Wind generator regulator problem

[fiveflipflops]

Hi All, We have Air X 303 wind generator. the internal regulator appears to have packed up, I have spoken to South West Power Manufacturers who advised me they no longer have spares for this particular model. As the wind generator still produces power but is unregulated I am loathed to throw it away. Their advice is to turn the external voltage regulator to maximum and put in an inline regulator setting at 14.1 volts and dump the remaining volts to somewhere. The question is which is the best way to do this. Any recommendations on which regulator and where and how to dump the excess voltage is appreciated. They did mention the calorifier, is this possible? It would be nice to have hot water from the wind generator.

Cheers, David and Emma
S/Y Five Flip Flops

 

[bazobeleza]

I too have an air x whose regulator has packed up (along with the bearings) I'm toying with disconnecting the regulator and running the power through a sterling regulator. I haven't a 12v glorifier so thats out as as an alternative.

 

[steve28]

why not wire in a 12 volt battery charger circuit sold in kit form from places like maplins or cpc, they should be able to regulate the voltage well. the stirling system wont work in the way you want it to.

 

[William_H]

Wind generators I think tend to have a permanent magnet field which means that unlike a engine alternator it is not so easy to control the power. ie the wind gen runs at full power output all the time depending on wind speed.
The regulators are usually what is called a shunt regulator in that a transistor and resistor across the power output start to conduct current to dissipate the power as the voltage rises above 14.1 volts.
As the generator is connected to the battery this also represents the battery voltage. A solar panel regulator works in the same way and may well serve the same job.

Regulators can also switch in a series resistance to limit the current into the battery and so reduce the voltage and in fact a combination of the two can be used.

So your post begs the question" How do you know the regulator is knackered" if the output of the wind gen is very high in voltage and current then that would definitely indicate the reg has failed. If however you get no charge out, it may not be the regulator but may be brushes (if it has them) or rectifier diodes.
If it is running away with high voltage out then a solar panel regulator of suitable power capability should fix the problem. it does mean that the wind gen is running at full power and the reg is wasting the power. You could clamp the reg to the outside of the conntainer of the calorifier but don't expect much water heating.

I would suggest just mount the reg where it can get airflow or even attach a small fan. good luck olewill

 

[webcraft]

The Aerogen has a regulator which dumps excess current to a dump resistor which gets warm.

It would probably work just as well for your generator. I am sure Aerogen will advise - I have always found them very helpful.

- W

 

[jeremyshaw]

I have been toying with a similar idea - on paper. I want to put in additional wind and solar power and use the excess to heat water.
The thinking is to put in a voltage sensing relay to send power to an immersion heater. A Fridge Mate will do a similar job in a slightly more controlled way - though only rated at 8 watts.

It seems you can get the heaters from westondale.com - 12v 8 watt and more, to fit into the drain cock of your calorifier. No idea if they are any good - just tracked them down on the net when I was researching the idea.

A lot of people argue that you should not regulate a wind generator anyway since the charge tends to come in bursts and you are going to strip out much of the available power. Of course a lot depends on the size of your battery bank, whether you are living aboard, location etc. But the idea of 'free' hot - or warmed - water is attractive. Somewhere in this forum is a formula for how much X watts will raise the temperature of Y litres of water per hour.

Sounds good to me but has anyone actually tried this in real life?

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
Somewhere in this forum is a formula for how much X watts will raise the temperature of Y litres of water per hour.


[/ QUOTE ] That sounds like something i might have posted but it's only schoolboy stuff so I dont see why you cant work it out for yourself (Its over 45 years since I learnt any Physics at school) /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Now you will remember from your schooldays that 1 calorie raises the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1°C.
1 watt is 1 joule per second
and 1 calorie = 4.187 joules or 1 joule = 0.239 calories (Lets call it 0.24)

So 1 watt is 0.24 cal per sec and will heat 1g through 0.24°C every second.

So if you have 10 watts it will heat 1000g (thats a litre) through 0.0024°C per second.

and since there are 3600 seconds in an hour thats 8.64°C in an hour.

but of course if you are heating 10 litres thats only going to be 0.864°C in an hour

All that assumes that no heat is lost and does not take into account the thermal capacity of the calorifier itself.

If you want a formula thats:- Temp rise = 0.864 x W x T / V
where W = watts input, T= time in hours and V= volume in litres

I hope thats right. 1 o'clock in the morning is not the best time of day for these things. Perhaps William H would like to check it through, its only mid afternoon for him!

 

[William_H]

Hi Vic as a habit I only look at the forum 8Am in our morning. ie around midnight UK as the forum fizzles out. Yes I think your numbers are correct and amount to very little heating for the kind of power we have to spare on a boat.

We finally have a respite form the hot weather. It went for nearly a month with max over 33. Down today to 27. sailing has been 'orrible with little wind and very hot. I think 4 of us drunk 5 litres of water in a 3 hr race last Sunday. Off now for a swim and scrub the boat for a night race tonight. Any sympathy?????????????? olewill