wind / solar combo kit

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

bigtexan99

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2006
Posts
157
I came across this wind / solar kit on ebay that looks mighty interesting.  Ebay # 160629572509 

It should be enough to keep my 2 batteries charged, but I recognize it won't be able to juice any AC stuff.  Still, I can get by on 12v and propane for the most part.   

My question is about mounting the turbine... I have a Jayco Designer 5w 34 foot.  I'm leary of mounting the wind turbine on the roof. 

Any ideas?  Maybe a standalone pole mount?

Here is the details on the wind turbine.



The units are very small, about 14" long from the tip of the prop to the end of the tailfin.
They come with a blocking diode installed so as not to discharge your battery when the wind isn't turning the turbine.
The main beam (frame) is made of 3/4" steel square tubing and painted black. Plastic plugs are used to cap the ends of the
tubing to give a nice, finished appearance.
The downtube (the part that slips into your mounting pole, etc.) is 1" steel and is welded to the main beam.
A two blade 15" prop comes with each unit. It is made of durable plastic and the actual prop color may vary.

 

Attachments

  • smallwindturbine.png
    smallwindturbine.png
    22.1 KB · Views: 22
30 watts is really two amps.  Solar panel is 20 watts so assuming it's mounted flat on the roof it's really only one amp for say 8 hours on a sunny day. So in a 24 hour period with constant wind you would get in 32 amps.    That sounds kind of low for most people.

Ideally wind turbines should be mounted 30' above the nearest object that blocks the wind so as to reduce turbulence.  That means a 45' pole which is rather impractical so you're going to get less than the 30 watts.

That said I've seen wind turbine kits installed on a 20' steel pole with guy wires.  These were for a solar/wind power Internet service provider using radios and panels in farming country.
 
Wind turbines/solar combinations are often used on sailboats by full time sailors in the Caribbean. Most are much bigger than the one you are looking at to be practical. (John Canfield may be able to give some perspective on this aspect.)

For myself, having been aboard sailboats so equipped, I found the noise and vibration of the wind turbine to be very annoying after a while. YMMV....
 
Back
Top Bottom