What can i get for £500?

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi all,

I want a wind setup and i would like to know what i can "BUY" for £500
inc delivery (hopefully to Ireland.)

I have seen a few on eBay for various prices.

200w c/w invertor and charge controller £230
500w c/w charge controller £430
1Kw turbine mast head kit only £430

I have a garden facing South West which is ideal for my winds.
Its sheltered from the North East but its rare to get wind from there.

Any idea?

PS I don't want to build one as i have no skill in engineering.
Electronics i can do, welding, not so much.

Mark

[Martin]

Fleabay............not on yer nelly!
There are one or two decent turbines offered, but there are also some WELL dodgy ones (particularly from a company based in Newark).......
I know too many people who have been ripped off - you seldom get any "after sales" from Fleabay sellers - don't risk it!
Reputable companies -
Marlec (Rutland)
Futurenergy
Navitron (who have a very nice 300w "portable" for under £300) - I know because I've got one!- particularly good value, because they don't need dump loads or controller, it's all built-in!

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi

What's your opinion on these types....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0224075977


They are rated at 200w but at only 6m/s which sounds more realistic.

Everyone seems to be full of big claims but they're all based on 12m/s which is just magical thinking in the UK/Ireland unless you live on a cliff.

I seem to remember reading that the average wind speed here is about 6m/s or thereabouts.

I think i'd rather have 4 running at 200w each than have all my eggs in
one 1kw basket that may never get up to speed for months on end.

Any ideas?

[CaundleMama]

sorry to butt in,but Martin wht do you use your **Navitron (who have a very nice 300w "portable" for under £300) - I know because I've got one!- particularly good value, because they don't need dump loads or controller, it's all built-in! Cool*** for? am very interested but need more info on what could do with it?

[Martin]

for Mark, they're visually identical to some also stocked by Navitron
(who do give excellent after-sales service) - you pays yer money.........
At the moment the 300w is awaiting erection in my back garden - I'm going to be using it to part-power my home office (shed). Of the two, the 300w job is a far better design - really well designed blades (should be very quiet), and has dump load and rectifiers built-in, obviating the need to spend the extra.
THE most important thing with a turbine is to site it right (forget wind in towns, turbulence kills performance stone dead), and as has been said, performance at 12 m/s is largely irrelevant, that's "blue moon" stuff - what's important is the "lower part of the curve" - how well it performs in the lower windspeeds you get for the largest proportion of the year!

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi,

So that sounds good then.

Unfortunatly living in Ireland the aftersales service is irrelevant.

If i had to post it back it would cost hundreds because the Irish "An Post" is fabulously expensive. Couriers are mega bucks too. Its not worth there while out in the country-side. So basically, unless its a very small part thats broken a warranty is worthless. I'd have to fix it myself.

There is one of those types for sale with a charge controller, and a cheapo invertor, inc tower etc for 239 pound. Which to me sounds great.
Yeah, its only 200w but thats at 6m/s so i could intheory buy 4 and get 800w at 6m/s which to me sounds like a good deal for 1000 pound and i
don't have to spend the 1000 in one go.

Mark

[Martin]

If you are determined to go the fleabay route, use Paypal (yuch), at least you're "covered", not Western Union or cheque........then accept the fact that these 200w turbines are NOT just "bolt 'em together" and "put them up" - you really do have to take great care on balancing the blades, and ensuring simple things like bladetip/bladetip measurements are identical, or they will rattle themselves to bits (in standard form the blades are pretty "rowdy" too)
For any interested bystanders, one of the reasons I suggested the "300w portable" is because it's a far more sophisticated design, the blades are far better aerodynamically, and come within a gramme of each other in weight
(a simple bladetip/bladetip measurement check will probably suffice)

[Ellendra]

You could get some used PVC pipes (save them from the landfill), some unwanted CDs, and the motors out of a couple old battery-powered toy cars. Add some wires and magnets, and you've got a wind turbine.

Look for the directions on making a wind turbine from a Pringles can (I think it was on this forum somewhere), but use the pipe instead of the can, and use the motors for bearings so they produce power too.

Ok, I need to do this so I can write an understandable tutorial . . .

[parkav85]

Ok, I am a million years late for this post, but for those who would like to put up an alternate power system and don't have enough money.

My answer to the question that started this thread.
What can I get for 500 pounds?
A loan.

it is explained further.
http://thessentials.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... thing.html

I know I am promoting my own blog, but it is a little bit long to put it here.
It is something that I came up with on my own so any input would be appreciated.

[Ireland-or-bust]

I bought a 300W turbine second hand.
It has a small amount of cosmetic damage so it was only 150 pound + P&P.

It's a "Yangzhou Shenzhou Wind-Driven Generator Co Ltd" made one.
The Blue and Yellow ones off eBay.

Picture of identical one there......
http://yueniao.com/FD300W.htm


I have the manual but i dont quite understand the wiring to the charge controller. Any one got a clue....

The turbine has BLACK, BLUE and BROWN wires.

The controller has a layout like this for the turbine....

BLACK O O --| RED
RED O O --| RED
|________|

I know its three phase (i think i know.)
Do i use the Three RED's? or is the black in play?
If the black isn't use whats it for?

Its a 24v controller.

Thanks
Mark.