Thread: Wind Generators
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Old 05-15-2012, 10:14 PM   #6
Peter B
TF Site Team
 
City: Ex-Brisbane, (Australia), now Bribie Island, Qld
Vessel Name: Now boatless - sold 6/2018
Vessel Model: Had a Clipper (CHB) 34
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 10,101
Per, the Airbreeze has it's own regulator, then I have two solar panels one large for house, one small for start batt, and these go thru Sunguard pulse width modulated contollers, (please don't ask me to explain PWM, or why, but that is a good type - suggest Googling it, or look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation), and then I have C-Tek 7 step smart charger for when at the dock.
So when we go out, the batts are full, then sun keeps adding to the engine charge if required until we stop, then after a time, the sun top-up has dropped sufficiently for the Airbreeze to get a chance to add it's contribution, which varies with wind strength between 1 amp when beggar-all wind up to 20 odd amps with a good breeze. However, as one tends to anchor out of strong winds, the average gust brings in about 10 amps, in bursts of seconds to minutes at a time. All I can say is it is enough that we could permanently anchor for days, and stay topped up just with the wind genny and sun contributions, but we don't run any AC stuff - we are all 12v. However, that does include a 12v frig on all the time.
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