Author Topic: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery charged  (Read 1814 times)

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alibro

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Small turbine to keep electric fence battery charged
« on: May 05, 2008, 04:19:34 AM »
Hi guys

Thanks to lots of help from several of you I have my 10' DanB turbine working well. I am now thinking of building a small turbine to keep a 12V electric fence battery charged. I don't think it would need to be all that big and I'm really only guessing here but if the 90Ah battery can last for a couple of weeks between charges then it shouldn't need more than 2 or 3 amps for a couple of hours a day to keep it charged.

I guess the old 48Vdc motor I have would be ideal but I would love to build a little version of my 10 footer. I have lots of magnets and wire lying about but have never tried anything so small.


Any ideas for blade diameter, rotor diameter number of turns etc, I will probably use old hard drive magnets although I do have some larger mags (I think 1 inch by 1/2 inch). I guess I could buy some smaller ones if they are too big.

Would it be feasible to use hard drive bearings or would they just seize.

I would like to keep it simple so no furling. Is that silly?


Single phase or three phase? And if three phase then Star or Delta?


I have a spare Ghurd controller but would I need it on such a small system?


I want to keep costs as low as possible by using stuff I already have. This is really only a fun project and but might help save my battery as it does get forgotten about sometimes and ends up much too low.


I am not expecting definitive answers here but a gentle prod in the right direction would help me get started.


Cheers All

Alibro

« Last Edit: May 05, 2008, 04:19:34 AM by (unknown) »

Flux

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2008, 01:59:27 AM »
A 3ft machine decently sited will do it easily. Unfortunately not all sites where fencers are used are exposed to decent wind. In a poor site a 4ft machine may have a better chance.


You can probably manage without furling but the simplification is negligible and without it you have more noise, speed and a far higher tower loading in high winds.


Why use other than 3 phase, single phase simplifies nothing and has nothing going for it, I say the same about delta, no virtues at all.


HD magnets will do it, but as usual it is hard work to save a tiny cost on more convenient magnets. If you don't use HD magnets stick to reasonable ones, tiny magnets even for a small machine are never worth it. That is probably why Hugh uses the 2 x 1 x 1/" magnets on his 4ft machine, they are common and cheap.


I don't know about HD bearings, I assume they are good for speed in a perfect environment, I doubt that they will last many minutes for this. I tend to underestimate this sort of problem as anyone with a lathe can sort out hubs and bearing housings quicker and easier than combing the district for something that may just do.


If you want to go the non furling route then look at using too many blades with too much pitch so that it becomes self protecting in high wind. You need a much lower speed alternator but it need only produce a small current. ( invent yourself a Marlec, that was built for fences originally).


Flux

« Last Edit: May 05, 2008, 01:59:27 AM by Flux »

Chagrin

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2008, 06:16:09 AM »
Harbor Freight sells small solar panels at $10 on sale. They only put out about a watt but that should be more than enough to keep a pretty large fence energizer charged.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2008, 06:16:09 AM by Chagrin »

alibro

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2008, 03:25:38 PM »
I am in Northern Ireland.

We are blessed with much rain and good wind but Unfortunately not much Sun. If a cheap solar panel will work well on cloudy days then I will buy one.


Cheers

Alibro

« Last Edit: May 05, 2008, 03:25:38 PM by alibro »

alibro

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2008, 03:56:31 PM »
Crikey Flux

I think I must have got a bit mixed up somewhere. I thought a 2ft diameter turbine would be big enough. That is why I was thinking small magnets and hard drive bearings.

Would I really need a 3ft or 4ft turbine to keep one battery charged. I believe the fencer draws around 25ma so it wouldn't take much to overcome the drain from it. I was thinking 1A to 3A max would be enough or 12W to 36W from the turbine and it would be in a pretty good wind area.

Is there a minimum diameter which if you try to go below then the turbine is pretty much useless?

I will have to go back to my Hugh Piggot book and look up the 4ft turbine design. I must admit I never even looked at it as I was building a 10 footer


Sorry for rambling on, I guess I didn't get much sleep last night :)


Cheers

Alibro

« Last Edit: May 05, 2008, 03:56:31 PM by alibro »

elvin1949

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2008, 12:30:00 AM »
Alibro

 HF has a 5 watt solar panel for 40 dollars .

Even with only some sun it should keep up.

later

Elvin
« Last Edit: May 06, 2008, 12:30:00 AM by elvin1949 »

Flux

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2008, 07:35:03 AM »
If you live in N Ireland and it is on an exposed site then yes a 2ft machine would be ample.In other parts of the world on a poor inland site with trees and a high energy fencer you would need considerably bigger.


On some inland sites you may go for 3 weeks without useful wind. In your case I see a larger probability of going for 3 weeks with nothing from solar.


Still not sure about the long term survival of HD based things, N Ireland is also wet.

Flux

« Last Edit: May 06, 2008, 07:35:03 AM by Flux »

alibro

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2008, 03:08:54 PM »
Hee Hee

It isn't known as the Emerald Isle for nothing. I will do a bit of research into turbines around the 2ft to 3ft mark.

o

Thanks

Alibro
« Last Edit: May 06, 2008, 03:08:54 PM by alibro »

CG

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Re: Small turbine to keep electric fence battery c
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2008, 02:38:46 AM »
The Rutland 913 is used for fence charging, and that is about 3feet in diameter.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2008, 02:38:46 AM by CG »

taylorp035

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Re: Small turbine
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2008, 06:04:19 PM »
If you only need 25ma 24/7, you could even get by with a windmill made out of small printer motors and toy plastic blades.  I have managed to get about 30 watts  through a printer motor 1.5" dia  x 2 inches long with an amazing  84:1 gear ratio.  I was also using 4' dia sheet metal two blade prop.


Now you probably want something a little more rugged, but it doesn't need to be that big.

« Last Edit: May 07, 2008, 06:04:19 PM by taylorp035 »