Wind / Solar Regulator

Jonny_H

Jonny_H

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 Aug 2006
Messages
1,554
Location
Liveaboard - following the sun!
www.freewebs.com
Our boat has an Aero4gen fitted, however I am unable to determine whether or not it has a regulator fitted (I assume it must but haven't been able to trace all the wiring so far - but from what I have traced I haven't seen a regulator!)

Anyway, we are looking to supplement the wind genny with a/some solar panels. We are looking for somewhere in the region of 80 - 100W of solar panels to keep up with our estimated usage.

Can anyone recommend a good combined solar / wind regulator? I'm aware you can buy seperate ones but thought it may be neater/easier/cheaper to buy a combined one ... any suggestions?

The one I've seen so far is this , which will take both (I assume it will take an Aero4gen inplace of a Rutland 913 as both are simalar output?)

Any help greatly appreciated.

Jonny
 
If you have an Aerogen4 and no regulator you will definitely wreck your batteries pretty quickly - the regulator on ours was not working when we got the boat - although we did not know it at the time - and we had to replace the batteries almost immediately.

The standard Aerogen regulator is connected to a green enamel ridged sausage shaped thingy which is a dump resistor - it hums or sings when the batteries are fully charged and it is dumping excess power. It should be easy enough to find, and will probably be near the batteries.

We are going to fit a solar panel soon, and our intention is to fit a speparate regulator in the line to the batteries from the panel - they are cheap enough and it seems like the simplest solution - but only if the wind genny already has a regulator.

Hope this helps.
 
I have just fitted the rutland HRDX regulator. It charges two separate battery banks from my rutland 913 and you can input up to 100 watts of solar panel as well.

The regulator slows the wind genny down as the batteries charge up. It also displays the current from each source and the voltage for each battery bank.

Has been running now for a month and I am well pleased with the system.

No connection to the company BTW just very satisfied.

( JG Technology had the best price when I bought )
 
Thanks - this looks like the path to go down. Not sure whether to go for the standard 913 regulator (at £55), or the NRDX for £140?

The only advantage the HRDX has is being able to see the input of each device (don't need the battery voltage as just about to install a NASA Battery Monitor) - is this worth it (I already have an analogue ammeter for the wind genny)?

Should I save best part of £100 and do some maths (ie NASA 'charge rate' less the analogue ammeter should give solar panel input, so I can then monitor both), or is the HRDX really worth the extra?

Jonny
 
It is if you want to charge two battery banks at the same time but at different charge levels according to the needs of each.

However, if you only have one battery bank then probably no ...
 
Standard one works, the HRDX is better. In addition to showing you what charge is coming from wind and/or solar it allows you to stop (or slow down) the wind genny. Very useful in the middle of the night when the constant zzzzZZZZzzzZZZZZzzzz really gets on your nerves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top