ac or dc?

[leasloubg]

i am wanting to try and put power into a remote cabin, does a wind generator provide ac current that could be used straight off to power appliances or does it provide 12 or 24 volt to batteries therefore requiring all the lights etc to be 12 or 24 volt i am not talking about a serious power need just things like lights and of course the mobile charger and laptop. hope you can help

[Frank S]

 leasloubg;
 Most of the DIY generators and many of the out of the box ones are going to  be AC but not in the sense as you are thinking.
They are going to require a controller, be rectified to DC then an inverter used to produce stable line type AC voltage they will even have to be controlled and rectified to produce usable voltages to charge batteries.
 Exceptions may be the use of a non modified car alternator if the RPM's can be held in a usable range
 there are dozens of very good threads on here and many links to some great information
 You will need to brush up on your reading and dedicate many hours to learn as much as you want
 Some members have built some pretty amassing DIY generators and many live totally off the grid.
 That being said, almost no single system is the best nor will it be for everyone . One thing though wind does not always blow and never blows steady for very long at a time, The sun does not shine in the rain or at night water for hydro can be seasonal Batteries need to be cared for regularly and a good engine driven generator can become your best friend at times

[thirteen]

be sure that you evaluate the power you truely need. That way you will not be undersized. If you are only there for a few days at a time you can get by with a small system. But if you plan your power usage poorly you will not get good results. 13

[Flux]

Even if you get a machine that outputs ac it will be raw ac and no use for running any normal load, the only real exception is for water pumping or a large machine used for heating.

For your application it will need to be dc and charge batteries. You may be able to run all you need from the 12 or 24v with phone chargers and laptop chargers and low voltage lighting.

For other applications you will need an inverter to produce stable ac. For a small installation a cheap modified sine inverter will possibly satisfy your needs and be cost effective. For longer serious use then quality off grid sine wave inverters are the way to go but I suspect your modest needs can be met without this expense.

As you will be using batteries it will be worthwhile combining a certain amount of solar with the wind power to have a better chance of power on most days.

Flux

[leasloubg]

thanks for the help. i used to have a boat and it was powered with 2 x 12v 90AH lorry batteries for the lighting etc which were charged from the motor, i was thinking of a propane fridge so really its only lights and i think a 12v system ccharged with an out of the box wind generator with an invertor for the laptop sounds the best way to go. just one thing if i was to get a 1KW invertor, is that what it draws from the batteries even if im only using it for a smaller wattage appliance ie laptop? thanks again lea

[DamonHD]

On your last point, no, unless it's a very very bad one.

It'll draw the same power as its loads plus an extra chunk to power its internals and losses.

A bigger inverter will have bigger losses/overheads, so ideally you have the smallest inverter that will power your loads.

Rgds

Damon

[Bruce S]

You'd be amazed at what you can power with a little 140w inverter.

[leasloubg]

thanks damon think i may look at some solar panel aswell as extra charge.

[leasloubg]

bruce, would an invertor that size power a laptop??

[bart]

   Amps x Volts = Watts
Look at the power supply for your laptop.
My Toshiba reads 100-240 V, 1.3 A
So 120 v x 1.3 a = 156 watts

[Bruce S]

That's max usage.
I recharge my laptop HP 6710 using 100-240V 1.7A with it almost daily.
This is powered off with recharged plugged into the 140Watt inverter charging the battery that's connected to my lowly 90watt set of panels that are connected to a 16Ahr NiCd battery bank which uses a 18Ahr SLA as a backup when it's full.
My other unit I take on the road with it is a Vector 300watt I got at a pawnshop for $10 (it had no connector ends)
the Little 140watt unit I stole from GHurd 
Hope that helps;
Bruce

[leasloubg]

thanks bruce,
    i got lost at hp6710, what i am worried about is prolonged use of the laptop as it will be my only amusement, music, radio, films internet etc. would a battery bank of 200ah 12v with a 300w wind turbine assisted by a 250w solar panel on top of a windy hill in a sunny climate even in winter be sufficient to keep it going, i would also keep a spare 12 battery charged for the lights if it is not enough
ian

[Bruce S]

That ones a hard question to answer.
Biggest reason are: In the winter and if your flag is correct , you're in the UK, Damon may be able to help with better insolation figures for there.
BUT from what I remember him saying sunlight can be little to none during winter, and there's gonna be days where there's neither sun or wind.
Having said that, I would gather what items you may possibly have on at the same time, check their max power needs and grab an inverter that is sized close to that.
A 200Ahr battery could certainly do it, depending on the Chemistry of the battery(ies) careful you don't drain it too far down. What will you have during those times when the sun hides and the wind refuses to head your way?
My best guess is you may only get 50A back into that battery per day during winter months.
Bruce

[DamonHD]

http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php#