Wind regulator

Cardo

Cardo

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 Oct 2005
Messages
4,231
Location
In a plastic tub!
www.yacht-tinkerbell.co.uk
I'm working out how to wire in our Aquair 100. The manual says not to bother with a regulator for towed mode, however suggests a 10A regulator for when in wind mode.
Ampair make their own set of regulators for their generators, the one that would be suitable for my install retails for around £130. I've had a look on eBay and seen numerous wind regulators available for as little as £15 or so. I know that with solar regulators you get what you pay for, is this the same for wind regulators? Should I splash out for the Ampair regulator or just get a cheapie eBay job?
 
Regulators

I would suggest that the Ampair regulator is an inflated price and not worth the extra cash.
However if the regulator regulates by controlling field current then you may not have a choice. The comment that it doesn't need a regulator in towed mode implies the same generator so using permanent magnets for field.
So the generator will produce a voltage depending on speed of the generator and a voltage which can be dragged down by current drawn.
A regulator is essentially there to avert overcharge of the battery. This in simple terms controls the output voltage to about 14volts. A voltage where as the battery inherent voltage approaches this voltage will reduce then mostly stop taking charge.
The regulator can be in the form of a transistor whose resistance is varied electronically to reduce the voltage as necessary by feed back to give 14v output. A bit like whacking a light bulb ib series with the generator to reduce the power to the battery.
Or it can be in the form of a shunt or bypass regulator where a transistor is electronically controlled to waste the output of the generator and relying on the internal resistance of the generator to reduce the output voltage. A bit like whacking a light bulb across the generator (and battery) to dissipate power when voltage gets too high.
Both types may use a large resistor to help dissipate the power when necessary.
Both types can be in the analogue mode with smoothly varying transistor resistor or pulsed switching on and off at a ratio of on and off varying suit the needs.
The regulators can just regulate to 14v or can be set up to regulate at higher voltage in a stepped manner to get more charge in initially.
The last kind of regulator known as Max Power Point tracking cunningly transforms the DC output of the generator (or solar panel) from the higher voltage (at high speed) down to the 14v or whatever regulated voltage at the time). This has the advantage that power is not wasted to regulate the voltage but simply shifted in voltage. The reduction (transformation) in voltage actually can result in more current available although some of this is lost in conversion ineffiencies.
I can imagine that they reason that if you are sailing towing the generator you are likely to be using current so putting all the available power from the generator in to the battery is quite OK but using wind you are likely to leave the boat while not using power and hence likely to cook the batteries with overcharge.
I would suggest that any of the solar charge controllers are likely to do the job quite well. good luck olewill
 
elton said:
As olewill says, a solar charge controller should do the job. There's a selection at reasonable prices at Maplin.
Click to expand...

But will it? Don't know the Ampair but, our Aerogen dumps to a large wire wound resistor to maintain a load when the batteries are full. Otherwise, if it had no load or was effectively disconnected as a solar reg may do, it would overspeed and lose the blades.
 
GrahamM376 said:
But will it? Don't know the Ampair but, our Aerogen dumps to a large wire wound resistor to maintain a load when the batteries are full. Otherwise, if it had no load or was effectively disconnected as a solar reg may do, it would overspeed and lose the blades.
Click to expand...
Interesting point. I wouldn't dispute it.

Edit: This one has "load terminals" which I understand can be used to deliver current not required to charge the battery to an external load, so it should still present a load to the wind turbine even when the battery is fully charged. That's my understanding of it anyway.
 
Last edited:
A simple solar controller that just disconnects when a set point is reached is not likely to be suitable, for the reason already suggested and because a voltage surge may well damage the generator rectifier .

Many of the very cheap controllers are like this.
Some have facilities for switching loads because they are designed for street lights etc. Other have a facility to switch a load off when the battery volts falls in order to protect the battery from deep discharge

The same objections may also apply to PWM controllers.

I'd be cautious about using a solar regulator on a wind generator.
 
