running wind generator in reverse

[Ric]

I was sitting in the cockpit of my boat in the marina yesterday and a father and young son walked past my boat. Spotting the wind generator on the stern, the young boy asked "Daddy, why has that boat got a fan on it?". The father thought for a moment, then answered "It's for when there's no wind, he switches on the fan and it blows the boat along".

I think this is a brilliant idea - surely if I just replace the blocking diodes with a switch it should work fine? And if I got a double throw switch, I could even have reverse?

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[ParaHandy]

gawd .. this forum's been taken over by the Institute (of Electrical Engineers) ..... why not have magnetic levitation? ah think we'll all be sectioned shortly ...

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[snowleopard]

great idea. and when you have taken out the diodes you can connect them backwards so you can put in dc and get ac out to run your tv etc.

then again, how about leaving your engine in gear while sailing - run it backwards to fill up your diesel tanks.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by snowleopard on 12/02/2004 09:32 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[MrG]

Do I have a problem?
I leave the gearbox in astern when sailing, but the fuel tank never gets any fuller..

<hr width=100% size=1>Mark

 

[steve_cronin]

Poor old Sir Isaac.....

..must be a-rotatin in his grave!

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[jamesjermain]

Ah! But it's filling up in spirit!

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ

 

[tome]

On a visit to West Cowes I went to the office to pay the dues, and the lady asked if we'd used any power. I could see our bright yellow power lead from the office.

I replied that we'd over-charged our batteries, and would she mind if we just emptied a wee drop back? This must have tickled her as she didn't charge us.

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[petery]

Not such a wild suggestion. I have just bought a S/H fancy Trace inverter/power supply unit via Ebay and, if you use it with a generator, you can set up the computer controller to sell surplus power to your local utility supplier via your shore lead. It appears to be fairly common in the US

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[steve_cronin]

It happens here too.

Prof. Tony Marmont who sold his soft drinks company a few years back to persue his interest in electric vehicles and green energy, runs his farm near Loughborough from two wind turbines, a bank of solar panels and a heat pump which uses his duck pond as an exchanger. Not only does this power his dairy farm, the farmhouse, the Thunderbirds style helicopter hanger (the helicopter runs on petrol) and his battery powered Fiesta (in which he makes the run to Loughborough University where he is Prof of Renewable Energy Studies) but he also sells around £10,000 worth of energy back into the National Grid.

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[jimi]

How much does he get for his frozn ducks?

<hr width=100% size=1>.. whit way roon should it be again ..