is there a mini-windmill or mini wind-generator?
Friday, July 31st, 2009 at
11:17 am
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At 1000 watts, it is NOT a mini.
To get 1000 watts at 120V, you need 8 amps.
To get the same watts at 12v you need 80 amps.
THIS is assuming 100% efficiency. (NO conversion is 100% efficient, most are about 60% on smaller systems!)
Therefore you would need to generate aproximately 132 amps at 12v to allow for the losses in conversion to 120V.
NOTE: MOST automobile generators (alternators) only supply 60 amps, and the most common small wind units even less!!
Wind generators need to be a MINIMUM of 20 feet ABOVE any obstructions to wind flow within 100 yards, and HIGHER is BETTER. When you take into account trees, houses, etc. that usually means about 100 feet in the air MINIMUM, AND the unit must be able to withstand the wind forces.
There are many sites which can be found by searching "wind generators" where you can buy generators, parts, find plans etc.
you need to determine how many kilowatt hours/day you need. Turbines are rated in watts they produce, but how long they produce depends on the wind speed. Goto eventhorizonsolar.com for more detailed information. It’s a pretty good education site.
You’ll need a pretty large generator, or array of them, to generate 1000W. Usually they, the tiny ones, are used to charge a battery or more and then when the juice is needed an inverter (changes 12V DC to 120V AC) is used to power electric devices as required.
The 1st source has links to several kinds.
The 2nd source seems like what you are looking for.