You talking of Beans?, Brussel Sprouts?, Cabbage?........... all are excellent wind generators and can be purchased quite cheaply from your local supermarket
.........if it's none of the above then I've not a clue what you're talking about
------------- CamperPete
Never be afraid to try something new, remember.... Amateurs built the 'Ark'... but Professionals built the 'Titanic' !!!
They are often used on sailing yachts. Yield of power can be compared to solar panels (not the light ones but the better ones). They work like a dynamo on your bicycle, but not driven by the wheel but by wind, the propellors running very light.
Advantage is that they also work at night, when you are asleep. Prices (overhere) are similar to solar panels. I suppose they make a bit of noise like a fan heater. Plus it takes installing and reinstalling on site, while my solar panels stay attached on the roof.
I suppose you have to mount them on a high pole, both for efficiency reason as for safety. I would not like a kid to get his fingers cought in the propellors turning high speed.
Chance is that they will yield less during the beautiful weather, with a lot of sunshine, when the solar panels are at their best. There is something to say for both.
A wind generator and a solar panel are rather useless on their own. If you connected either to a light, the SP will not provide energy to the light at night and the WG will not provide energy to the light without wind.
The key element needed is a battery. This will store the energy generated by the WG and/or the SP.
WG's and SP's which are connected permanetly will trickle charge the battery during lay up periods, keeping the battery in good health. Both give out power in watts, so to get the best use out of either, you would need to calculate your wattage use per day and buy a suitable WG or SP to replace the amount used.
Solar and wind vary considerably the OP is looking for experience of these.
I have 40W solar panel which is good for a fair amount of use per day but you could get a big bank of batteries and extend your time.
From what I have read of wind generators there is a wide variation in the power produced whereas solar will always give you something.
wind is popular on boats as there is less ground effect and more consistent wind at sea. pyke if you like seaside/clifftops it might be alright with wind - either that or leave it up when driving
------------- A wise man learns from his own mistakes - a genius learns from the mistakes of others
See here My self still prefer solar for prolonging battery power and using secondary charging circuit in the car (i carry two batteries) for anything longer than 4 days although the bat normally last at least 6 days
The output of a WG is restricted by the amount of wind. No wind, no output. Hence the need for storing power in the battery.
Your 40W SP will not give out a constant 40W of power. That is the maximum rating, which does not allow for voltage drop across cables, cloudy days, atmospheric pressure and temperature. You 40W SP is constantly supply a small amount of power to a battery. If you are using more power than the SP is providing, eventually the battery power will drop to a level of voltage that will no longer be adequate to operate 12v appliances. You get good use out of it probably because you have days or weeks not using 12v power which allows the battery to be constantly trickle charged via the SP.
The original OP was not asking for experience of them, he was asking what their good for and how do they work. I outlined the principle and mentioned the battery, as no one else did. He may have already ordered the WG without realising he needs a battery to store the power!
Without actually testing an SP or WG, i would think that over a period of say 6 months, the amount of power output from either would equate to the same, as once a leisure battery is fully charged (around 13.6v), you cannot put more charge into it.
Wiring 2 batteries in parallel would give additional APH, but would take twice as long to charge up. Depending on the power usage and the amount of time you spend using 12v power, may be detrimental to to leisure batteries, as they may never get a full charge from the SP.
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Topic: WIND GENERATOR
