The whole reason for the selfsufficientish website was to offer a place where anyone can ask, HOW DO I...? So who knows why it has taken us so long to have a HOW DO I? section, but here it is. So if you want to know how to do anything selfsufficientish then here is the place to ask.
well the shipping container idea has bein shelved in favor of
a mobile home for the now...
the big question is.... i plan to rewire the mobile for 12v...now before you ye laugh yer
heads off... i wont have a tv or anything that will need 240v so why not?
so want to use wind turbine which i hope ta make meself to charge batteries and a
rocket stove for heat and the all import mugs a scoldie
does anyone know the basic set up between the turbine, battery and power outlets to charge/run
12v lights, charge laptop, phone, radio?
Many canal boats run a system like this (I lived on one for a year and that had one,but as it never went wrong,I didn't bother to find out how it worked)I'm sure I'm sure there will be loads of canal-based websites maybe try them.
It rather depends on how you build the turbine, if you're building your own. You'll need some sort of gubbins between the generator and the battery - certainly a charge controller, and if you build an AC turbine generator, then you'll need a rectifier as well. Possibly some sort of voltage controller too - I don't know much about building wind systems from scratch. Solar panels give you nice, easy-to-handle DC voltages, which makes the whole thing easier...
Your batteries won't actually be 12v at full charge (13.7v is more common), and they deliver a variable voltage as the discharge, so you'll also need regulators on the demand side... You could just have one high(ish) current regulator on the battery and run everything from the output of that, but it's not very efficient as the regulator is then drawing power 24/7. A more efficient option is to have individual regulators on each outlet, after the switch - so when the outlet is switched off, the regulator is too.
I would presume that you can get 12v DC laptop and phone chargers, which is probably easier, cheaper and more efficient that getting an inverter to turn your 12v DC to 240v AC in order to run mains chargers. I know you can get 12v DC TVs if you really want... ;)
Oh, and you'll want a fuse-box in there somewhere too... I'd go for one big fuse on the main battery output, going into a distribution box with several independently fused circuits - at least separate circuits for lighting and outlets. That way you have less chance of having to replace fuses in the dark.
so if i buy a generator and a deep cycle battery.... what do i need between the generator and battery? and what size wire would i need for each circut?
giggles wrote:so if i buy a generator and a deep cycle battery.... what do i need between the generator and battery? and what size wire would i need for each circut?
You'll need a suitable charge controller. What "suitable" means depends on your installation. Same for gauge of wiring. Some gennies probably come with all the gubbins already, some won't.
This is not the sort of stuff to wing it with if you don't know what you're doing. A three-phase gennie kicks out enough current to kill you stone dead or burn your house to the ground if you get anything wrong. I'm not even going to try to give you specific answers because I don't want the responsibility of you killing yourself because I got something wrong or you didn't understand me properly.
If what I've already said in this thread isn't enough, you need to get a proper sparkie in - or at least someone who actually knows what they're doing.
Sorry if that sounded a bit harsh matey, but electrickery can be dangerous - better safe than sorry! I don't mind risking my own health and well-being messing around with it, but I draw the line at advising others to do so.
Depends what you call "a fortune", I guess... Next to the price of the turbine, the controller gubbins shouldn't be that significant. And I'm pretty sure that there will be a fair number (possibly even most) of them which include all the gubbins already, and just need connected to a battery. That's the big advantage of buying one as opposed to cobbling one together yourself from magnets, wire, and bicycle wheels... I would imagine that most "leisure" turbines are pretty much plug-and-play.
Just a brief one, cos it looks as though this thread's been dormant a while. But thought it worth mentioning that basic 12v systems are actually quite easy to set up and can be done safely as long as you stick to the rules. I can't speak for wind-generators, though - i've never used one. I think they produce AC (alternating current) and most 12v stuff is Direct Current.
It needn't be expensive, your basic shopping list would probably be : Battery, fuse box & fuses, cable, regulator, power source, and whatever you want to run.
The battery you choose depends on your needs (state the obvious!). I live in a small caravan and only need to power lights, amplifier, and inverter for phone and laptop charging . . . and i am using a 120 Amp Hour leisure battery, which is perfect. But i've only had it a couple of weeks, and before that i was making do with an old car battery, which was fine until it finally died. Car batteries are designed differently from leisure batteries (they give a big, brief oomph to start the car) . . . But they are fine to use in 12v systems if you're skint or if you try to reuse stuff, and as long as you don't want to put then back in your car afterwards. They can also be revived to get a bit more life from them - but that's a topic in itself.
Fuse box. . . a really important rule is that anything is only ever allowed to get power from the battery via a fuse. I use car-type fuses, and only have about 5. The fuse any and fuses probably cost about £4. Fuses must be appropriately sized (in amps) for the thing you want to power.
Cable also must be right for the job. You want to minimise if resistance in the system, so cables shouldn't be too thin or too long. I've used ignition cable between my battery, panel and regulator. If you're not sure, check with a pro, dodgy cables can cause fires.
The regulator i'm using is a solar one, tho you can get them for wind too. It's the middleman between your battery and everything else. Your power source goes into it, so does your battery, and your load - your lights, music, etc - comes out of it. A good regulator will stop you from overcharging your battery and from it running too low, and it'll protect your solar panel or whatever from your battery. Mine's a digital one i got for about 40 quid but you an get them cheaper.
Power source - i use an 85 watt solar panel and it's great most of the year. I only use lights, music, laptop and phone charging, but it's fine with that. This time of year, tho, when there's not so much light i sometimes top it up by running a petrol generator - switch the regulator off from the battery to prevent damage to it and connect the generator to a car battery charger, and all's good. Solar panels are getting cheaper all the time.
And appliances . . . You can get 12v versions of most things that you would normally find in a house, and if you want to run something with a three-pin 230volt domestic plug, you can get an inverter to run off your 12v - this is basically a little box with a domestic-stylee plug socket. It's not the most efficient way to do it, but works fine. A good 12volt plug system to use is the car cigarette-lighter socket type. I have a mate with a big flat-screen 12volt telly in his truck, works fine. (tho i think he's usin gel batteries, bit more expensive). But ppl often think of 12v as being much more limiting, and it doesn't have to be at all.
Additionally, you need switches and connectors and a few little bits and pieces. A multimeter is always a good buy too. But if you're on a budget (i am!) the basic system i described can be done for under 300 quid, solar panel included. If you're unsure what you're doing then you should always ask a pro, just for safety's sake . . . I've ended up writing loadsa bla bla now, but basically just wanted to show that 12v is totally practical and can be a cheap and easy way of self-sufficient power use.
