that the turbine is one of the best things that I have put on the boat

Thanks Jolene, I'm getting nowhere near that!!

I haven't checked how it goes with the batteries down a bit - as it is, the batteries are fully charged & I am wondering if the controller is limiting the input.

I'm wishing now I checked it out on the bench before installing!!

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Lazzz said..

Jolene said..
My el'cheapo turbine produces approx:
2 to 4 amps below 10 kn
4 to 6 amps from 10 to 15 kn
6 to 12 amps from 15 to 20 kn
12 to 25 amps from 20 to 30
It is a 3 phase unit and it has no order in which to connect the 3 phases
I have made a manual brake switch for it that shunts the three phases together and I was advised that because of the length of the power cables to the brake switch, it was unlikely that heat damage to the windings would be an issue if the turbine was to slowly windmill during strong winds. I could have also made a brake switch for it that disconnects the DC output from the batteries and shorts the + and - output together.
All was not sweet with my el'cheapo though, at first it was battling to make two amps in 20kn. First I mechanically drove the unit to prove whether or not it could make power and its output was awesome. I then checked out the controller box and it was working as it was designed to. This all lead me to believe that the blades where unable to harvest the energy from the wind so with a simple modification to increase the pitch on the blades,,, problem solved
I have the 12v output from the turbine running though my plasmatronics pl-20 solar controller via a shunt so that it's output performance can be logged. I think that the turbine is one of the best things that I have put on the boat

Thanks Jolene, I'm getting nowhere near that!!

I haven't checked how it goes with the batteries down a bit - as it is, the batteries are fully charged & I am wondering if the controller is limiting the input.

I'm wishing now I checked it out on the bench before installing!!

Yeah I went down the path of wondering about the charge in the batteries to the extent that I flattened one off deliberately to see if it would charge. What I found was the moment the cut in speed for the turbine was reached, the load on the turbine generator applied by the flat battery would slow the blades and the speed would fall below the cut in and disconnect from charging,,,the blades would then speed back up and charging would start momentarily again, causing a short cycling rythmn. Absolutely hopeless.

My Air Breeze unit gets about the same amps as Jolene's although I'm not convinced it is the best way to spend money to charge batteries at anchor or on a mooring, there's just too much fluctuation in wind so the average amp hours in would be low and the noise from the stop start cycles as the wind changes make it hard to sleep (for you and any neighbours) if you run it at night. They work pretty well underway in a good breeze though. Mine needs some TLC, the local bankside fishers would try to cast under the boat and often miss so there's several metres of fishing line on the hub. Haven't needed to buy any hooks, sinkers or lures for a while though .

My turbine is very quiet and I find it noisiest when it is just ticking over doing nothing, the magnets growl through the windings which sets up a vibration creating noise in the hull. As speed increases the vibration disappears along with noise. It usually wakes me up at night if the wind dies off so I then shut it down.
It spins slower than alot of the other brands,,, way quieter

I've recently taken mine off (need to to lift the boat on some lifts) and I'm seriously considering not putting it back on. If noise is considered energy, then it was great. For charging batteries, not so much.

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Toph said..
I've recently taken mine off (need to to lift the boat on some lifts) and I'm seriously considering not putting it back on. If noise is considered energy, then it was great. For charging batteries, not so much.

Yeah, I have plenty of solar power but it's nice to have for those rainy days!! I turn it off when I'm enjoying "sundowners' with music etc!!

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Wander66 said..
..... the local bankside fishers would try to cast under the boat and often miss so there's several metres of fishing line on the hub. Haven't needed to buy any hooks, sinkers or lures for a while though .

I have been known to get my own fishing line caught in it!!

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Toph said..
I've recently taken mine off (need to to lift the boat on some lifts) and I'm seriously considering not putting it back on. If noise is considered energy, then it was great. For charging batteries, not so much.

The neigbours will thank you.

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Lazzz said..

Toph said..
I've recently taken mine off (need to to lift the boat on some lifts) and I'm seriously considering not putting it back on. If noise is considered energy, then it was great. For charging batteries, not so much.

Yeah, I have plenty of solar power but it's nice to have for those rainy days!! I turn it off when I'm enjoying "sundowners' with music etc!!

If I need music with sundowners I generally get the guitars out , and maybe the neighbours don't thank me for it on a more realistic note .... I initially thought that fitting a wind genny to the ketch rig would be straight forward, but other than putting it on top of the mizzen mast and looking like a miss placed sunflower that has the potential to fool with the mizzen peak halyard or get tangled up with the main gaff while gybeing there's not a lot of mounting options