When I bought my Ampair regulator it was only £11, but that was before they were taken over and lost all communication with market prices. I've still got it and it performed sterling service for 12 years before I replaced it with an MPPT controller with lots of PV panels and gave up on wind energy as totally uneconomic. Most of the cheap solar panel regulators on the market go into open circuit mode at a predetermined voltage and are not suitable for wind generators - the original Ampair was a pulse-mode controller with a big resistor - because on open circuit, in a strong wind, the revs go up and the tips of the fan break the sonic barrier and make a tremendous noise before disintegrating (or so it was explained to me).
The unit has a second set of terminals but they are very definitely for attachment to another input such as a wind generator or PV panels, there was no provision to diverting the load to another chargeable device. From memory it was limited to a maximum of 100 watts on each input (the boat with the regulator is 3188nm away).
 
Last edited:
As others have said you cannot use a solar regulator on a wind generator.

Solar regulators turn the solar panels off and on very quickly to control voltage. This does not work with a wind generator. On of the problems that is easy to understand is if turn off the load the wind generator will speed up.

Wind generator regulators need to dump the power, converting it to heat. This keeps the load on the wind generator, but stops some of the current going to the batteries.
 
Wind generator regulators tend to place a short circuit across the generator (not the battery!).
This slows the generator down to keep the generating under control.
The STOP switch on wind generators works the same way, the short circuit across the generator output loads the motor because the current flow now makes the generator act as a motor. As it's not a perpetual motion machine, the machine slows to nearly a stop.
The regulator pulses a short circuit on and off to produce a partial slowing down.

As noted earlier this keeps the blade speed down for safety and noise reasons. The wind generator is normally an alternator, if it runs freely at high speed and no lad you get the same effect as for the engine alternator - blown diodes
 
What a great idea, I would like a wind regulator that could reduce an uncomfortable F6/7 down to a manageable F4/5 and reuse that excess wind when I am strugglng with a feeble F1/2.

Could this wind regulator also change the direction which is also frequently less than ideal. I realise that 180deg switch isn't practical, but a favourable 30-45 deg would often allow me wear a headland or avoid an annoying short tack or three.

How much would this wonder ful bit of kit set me back?
 
If you bought the cheap one and it worked - you are ahead
If it doesn't work well or for long enough - you are not much out of pocket.
It's an 8:1 bet........

But I don't see anything on Ebay for less than about £40, which will probably be more like a sensible - basic - price.
 
Cardo said:
The manual says not to bother with a regulator for towed mode, however suggests a 10A regulator for when in wind mode.....Should I splash out for the Ampair regulator or just get a cheapie eBay job?
Click to expand...
If you already have solar panels with a solar regulator beware. There are other postings on this subject, so use the search facility. Here are my thoughts:

With both solar panels and a wind generator it is often better to use a single regulator with separate wind and solar inputs. If two different regulators are feeding the same battery bank one can get confused by the other and may switch off too early. This is a particular problem in the initial “Boost” stage of charging where batteries will take all the charge they can get. Regulators all work in slightly different ways, but in principle they are programmed to reach a maximum voltage for a set time and then drop down to a float voltage, or simply disconnect. With wind generators there is not a constant source of power to allow the regulator to stabilise itself. Often there is a huge surge in available current from wind gusts, and then their charge may drop. The wind controller will then still see the high voltage coming from the solar panel controller so it will switch to float. When the wind rises there may be a built-in delay before the wind controller attempts to charge again and so the cycle continues. The wind generator may be the charge source that could potentially be providing the highest charging capability, but much of the time it has switched itself off so its energy is being wasted.

The simplest KISS principle is not to have a regulator for the wind generator but control it manually with a safe method of tying back the blades when the batteries are known to be 100% charged. This will rarely be needed when cruising with a large service bank, but it should never be left running when leaving the boat for an extended period without the risk of overcharging. Several wind genny manufacturers recommend this approach.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top