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Have you ever admired a wind generator that was harnessing pure free power?

They’re not only enjoyable to watch, but when you own one, they give you an exciting feeling of electrical independence. Those spinning windmills simply make you feel good, about your energy bill and our planet, every time the wind blows.

Whether you’ve decided to make one and save thousands, or buy one commercially, they are still a great investment for our planet and your electrical independence.

Here are some great tips that will save you money and help you harness the most out of your wind.

 

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Knowing How Wind Generators Work  And Why It’s Important to You

How to Gauge Your Electrical Needs Amp Hours /Watt Hours

Eliminating Power Hogs

Choosing a Wind Generator Design That’s Right For You

Not All Deep Cycle Batteries Are The Same

The Power And The Tower

 

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Knowing How Wind Generators Work And Why It’s Important to You

When it comes to harnessing wind energy, bigger isn’t always better. The bigger the generator the more wind it’s going to take to rotate.

The rotation around the magnetic field is what produces your electricity, and if you want the best bang for your buck, you’ll fine tune that process. Put another way… What good is a 3,000 watt wind generator that barely spins? What if you had seven 1,000 watt wind generators that spun moderately in the same winds? Did you know you can buy seven 1,000 watt wind generators, for the same price as one 3,000 watt wind generator?  Say for example… a Whisper Wind Turbine that’s rated at 3k watts. The Whisper 3k watt wind turbine retails for $8,700 opposed to a Windmax 1k watt that retails for $1,200. The point is, that bigger isn’t always better, and you can save thousands knowing how to optimize your available winds.

Did you know you can make a 1k watt wind generator, using wind generator plans,  for less than $200?

That’s just an example of watts, but there are far more variables that come into play. There’s also the generators that are used, what they are made of, what kind of magnets they use, how close those magnets are mounted to the coils. There’s also the number of blades on the windmill/wind generator design.

To get the best indication of a wind generators performance, look at the output graph.

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How to Gauge Your Electrical Needs Amp Hours/Watt Hours

You’ll get the best results by knowing exactly how much electricity you need.

Be aware that wind energy comes in spikes and can quickly charge up a battery bank, unlike solar power. If you plan ahead and make  a load dump to a water heater, it will make use of excess power.

Here’s a home circuit map, of my house, that shows each circuit and what it powers. Your map doesn’t have to be to scale, and calculating voltage drop would be overkill IMHO.

What you do need to do, is to make a list of all the appliances, lights and gadgets you want to supplement and then add 20%.

Be aware that some appliances, like air conditioners and freezers, will pull more initial power than they are rated for. This is to get the appliance started. To get the true measure, you’ll have to gauge their draw at start up. When you get all these figures, then it’s time to start planning your renewable energy system.

Here are some simple formulas that will help you convert your appliances into amp/watt hours.

Amps=Watts/Volts

Volts=Watts/Amps

Watts=Amps x Volts

You could take the kilowatt hours rated per year on your appliance and divide by 365, but you’ll find that this method isn’t reliable. There’s a number of reasons that this happens. As appliances age, they consume different amounts of energy. The difference may be subtle, but when added up throughout the whole house, this will be significant.

Not to mention… that some companies slightly exaggerate their efficiency numbers.

Here’s a neat little tool that tells you exactly what you’re appliance/ gadget is pulling. It will save you tons of work estimating the electrical demand for your home and give you numbers specifically for alternate energy use. Just press the button on the right, and you’ll get your amp hours needed to power that appliance/gadget.

You plug it in the wall and plug your appliance into it. It will then tell you the initial draw of that appliance and then the hourly draw. This will give you the amp hours you need to know when configuring your electrical system. It leaves out all the guess work and gives you real numbers to work with.

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Eliminating Power Hogs

There are a number of appliances and gadgets that cost you hundreds of dollars per year while they set idle.

Televisions, computers and chargers are among the worst offenders.

There are also appliances that have phantom draws, and continually use power. Appliances and gadgets that keep time, like stoves and microwaves. It would be a good idea to put these items on a power strip that you can reach.

Turning that strip off when not in use is a good way to cut down on wasted electrical use.

Using the Kill a Watt tool, listed above, is also a great way to find phantom loads.

