Wind turbine to keep battery topped up at home? (1 Viewer)

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Chockswahay

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Has anyone used a wind turbine to keep the van batteries topped up when the van is not being used?

We live in Scotland so plenty of wind and not much sun!

The van has Schaudt EBL99 so would need specific regulator etc (LR1218)

Feasible? Practical? Affordable?

:D
 
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Boats all have them but anything that moves will eventually need maintainece
From what I've read on previous posts it the van battery your worried about I would put a solar panel on that battery
 

Jaws

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Looked in to this some time ago..
A worthwhile wind genny is about £400 plus you will need something to mount it on plus a regulator rectifier ( most if not all the decent ones put out 3 phase ac ) Fortunately the last bit is very easy to sort out. Any reg / rec unit from a latish largish motorcycle will be perfect.

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DBK

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A little 20w solar panel would be enough - even in Scotland! You can buy them to plug into a cigar socket, assuming it is wired to be live all the time.
 

JeanLuc

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Whilst I would always recommend the Schaudt regulator if fitting a full solar system with an EBL, the EBL99 does not have to be fed by the LR1218 (or LRM1218). You can input other suitable regulators to block 6 using a 3-pin MNL connector. Later EBLs apparently don't like non-Schaudt regulators. If you are 'going the whole hog' and putting a panel on the roof I would definitely go for the Schaudt regulator as it charges both leisure and starter batteries.
I have 2 x 90 Ah leisure batteries, an EBL99/LR1218 set-up and a 135W panel. This keeps leisure and starter batteries charged throughout the winter without EHU. And I have an alarm taking current from the starter battery.
If you do not want to go to the expense of additional equipment, plug in to EHU for a few hours perhaps once a month. This will keep leisure and starter batteries charged.
 
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Chockswahay

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A little 20w solar panel would be enough - even in Scotland! You can buy them to plug into a cigar socket, assuming it is wired to be live all the time.
I had wondered that......... thing is my 12v socket goes 'off' with the ignition. Also will it conflict with the EBL99?

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Chockswahay

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the EBL99 does not have to be fed by the LR1218 (or LRM1218). You can input other suitable regulators to block 6 using a 3-pin MNL connector. Later EBLs apparently don't like non-Schaudt regulators.

If you do not want to go to the expense of additional equipment, plug in to EHU for a few hours perhaps once a month. This will keep leisure and starter batteries charged.

I'd read that too, thank you. Can a solar panel just plug into block 6 just to charge the starter battery tho? or will I need to wire direct?
 

JeanLuc

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Charging the starter battery only via solar will not conflict with the EBL99. In fact, the starter battery feed from the LR1218 to the EBL99 simply connects to a live feed going back to the SB. It plugs into a socket in block 2 on the EBL99 that is the incoming feed from SB to the fridge relay inside the EBL.
 

JeanLuc

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I'd read that too, thank you. Can a solar panel just plug into block 6 just to charge the starter battery tho? or will I need to wire direct?
No block 6 on an EBL99 charges the leisure battery only. See my post above. You can either connect to the fridge supply cable in block 2 or direct to the SB terminal on the back of the EBL. If doing the latter, take care not to cause any shorts as the connector block brings in SB+ and LB+ main feeds. If doing any work on the EBL, switch it off and pull the 50 amp fuses at the LB and SB ends of the main charging cables.
Alternatively, run your own cable direct from a regulator / solar supply to the SB+ and another to ground.

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Chockswahay

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@JeanLuc Please forgive me for being dim Philip, could you indicate exactly how to wire in (say) a 20w panel please? :)

Edit: sorry, posted at the same time as your post above :oops:
 
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Chockswahay

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I'm having a senior moment............. what is SB and LB ? :oops:

Haha........... my missus just said starter battery and leisure battery :eek:
 

JeanLuc

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If you are simply wiring a small panel to maintain the starter battery, with no connection to leisure batteries, you can ignore the EBL99 and run cables direct to the starter battery. This can be done in several ways: via a 12V cigar lighter socket (but yours is not live all the time); direct to the SB terminals; via another cable route that is connected to the SB (as indicated in my earlier post). I your case, it might be simplest to run cables direct to the + and - terminals on the SB. Just make sure that if you fit either a cheap and cheerful regulator (or no regulator) that there is a blocking diode (a one-way valve) in the circuit from the panel otherwise the panel will charge the SB during daylight and the SB will discharge via the panel in the dark.

