Wind Generator Not Charging Batteries

[sailingonltd]

Hello All! Hoping someone can help:

My husband installed an Apollo wind generator about a couple of weeks ago, and it's still not charging the batteries. He's looked over everything many times, and can't figure it out. In fact, now the batteries seem not to be holding the power they get from the engine (as well as they use to). Has anyone else had this problem?

We are in the middle of a 6 month cruise from MD to Key West and back to MD. Anchored off Pumpkin Key tonight.

I've recommended asking a fellow cruiser while in No Name Harbor but...it's like asking for directions, right?

Thank you so much!

[Tellie]

Too many unanswered questions. How much power is it producing in how much wind and how much power are you using in your daily amp hour budget? The winds here in S. Florida have been nice lately but limited. Counting on a wind generator alone to charge your batteries is a bit optimistic.

Halden Marine Services | Marine Watermakers, Solar Panels, Wind Generators

[skipmac]

Have to agree with Tellie. To many unknowns here to give any real help.

Would need to know a number of things to have even a rough guess.

Does Hubby have a volt meter and know how to use it?

What's the voltage at the batteries when the wind charger is spinning? What's the voltage at the charger?

Do you have a battery monitor? What other charging sources do you have? Do the batteries hold a charge if you disconnect the wind charger?

What electrical things are you using every day? Anything that draws a lot of power like refrigerator, inverter, etc?

How many batteries, what kind, how old?

[Hudson Force]

First of all these questions,- what is the DC Amperes output of the wind generator when it's spinning. Are you getting anything?

[MarkJ]

Wind generators don't really work at all until the wind is 15 knots or above. Below that I don't know/cant really measure if its putting anything in.

[chouliha]

Using a clamp on meter would be helpful when the wind generator is spinning. Tellie is right not enough information supplied to give a good answer



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[denverd0n]

Another point, are you sure the batteries are good? How old are they? Perhaps you have an issue with the battery bank such that no amount of charging is going to matter.

Lots of different things to check, obviously.

[w1651]

First thing is are your batteries wet cell or agm. If their wet cell top them off with distilled water. Next take a reading if the electrolyte in the wet cell batteries reads below 1100 your batteries are under charged or bad. You said you can charge them with the engine?
Take a voltage reading at the batteries then start your engine, turn the main switch to charge that specific battery bank and see what the voltage at the batteries is now with the engine running. It should be at least 13.5 volts for a 12 volt battery.If it is run the engine for 15 minutes. Shut off the engine and recheck your voltage at the batteries. If it is back up to 12.26 or better keep charging them with hte engine for a half hour.
With the wind generator disconnected from the batteries check what voltage and amperage it is putting out. It will vary with wind speed. If it doesn't produce anything above 6 knots you have a bad wind generator possibly. Your instructions should have the wind speed and rates printed in it.
After an hour or so with no load on them they should still read above 12.26 volts. If not replace your batteries me thinks. I suspect your batteries are old and you need new ones

[Cadence]

I would be concerned with your batteries don't hold their charge as they did? I think you should disconnect the wind generator and see if it is draining your battery? It is nothing more than a motor charging rather than turning. A faulty diode in the controller could well cause that. Call the MFG.

[Ironman162]

Things are seldom what they seem. Regardless of all the questions the one thing that matters is that we need power.
There has to be a lot of wind for a wind turbine to make a significant difference. Added to that it has to be an expensive turbine, one that generates 13.8Vdc at 250 rpm.

The bottom line is you get precious little power from a wind turbine in wind speeds below 20 knots.
If you have the room for it buy a 200w solar panel and a regulator from eBay. They are easy as a DIY installation. This will impress you with around 10amp charging current for 6 hours a day if it's just lying flat and can do better when angled towards the sun in the afternoon.
The batteries will spring to life if they are the deep cycle type all for under $300.

I've been though the same cycle thinking the battety bank has had it with a cheap chinese wind turbine and now have both solar and wind combination. Must say I replaced the Chinese wind turbine with a much more expensive Rutland 910i in despair.
Looking back solar/wind combination is still the best option but dollar/watt the solar panel wins by far! If only the sun would always shine and the mast/sail won't cast a shadow!

If it was me I would first see if I can charge the batteries with a portable petrol generator even if I have to borrow one for now. This will give a firm footing to start addressing the problem.
Hope this approach helps and I feel quite sure you will arrive at a point where you will consider ditching the wind turbine just as I and I'm sure many others did!

[warrior 90]

To charge a battery the voltage has to be higher than in the battery.
Unfortunatly wind generators deliver less than they promise and the cheap ones even less.
If You don´t use them in winds 15 mph up I doubt You will see any results.
Since You say the batteries are holding the charge the wind gen seems to be the problem of concern.
To test:
Connect a light bulb IN LINE between the wind gen and the charge controller.
Afterwards connect a light bulb IN LINE between the charge controller and the batteries.
To get an idear of what Your wind gen can do for You install an AMP METER IN LINE between the charge controller and the batteries.
Observing it will indicate if You produce any "usable" energy and how much.
The charge controller adapts the energy produced by the wind gen to the battery voltage.....here it should be mentioned that charge controllers also need energy to function and some low quality ones need quiete a lot. There for they draw energy from the battery EVEN IF YOU DON´T PRODUCE.

For reliable energy on bord I recomand high voltage solar panels together with a MPPT charge controller with cooling by heat sink and NOT COOLING FAN to get max efficiency and reliability.
Hardly any maintanance, nothing can break and NO noise.
Unless the sky is totally covered You will produce usuable energy to charge batteries ALL THE TIME

If space is an issue, flat and flexible solar panels con be installed temporary on many surfaces like cabins and dogers with bungys or velcro.

Fair Winds

[sailingonltd]

Thanks for the replies and tips everyone! I'm aware of the additional info needed for advice. My husband just broke his meter and has to get a new one at the next stop. We have 2 batteries - one brand new and the other 2 years old. He may replace it. I'll let him know to check out the replies so far. He's a naval architect/engineer, and is aware of many of the questions the first few replies asked. He just never installed a wind generator on a boat before. We have a solar panel too. We've had this for awhile and works like a charm. Thought we'd use a wind generator to help with the refrigeration during the cloudy days. Hopefully, he'll take the time to read some of your input, to help him think of something he hasn't yet.

Thanks again! Happy New Year and Happy Cruising!