Charge Controller for Turbine

[Richkayak]

Hi - I have two 24w solar panels and they run into a Victron 150/35 charger controller.

I just put up a wind turbine it says its 400 watts.

Can I just wire in the wind turbine to the existing charge controller or do i need a special charge controller for wind?

Thanks

Richard
(currently in the Port of Brest Waiting to cross Biscay single handed)

[ccannan]

Typically you need a special charge controller for wind. If the batteries are full and the wind generator is still making electricity you’ll need/want to dump that electricity either into a dummy load, or water heater.

[GILow]

+1.

Most turbines have their own controller as there are different ways of regulating them, it even varies from model to model from the same manufacturer.

Some use a dump load (like mine), some manage their own electrical braking, controlled by the regulator.

It would help if you told us which wind generator you have.

[HankOnthewater]

Above posters are correct. You need a separate controller for the wind generator. Your Victron solar regular is for solar only. BTW, your controller can handle 500 Watt at 12 volt, more at higher voltages. But that is SOLAR only.

If you were to connect the wind generator to that controller, while the batteries are full..... you will fry the generator, and maybe even the solarpanels if connected to the same input. and if input voltage rises above 150 Volt.... controller will be fried as well. Hmmm, the order of frying might be different.

If you were to connect a wind generator direct to the batteries without a controller, you will fry the batteries, that is if the batteries are full. Without a controller you can get away with that.....only if your electricity consumption is bigger than the supply of the wind generator.

"Fry" is a very technical term. That word can be replaced by: cook, destroy, terminate, finish.

[Mike OReilly]

I have a dual wind/solar charging system on my boat with 400 watts of each. Solar runs to a Victron controller while wind runs through its own controller.

My wind controller is a far simpler beast than my solar MPPT. It uses voltage and/or amperage settings to control charging states. Basically, it's a bulk charger that is either on or off, based on a simple voltage setting. No smart controlling. No absorption or float capabilities.

You can run solar through this kind of simple wind controller (at least I did, for a season), but it's not nearly as effective as a proper MPPT.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by HankOnthewater

"Fry" is a very technical term. That word can be replaced by: cook, destroy, terminate, finish.

Fried is a very suitable word.

I fried the bridge gate rectifier on my Aerogen following a sequence of failures brought about because I didn’t BELIEVE the manual when it said not to leave the device untethered when unattended.

The break down voltage of that particular rectifier was rated at 500 volts.

500!

It looked fried. Well fried. Positively crispy.

[singlespeed]

My Aerogen 6's rectifier gave it up after 10 years. I ordered a replacement from Aerogen in England and it lasted a day. The replacement they sent lasted two days. I bought a larger load rectifier on Amazon, after making sure the dimensions would allow it to fit in the same space. Works great again.

[Frugal]

Depending on what your wind generator has in the way of a controller and / or rectifier in place.
At nameplate 400 watt my guess is it is a 3 bladed Air-X lookalike from China with a 3 phase a/c output. ( An AU$300 touch such as I have).

If so you will need to rectify the 3 phase to d/c.
It's output will then need to be monitored to avoid frying the batteries and other power users on the boat when the batteries are fully charged.
My solution is to use a set of relays that short out the 3 phase between the generator and rectifiers and manually monitor the system voltage.

To automate this setup a simple voltage sensing switch could be added.
With the relays engaged the generator so loaded that it slowed down to about 1 rev per second and thus "braked".

You can chose to have the relays when powered up to be in the on or off setting so their very small drain on your system is used either while the generator is charging or braked.
My observations are that it starts charging at 12 to 13 knots of wind and then produces about 2 amps per knot above that. At 30 knots it is running at around 30 amps and anything above that the blades cavitate and assail your eardrums.
Hope it all helps.
Cheers
Frugal

[GILow]

Originally Posted by singlespeed

My Aerogen 6's rectifier gave it up after 10 years. I ordered a replacement from Aerogen in England and it lasted a day. The replacement they sent lasted two days. I bought a larger load rectifier on Amazon, after making sure the dimensions would allow it to fit in the same space. Works great again.

Well, that makes me feel even better about using the generic rectifier I bought from RF. I mean, I bought it because it was about 1/100 the price of the genuine article, but let’s be frank, a bridge gate rectifier is a bridge gate rectifier. They’ve got a bl—dy nerve as,ing the price they ask for their genuine article, which is just a standard ade-In-India model.

[ccannan]

A model number, link and price would be helpful.

Originally Posted by singlespeed

I bought a larger load rectifier on Amazon, after making sure the dimensions would allow it to fit in the same space. Works great again.