OK guys, tons of stuff to cover in a limited time.
NO light bulbs!
- I burned out a car head light while prototyping the ghurd controller in maybe 35~40 minutes.
(big round 70s type, so fingerprints were not an issue)
- Lightbulbs have a HUGE surge current, which can and will damage any decent controller if it is loaded anywhere near its rating.
(using a lightbulb will VOID the warrenty on good controllers, and yes, they can tell)
There is not usable light anyway. It will maybe glow most of the time. In big winds it may flicker.
If you want a shed / porch light (?), get a decent quality 12VDC CFL, like a Solsom. Or use an inverter with a 120VAC CFL.
If you think you will save money using lightbulbs as dump loads, that is just plain wrong.
The only exception to the "no lightbulb rule" is microscopic systems. And bulbs like #1156 or #194 are OK, but still not exactly reliable or cost effective in the long term. Need to de-rate the controller to deal with the surge currents.
Do NOT use a solar controller! It WILL blow up, and it will blow up quick with a Red/Bloo car alt.
And when it blows up, there is a reasonable chance it will cause the blades to fail.
Do NOT use crap controllers that uses relays. It will fail.
Look deeper into "controllers" that come in 40A increments (40, 80, 120, 160A, or even 440A). Cheapie auto relays are 40A.
And I don't care if it has a fancy "micro processor".
(I just sent a box to a guy who used a fancy 440A do-hickey, because his 440A do-hickey failed, and ruined many $1,000s of SLAs)
Lets think about this 2 ohm 100W resistor for a minute, shall we?
14.4V regulation voltage?
14.4V/2 ohms = 7.2A
7.2A^2 x 2 = 104W
104W in a 100W resistor. Might be OK, but its gonna get REAL hot when the wind is strong.
Now lets look at equalization. 15.5V?
15.5V/2 ohms = 7.75A
7.75A^2 x 2 ohms = 120W
104 and 120W in a resistor rated for 100W? Not good.
I have seen setups like that melt the solder off the resistor terminals.
The resistors I sell are rated for 25W, and they are only using about 20W. That is a 20% decrease of max power, instead of a 20% increase.
At lower than rated power, and lower than typical regulation voltage, they increase in temperature about 1 degree F per second at 100% duty cycle (just 'on'). IIRC, I stopped it at about 275F. If any dump load is running that long at 100% duty cycle, there is a vry serious issue with the dump load being sorely under what is required, and saving a couple $ on the dump load is ruining the battery.
Momentary side track:
- 3 of them in series is 6 ohms. Combined, they would dump only 34.5W. 11.5W in each 100W resistor. Waste of money.
- 5 of them in series is 10 ohms. Combined, a hair under 20W. 4W each. Cost $65~70 total?
The $1.50 resistor I sell will dump the same power.
I do NOT like stuff to be hot. Maybe thats just me.
If a fan is required to keep it cool enough to function, guess what will fail first? The fan.
Guess what will fail next? The stuff that got too hot.
I do not mind a fan if it is just to keep it a bit cooler, but it is best if the unit is rated to function WITHOUT the fan.
That fan in the link uses almost 2A!
And the total cost is, uh, "more than it needs to be".
Better off puting the fan money into a couple other parts to increase reliablility and keep it cooler by itself in a system that does NOT require a fan. If you know what I mean.
That ebay £52.00 thing is full of oxymorons in the discription. It sounds great to someone who doesn't know what any of that double-talk means, but I know what it means.
IE: It has NO hysteresis? None at all? So what is the PWM algorithm based on? LOL!
The other ebay type things with relays are not good either.
If you want a state-of-the-art controller, they are sold at real places that sell real wind turbines, they do not have relays, and they are not cheap.
And they are available at many retailers, not just one little place who sells on their fancy website or ebay.
If you want something decent and low cost for that size machine, email me.
G-
PS- 10 ohm will dump a hair under 20W. Which is what I sell for $1.50.