Another test to preform, if you’re on the grid, is to turn off the main breaker to your home and look at your power meter. If the main is off than there should be no power drawn.  The electric meter should not move. If the meter is moving, it’s an indication that you have a short to ground and are wasting electricity. If you do have a short to ground, you should consult your electrical provider immediately. Unless you enjoy throwing money away.

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Choosing a Wind Generator Design That’s Right For You

When figuring out which design best suits your needs, you should consider the wind speed at which the windmill/wind generator starts producing electricity.

Be leary of wind energy advertisements that claim low cut in speeds. Cut in speed simply means that the blades will turn, it doesn’t mean that the wind generator is producing electricity. The Honeywell wt 6500 pictured to the left is a prime example. The Windtronics Honeywell design has a cut in at .05 mph winds. This means that the windmill will turn in .05 mph wind, it doesn’t mean that it will be producing any electricity.

Matter of fact, most of the Honeywell claims are inflated and you can get more electricity out of some much more cost effective designs.

You can get a list of great, low cost, wind generator designs at www.powertalk.net.

It’s a matter of great marketing, but not such a great ROI. When the numbers are crunched, the Honeywell preforms more like a 500w wind turbine. Since the installation of the wt 6500 starts at $7000 you can get a much better deal elsewhere.

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Not All Deep Cycle Batteries Are The Same

The interior construction of a battery determines what it’s used for. True deep cycle batteries consist of thick lead plates in the cells. These thick lead, positive charge, plates are what gives them their high DOD (depth of discharge). It’s the thickness of those internal plates and the durability of the case, that determines the quality of a true deep cycle battery.

There are hybrid deep cycle batteries that are commonly used in boat applications. These batteries are designed more like a start battery or SLI (starting, lighting, ignition),  except the lead sponge inside is thicker. The lead inside the cells are more like a sponge, to provide a higher surface area. This high surface area gives the battery higher initial amps to crank over engines. Unfortunately the trade off is that they can’t sustain constant draw without damage. That’s why using car batteries to store your alternate energy is a bad idea. Their simply not designed to provide constant electrical demands.

Lead acid batteries still provide the best power to cost ratio.

When using wind power, it’s a great idea to invest in a battery bank. A deep cycle battery bank will allow you to harness those gusts of wind for later electrical use.

Wind generators are great for topping off battery banks, because of their nature to provide spikes of power. Battery banks are a great way to harness those spikes, instead of dumping excess electricity into a load dump.

They don’t have to cost you thousands and you can actually refurbish deep cycle batteries that were considered past their prime. L-16 deep cycle batteries, like the ones shown above, are a great choice to refurbish. The thick inner lead plates in the cells makes them extremely durable.

The L-16 can be found in golf carts or industrial machines and can last many years, when properly maintained, charged, and topped off. They’re durable, but they are also expensive. That’s why I recommend learning how to refurbish discarded ones. You’ll still get a great DOD , even when refurbished, because of their construction.

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The Power And The Tower

You have to test the available winds where you plan on putting your wind generator, not on the ground where the tower base is going to be located. The test should come from where the top of the tower is going to rest. A few feet can make a huge difference.

Testing the available winds at ground level will give you inaccurate results. There’s too many variables at ground level, like drag and turbulence that hinder your results. Testing winds at ground level, unless that’s where you intend to place your wind generator, is a waste of time. To get the real results you have to test where the top of the tower would rest.

You also need to plan on how to maintain your wind generator and the placement of guy wires. Wind generators are going to need minor maintenance.  Planning how to rest your tower in the down position will make needed repairs much easier. Hinged towers with Jin poles and a resting foot, make for excellent designs.

You can save thousands by knowing how and where to locate your tower. You can find out what commercial tower installers, don’t want you to know at www.powertalk.net.

Keep in mind that the guy wires need to spread from the tower and you’ll need to place the tower accordingly. You should always erect your tower one time before you attach your wind generator. If anything were to go wrong, you can repair your tower and not have any damage to your wind generator. Hinges can give and guy wires can snap. It’s best to do a test run before you erect your wind generator. Keep in mind that there is a lot of tension on the guy wires and, if they snap, they can whip through the air. Just keep a safe distance from under the tower and be aware of tension on the guy wires.

The amount of wind available gets much more substantial the higher you go. However, sometimes the surrounding terrain can actually funnel the wind and give you a higher yield that’s lower to the ground. Proper testing will harness more wind and make for a more efficient wind energy system.

~Brandon McHale