Wind Charge Controller

[sr71p38]

I am sure this has been posted before but I have searched and can't seem to find anything that talks about components. I am looking to build a charger controller with a dump load for a wind generator I am building.  I have wired the wind generator directly to the batteries but I feel like I am overcharging the batteries and getting braking from the batteries.  I think I need a charge controller, a dump load, and a relay but not sure what I should use.  I am more than happy to buy an off the shelf but I am running low voltage and Watts.  I have two case scenarios that I can run 48W, 1.5A, at 24 volts or 32W, 1.5A at 12volts.  Any help would be greatly appreciated, not an EE so keep running into a knowledge wall and the rabbit hole of all the different DIY out there.

[Astro]

You can just run a voltage sensing relay 12 or 24v. The contacts might or might not handle your amperage, but you can control a car/tractor starter solenoid with said voltage sensing relay. The starter solenoid will handle a ton of amps.
Then just wire it so you are charging until the little relay trips at whatever voltage you have it set at and when it trips it powers the dump relay, which switches the power over to a dump load.
Then if you wanted you could add a second voltage sensing relay and a couple more relays and a solenoid between your bank and inverter to regulate when the inverter comes on and shuts off.

[bigrockcandymountain]

The easiest off the shelf solution is something like a tristar pwm ts-45 charge controller set up as a diversion controller and some resistors for a dump load.  You can control wind and solar going into the same battery with just the one controller.  Most other solutions will kind of work, but fairly quickly ruin a battery by over or under charging. 

I was cheap with charge controllers until i decided ruining batteries was more expensive than good charge controllers.  Now i buy the good ones. 

[clockmanFRA]

I second what bigrockcandymountain has just said.

Tristars PWM have been managing my 1300ah 48v batteries and system i have 4 of them for 8kW of dump loads.

 All on the same settings for diversion control and in parallel , One overloads its max rating, then another steps in and so on, being doing that since 2008. Bullet proof!

Below photo of a 4kW Dump load movable cradle unit. And yes they get hot, cables are all 10mm/2.



Below, Turbine No2 control box, with the Tristar PWM45.   (All 3off Turbines are Hugh Piggott design 3.7m diameter)

[Astro]

That is probably the way to go then. Like I said learn from those who have walked the road before you.
Cab I ask what the specs on this unit are? What voltage range does it take? Amps or watts it can handle?
Edit.
I found it.  operating voltage min 9v , max 125v. The 45 model is good for 45 amps. Looks like a pretty well built unit.

[Mary B]

I use the same Tristar charge controllers. VERY reliable!

[sr71p38]

Thanks for the off-the-shelf solution, the tristar seems pretty beefy.  With the low watts and voltage, this might be overkill for my application but I will definitely look at the specifications to see if it would work. Has anyone done a DIY one? 

[DamonHD]

@ghurd made a fine dump load kit, which I used successfully with a small turbine and power resistor dumpload for a while, if that's the sort of thing that you had in mind?  (He hasn't been around for a while...)

Rgds

Damon

[sr71p38]

DamonHD, yes something like that could definitely work.  Did he post plans for this or a parts list? 

[DamonHD]

He was selling a kit to make a few bucks I think (though he was always generous).

I haven't heard from him in a while, so have sent him an email.  I hope that the address i have for him still works.

Here is his site:

http://www.ghurd.info/

Rgds

Damon

[Astro]

He was selling a kit to make a few bucks I think (though he was always generous).

I haven't heard from him in a while, so have sent him an email.  I hope that the address i have for him still works.

Here is his site:



Rgds

Damon

That looks like exactly what is needed for a small set up. Or for a smaller model version for testing. Or like I said something to control a solenoid. It is cheaper then any voltage sensing relay I have seen.
I have noticed that searching for things to do what this board is dedicated to doing seems harder then it used to be. Anyone else think so? you used to be able to type something in and find it in a search pretty easy, now it is like pulling teeth. The internet has changed over the years and I can tell when I am being "directed" in a direction.

[sr71p38]

Has anyone used one of these WindAndSunPower.com 1 Universal Relay Voltage Triggered Load Controller “with Out/NO Delays, Circuit Board Only!” LVD HVD 1URVTLC-1224-BSD and a SSR or something similar?  Seems very much what ghurd method was.  The board seems out of date but not sure if folks have done something similar with Amazon pieces. 

[SparWeb]

I also have one of those Tristars.  It's still great after 10 years.

Also used some C40 controllers from Trace/Xantrex/Schneider.  They are cheaper and maybe all you really need.

[Adriaan Kragten]

At my website: www.kdwindturbines.nl you find a manual of a 200 W battery charge controller including a voltage controller and a dump load at the bottom of the menu KD-reports. The dump load has two resistors and one transistor. The voltage controller is meant for a 24 V lead acid battery. However, it can also be used for a 12 V battery but this requires other resistors on the dump load and the maximum power is reduced somewhat. The manual includes the theory how it works an how the dissipated power is divided in between the transistor and the resistors depending on the current. It is possible to increase the maximum power which can be dissipated by connecting several 200 W dump loads in parallel using only one voltage controller.