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Chockswahay

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Here's a thought................. any way to make the 12v socket permanently live?
 

DBK

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Yes, that sort of thing. You could rest it on the dashboard below the windscreen, or if it is the right shape any it underneath a topflight.

You could wire a cigar lighter directly to the SB, putting a fuse in the feed of say 10 amps.

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Chockswahay

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Thanks chaps............ really useful stuff

@wizzer59 suggested similar thing on another thread. I am thinking to myself why not just get the no-glass panel and clip it to the battery with the crocodile clips.......... then suck it and see (y)

Anything you see wrong with that? :)
 

SuperMike

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Suck it and see, is a good description. :whistle:

20w will, at full throttle, in summer, in bright sunlight, with the panel tipped directly towards the sun, give you about 1.2A. In the real world probably less than that. So your description, about not much sun, brings me to the conclusion that you are likely to waste your money. On a really gloomy day, like today, I got a maximum of 2.5A out of 400w. :sneaky:

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DBK

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Suck it and see, is a good description. :whistle:

20w will, at full throttle, in summer, in bright sunlight, with the panel tipped directly towards the sun, give you about 1.2A. In the real world probably less than that. So your description, about not much sun, brings me to the conclusion that you are likely to waste your money. On a really gloomy day, like today, I got a maximum of 2.5A out of 400w. :sneaky:
It's only to keep the battery topped up. Assuming there is no alarm fitted drawing current all the time this won't take a lot of current.
 
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Chockswahay

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Well, here's the thing. I believe I only need about 2 amps a day total for it to work (alarm is on all the time)....

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SuperMike

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It's only to keep the battery topped up. Assuming there is no alarm fitted drawing current all the time this won't take a lot of current.

That's what worries me. Using my example, and I know it is a rough guess/calculation, I am getting 0.00625ah per watt. So using the same calculation 20w would yield 0.125ah on a gloomy day. I do not know what state the battery is in, but will that amount of charge overcome the batteries need to self discharge, even if there is nothing actually connected to it. I feel that it will not. Indeed, I am of the opinion that selling these units as battery maintainers, in this country is naughty. o_O
 
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SuperMike

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Well, here's the thing. I believe I only need about 2 amps a day total for it to work (alarm is on all the time)....

Then it certainly will not keep up, without a good belt of sun. See above. :unsure:
 

GJH

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@Dingray has a Forgen VAWT which works well for him on rallies. I bought a second hand, much cheaper, VAWT earlier this year (the type Maplins used to sell). Because we have the solar panel it wasn't worth using it before Lincoln Show. I took it there and the wind dropped as soon as the sun went in :(
We are in Blackpool this weekend and I have it mounted again. The weather has been changeable and wet in the 28 hours since I mounted it so the solar panel has been working better at some times than others. The VAWT does appear to be contributing a small amount (no way of measuring accurately) which, to be honest, is all I want from it because our power usage is low. If I can get an average of 0.25 amps per hour that is 6 amp hours per day to supplement what the solar panel gives us and that is fine for what we use.
I intend having the VAWT mounted over the winter, when the van is parked on our drive, to supplement the solar panel, which suffers from low light levels at that time of year. That will really tell me how much use it is.
Our solar panel was connected to the Elektroblock and, because of the way the van is wired, tops up the starter battery once the leisure battery is full. The VAWT is wired direct to the leisure battery.

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pappajohn

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All this talk of an EBL confuses me...

I would stick a 100watt + panel on the roof with a ten quid regulator connected directly to the battery.
If you want to charge both had and cab then fit a simple wore link between them.

Everyone seems to think an EBL is some kind of god....well take it from me... it aint, its a control panel.
 

JeanLuc

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Everyone seems to think an EBL is some kind of god....well take it from me... it aint, its a control panel.

Afraid not, an Elektroblock is a charger / rectifier that charges leisure and starter batteries, distributes 12V power to the various on-board circuits and appliances (with fuses in the circuits) and contains relays including those for the fridge and alternator charging (in place of a separate split-charge relay).
 

Geo

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Afraid not, an Elektroblock is a charger / rectifier that charges leisure and starter batteries, distributes 12V power to the various on-board circuits and appliances (with fuses in the circuits) and contains relays including those for the fridge and alternator charging (in place of a separate split-charge relay).
That's what he said, its a control panel

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