tony
Member
Hi all thinking of trying out a DIY Wind Turbine for my yard and stables lighting ,has anyone ever built one or or currently use one.
DiY Wind Turbine
- Thread starter tony
- Start date
ycbm
Overwhelmed
We had fairly big DIY one (blade was four or five feet across) but it didn't give enough power to make it worth the OH's effort to maintain it, and we live on an exposed hillside with plenty of wind. You might be better off with solar.
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dorsetladette
Well-Known Member
ycbm - my solar lights haven't worked for the last few days as there hasn't been enough day/sun light. Its been to cloudy, dull and miserable 
TotalMadgeness
Well-Known Member
Watching with interest as we're trying to be more self sufficient at home and windpower was one of the things we're considering as we have lots of wind (scottish hillside). We use solar panels for our cameras, path lights and floodlights in the field but in the grip of a long scottish winter the power can be a tad feeble. The farmers near us have windmills but they look like a lot of maintenance.
ycbm
Overwhelmed
ycbm - my solar lights haven't worked for the last few days as there hasn't been enough day/sun light. Its been to cloudy, dull and miserable
For an effective setup, the lights don't rundirectly off solar. charge Batteries are charged by solar and the lights run off the batteries. You have to have enough battery storage to cover a prolonged dull spell,
If you already have batteries, you don't have enough. Lighting also needs to be LED for minimum power consumption.
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PurBee
Well-Known Member
I dont have any mains electric at my home and yard, therefore live off-grid to power everything.
Is it just lights at the yard you want to power? If so, i presume theyre all wired up as 240v light fittings?
Youll need wind turbine, charge controller, inverter, and batteries. You wont need a pure sine wave inverter as youre not running pc’s, laptops, sensitive electrical equipment.
Wind is preferred in winter months unless youre in a really sunny place.
You wont need a large wind turbine for just lights...you could get away with a 12v 500watt small one that you could mount on a pole thats attached to well built stable gable end or something.
Have the turbine, and other stuff, including batteries all housed very close to oneanother as 12v cable is expensive to run long distances. From your inverter youd then run 240v cable to your lighting circuit. 240v cable is much much cheaper to run long distances.
The wind turbine wants to be sited in an exposed prevailing wind site. Not behind trees, buildings etc. it wants to be the highest point, then itll catch even mild breezes and be powering your batteries.
The worst weather for renewables is a cloudy, calm climate. Some days here are flat calm, not a leaf moving, and heavy cloud. We get nada from our renewables! We have a back up huge generator for emergencies.
If thats your climate mostly, water turbine is an option. We want to install this as we have a flowing stream 24/7/365, wish we had done a water turbine to start rather than solar!
If you get clear sunny days in winter mostly, and just want to power lights, a solar panel 200w would be adequate to keep batteries charged. Siting of panel again important, exposed sunny site...nothing in front of it but open sky. You can get solar panel trackers that move as the sun moves, theyre generally expensive though...more than the panels.
Switch all your lights to LED white light bulbs. Warm white is horrid in led’s...like a dingy pub. I just changed mine to white light, now i can see what im cooking without needing a headtorch!
You can find these days ‘wind turbine packages’ that include all you need to set up and go...save you sourcing everything seperately, which does help if new to renewables, as there are many options and sizes available. You need to match size of turbine to charge controller, to inverter, to size of load. Get gel batteries as we’ve used all sorts and lead acid dont last. 100 amp hour battery just for lights....youd need just one. Theyre around 100 quid each.
If your on grid bill per year is 500 or more for lights at your yard then a wind package will save you money for your 2nd and subsequent yrs with not much maintenance. If your bill for lights is just 100 per yr...id stay on grid and not faff with renewables to be honest!
Just have a generator as back-up if you get a lot of power outtages.
Is it just lights at the yard you want to power? If so, i presume theyre all wired up as 240v light fittings?
Youll need wind turbine, charge controller, inverter, and batteries. You wont need a pure sine wave inverter as youre not running pc’s, laptops, sensitive electrical equipment.
Wind is preferred in winter months unless youre in a really sunny place.
You wont need a large wind turbine for just lights...you could get away with a 12v 500watt small one that you could mount on a pole thats attached to well built stable gable end or something.
Have the turbine, and other stuff, including batteries all housed very close to oneanother as 12v cable is expensive to run long distances. From your inverter youd then run 240v cable to your lighting circuit. 240v cable is much much cheaper to run long distances.
The wind turbine wants to be sited in an exposed prevailing wind site. Not behind trees, buildings etc. it wants to be the highest point, then itll catch even mild breezes and be powering your batteries.
The worst weather for renewables is a cloudy, calm climate. Some days here are flat calm, not a leaf moving, and heavy cloud. We get nada from our renewables! We have a back up huge generator for emergencies.
If thats your climate mostly, water turbine is an option. We want to install this as we have a flowing stream 24/7/365, wish we had done a water turbine to start rather than solar!
