Introducing myself. My name is Roy. I am retired- sort of-

[ROYJUSTME]

My occupation was a hospital chaplain. Grew up in Arizona and Nee Mexico and raised by a hydraulic mechanic and welder. Married to the same person for 35 year and further educated by a. Master Electrician father-in-law.
Important stuff?? Probably not, except to be known a bit. Also as I ask questions to have some knowledge base set up.

Now I live in the KC MO area and believe that the grid is fragile. So I have a military 24VDC backup generator and thinking maybe a home built wind generator might dovetail in.

If you were to advise the minimum for me to build what WATT Would be best. I have an average size home and want to run up to 100 - 150 amps, which is what my 4.2 kW generator and rated. Plus I want to stay away from batteries if at all possible. I have physical limitations.

[thirteen]

gas or diesel gen and fuel consumption if told on information tag on gen set
for wind you'll need to see where it flows in the air.
Maybe contact the airport nearest you about seeing some wind flow charts
Direction where the wind comely comes from and mph average for the wind
height restrictions for a tower
other structures deflection of the wind to your tower.
How is your soil is another need item to figure out
high or low water table
get a good helium balloon and tie it with a good cord and send it up in the air tying flags every 6 ft and maybe different colors to represent height from the ground to where you tower will be. Move several places to get the best results.
figure out power needed to operate your house. Amp usage chart
will your property be large enough to set your tower and if it falls will it still be on your property (lawsuit time if it goes off)
will there be a noise problem some seem to have that
Study different styles of wind generators
there is  a lot of guys here that are much better then me with wind projects

Just a few starter ideas to look into. best of luck 13

[ROYJUSTME]

THANK YOU THIRTEEN

it is a gas  gen 4.2kW Wisconsin 31CUI 4 Cyl. I haven't tested GPD (gallons per day)  I have plenty of tower space with no obstructions. Thanks for the wind flow idea, I get on that. I have a high water table as I am near a natural creek.

I appreciate your Ideas. One thing I will definitely need to study is the braking system for wind and rpm over spin. i am staying DC to the electrical panel and using inverters. I imagine one for the wind and one for the gen and a significant transfer switch. since i wish to stay away from Batteries unless the grid goes think I can do this. my goal is to be at goal in 12 -18  months. I hear a lot of noise about the fragile grid.

Roy

[hiker]

If your near a creek..hydro would be the way to go

[tanner0441]

Hi

You say you want to stay away from batteries?? Batteries give stability. On sods law the wind will not be blowing when you need power. Also from my own experience if you have a 4.5Kwh generator I bet you wont see that power from it very often. So the ability to store the energy for when you need it, also batteries and charge controller will for the most part help to tame the turbine from gusty winds.

As stated if you have a creek with any sort of a flow then that can give power 24 hours a day, solar is more predictable than wind but can still have it's off days.

Apart from hydro don't expect RE to give a steady power output.

Brian

[ROYJUSTME]

Very good suggestions. I will reconsider battery backup and the hydro power. The solar is still off the table due to cost. Wind has the brake issue, now to research how much flow I need for output.

Type with you all soon
Roy

[DamonHD]

When did you last check solar pricing?  I'm now able to get panels at about one tenth the cost per watt as when I put the first ones on my roof 8 years ago (albeit second-hand).

Rgds

Damon

[Adriaan Kragten]

The basic knowledge about aerodynamics, rotor design and matching is given in my report KD 35, An overview of safety systems which turn the rotor out of the wind is given in report KD 485. The development of my PM-generators is given in report KD 341 (see my website: www.kdwindturbines.nl). Designing a good wind turbine which works well at low wind speeds but which survives heavy storms isn't simple. Although the wind is for free, the costs of investement and maintenance make a windmill only a good choice in a good wind regime and even for a good wind regime, the costs per kWh will be higher than the grid costs. The generated energy is very fluctuating and must be stored if the wind turbine isn't grid connected.

[kitestrings]

Welcome RJMe,

I think the advice I would give would be different depending on whether you have utility power now - fragile or not - or are planning to build or live where there is no power available.  If you have power, you can always supplement it with renewables, and this will be way cheaper than dealing with batteries in the long run.  You may be able to net meter, or even just work at removing more and more from the grid as you can/can afford.

If you are committed to being entirely off-grid, I think you will need batteries.  You may want to start a list of the critical loads.  There are some good worksheets on many of the supplier's sites.  A home with 1,200 SF is modest, but when your energy source is limited by sun &/or wind, you will want to pare things way down, or plan to spend a small fortune.  If you can do heat & hot water without electricity...hang clothes that certainly helps.  AC, aside from swap-coolers (where they work) is out.  Refrigeration needs to be small and efficient.  Lighting is easy nowadays, but think LEDs, controls, efficient.  For that matter every choice needs to have efficiency at the forefront; then the system becomes much more manageable.

I also agree with Damon that the price of solar has come way down, and solar is much easier to start with anyway.

Good luck,  ~ks

[madlabs]

Roy, nice to meetcha. My wife is a hospital chaplain too, although here in the sticks it is a volunteer position.

Solar is the low hanging fruit. Much cheaper, simpler and easier. You can have some backup power quickly for a fraction of the cost of wind. Once ya get that up and running, if you still want more backup, investigate your wind and hydro options. Thing about solar is that once you set it up, all you really need to do is keep water in the batteries once a month.

We live off grid and I made a small windmill to see if there is enough wind to make a larger one produce a worthwhile amount of energy, and there is. I haven't built a bigger mill yet (and I want to!) because the solar just does so well. I only put 72 hours on the genny last winter and we had a wet winter (for us in northern CA).

If you have a hydro option I would look into that first as others have said.

Jonathan