If you get clear sunny days in winter mostly, and just want to power lights, a solar panel 200w would be adequate to keep batteries charged. Siting of panel again important, exposed sunny site...nothing in front of it but open sky. You can get solar panel trackers that move as the sun moves, theyre generally expensive though...more than the panels.
Switch all your lights to LED white light bulbs. Warm white is horrid in led’s...like a dingy pub. I just changed mine to white light, now i can see what im cooking without needing a headtorch!
You can find these days ‘wind turbine packages’ that include all you need to set up and go...save you sourcing everything seperately, which does help if new to renewables, as there are many options and sizes available. You need to match size of turbine to charge controller, to inverter, to size of load. Get gel batteries as we’ve used all sorts and lead acid dont last. 100 amp hour battery just for lights....youd need just one. Theyre around 100 quid each.
If your on grid bill per year is 500 or more for lights at your yard then a wind package will save you money for your 2nd and subsequent yrs with not much maintenance. If your bill for lights is just 100 per yr...id stay on grid and not faff with renewables to be honest!
Just have a generator as back-up if you get a lot of power outtages.
ycbm
Overwhelmed
OH has told me that in Scotland, you're stuffed with trying to use solar in winter! But you already know that, I guess.
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PurBee
Well-Known Member
There’s barely any maintenance to a renewable set-up once its all properly put in place and hooked up and adequate to the load being powered. In 13yrs we’ve had to do nothing regarding that aspect.
The longterm maintenance/cost is batteries. Good ones cost a lot. A battery bank for a whole house to be powered, ie washing machine, kettle, hoover, but not a power shower!! (8k watts and up!) can cost 6k and up. That bank will last around 6-10 yrs depending on use and how well looked after the batteries are kept...i.e. never drained below a certain %.
The Temperature that batteries are kept in determine how well they hold their voltage. Outside in the cold the ambient cold temperature will cause a battery voltage to drop quicker than if kept in a room. Gel batteries hold voltage better than lead acid outside in the cold. Batteries lose power on their own and dont hold their charge indefinitely so need a trickle charge to keep them powered.
There are different battery sizes. The bigger the ‘amp hour’, the more expensive. But it means you’d only need one than many...for running lights only. Get 100amp hour or more batteries, youd only need one.
Add up how many lights you want on for how long. Example, you have a yard with 20, 10 watt led bulbs, you need on for 5 hours at night. Thats 200watts continual load for 5 hours so a 150-170 amp hour battery would be needed, discharging it to 50% during those 5 hrs, and the battery also receiving charge within the 24hrs to top it up to full charge ready for next night use. Wind power than sun in winter in uk would better serve that charge. Or you get 2 x 100 amp hour batteries, wire them in parallel so its one big battery bank equalling 200amp hours at 12v.
Motion sensors on the lights would help save power consumption on a yard.
The longterm maintenance/cost is batteries. Good ones cost a lot. A battery bank for a whole house to be powered, ie washing machine, kettle, hoover, but not a power shower!! (8k watts and up!) can cost 6k and up. That bank will last around 6-10 yrs depending on use and how well looked after the batteries are kept...i.e. never drained below a certain %.
The Temperature that batteries are kept in determine how well they hold their voltage. Outside in the cold the ambient cold temperature will cause a battery voltage to drop quicker than if kept in a room. Gel batteries hold voltage better than lead acid outside in the cold. Batteries lose power on their own and dont hold their charge indefinitely so need a trickle charge to keep them powered.
There are different battery sizes. The bigger the ‘amp hour’, the more expensive. But it means you’d only need one than many...for running lights only. Get 100amp hour or more batteries, youd only need one.
Add up how many lights you want on for how long. Example, you have a yard with 20, 10 watt led bulbs, you need on for 5 hours at night. Thats 200watts continual load for 5 hours so a 150-170 amp hour battery would be needed, discharging it to 50% during those 5 hrs, and the battery also receiving charge within the 24hrs to top it up to full charge ready for next night use. Wind power than sun in winter in uk would better serve that charge. Or you get 2 x 100 amp hour batteries, wire them in parallel so its one big battery bank equalling 200amp hours at 12v.
Motion sensors on the lights would help save power consumption on a yard.
PurBee
Well-Known Member
..and summer!!
Esmae
Well-Known Member
Agree with all of this. We have solar lights and it's the battery power that is critical. Ours have never gone down in about 7 years.
soloequestrian
Well-Known Member
Solar is actually great in Scottish summers - we get loads of light and it's cold here so the panels are more efficient than in warmer climes. I'm experimenting with wind at the moment. Trying to do it DIY without much electrical knowledge and it's complicated. And our lovely turbine blew down last night .
.tony
Member
Thanks all for your replies it's certainly food for thought, I currently use Led lights connected to a leisure battery and are proving adequate for my needs , just thinking to try a small turbine even if it would trickle charge my battery.