My experience so far.

[Artful Bodger]

In essence, a guy could probably make something that basically keeps track of the voltage and regulates it by allowing more or less amps to be drawn.

I'll start by saying my turbine knowledge is limited to what I can get on a stamp.
PV MPPT in my SMA SB1700 has double power conversion, so peak power (current in combination with volts) is sought and a ~400V DC bus is created. That 400V then drives a circuit (H bridge) that converts the DC back to AC. You lose a bit in each stage/conversion. The SB1700 has a turbine mode so this sounds close to what you're describing. The grid will take as much power as you can throw at it.

When a turbine controller is driving a battery it has 2 jobs. 1. Maintain a pretty constant voltage across the battery (bulk charge) 2. keep enough load on the turbine. As you've said the voltage on the turbine varies with speed and load. Other than reducing the current to the battery, you can't influence the turbine voltage. The turbine will have a sweet spot and a good dedicated controller will find that over time over different wind conditions. 
If you fancy a real challenge I saw this project https://www.hackster.io/philippedc/a-wind-turbine-mppt-regulator-with-an-arduino-uno-783462 You'll be able to tinker with the parameters in real time to get a controller to do exactly what you want.

[Astro]

In essence, a guy could probably make something that basically keeps track of the voltage and regulates it by allowing more or less amps to be drawn.

I'll start by saying my turbine knowledge is limited to what I can get on a stamp.
PV MPPT in my SMA SB1700 has double power conversion, so peak power (current in combination with volts) is sought and a ~400V DC bus is created. That 400V then drives a circuit (H bridge) that converts the DC back to AC. You lose a bit in each stage/conversion. The SB1700 has a turbine mode so this sounds close to what you're describing. The grid will take as much power as you can throw at it.

When a turbine controller is driving a battery it has 2 jobs. 1. Maintain a pretty constant voltage across the battery (bulk charge) 2. keep enough load on the turbine. As you've said the voltage on the turbine varies with speed and load. Other than reducing the current to the battery, you can't influence the turbine voltage. The turbine will have a sweet spot and a good dedicated controller will find that over time over different wind conditions. 
If you fancy a real challenge I saw this project https://www.hackster.io/philippedc/a-wind-turbine-mppt-regulator-with-an-arduino-uno-783462 You'll be able to tinker with the parameters in real time to get a controller to do exactly what you want.

 Yup. I was up half the night reading about the best charging methods and thinking about how to build something to do it. I arrived at, it is going to be way cheaper to just buy a controller.
 That said I have another question. I think it was asked here before, but I can't seem to find the post. Can I connect 2 charge controllers to the same turbine? I am finding that You can't find anything much over 500 watts, so I am wondering what would happen if I used 2 controllers in case I am capable of 700 watts or so?
 

[DamonHD]

Hi,

Yes, you should be able to connect two charge controllers to the the same battery.

They should both be sensible and set for compatible modes, voltage set points etc.

My small off-grid PV system feeds into its (12V) battery (a) a Morningstar MPPT for the primary ~550Wp of panels (60-cell, so I'm also getting voltage conversion as part of the deal) and (b) a small cheap PWM for the rag-tag of 12V other panels I have.

Rgds

Damon

[Astro]

Hi,

Yes, you should be able to connect two charge controllers to the the same battery.

They should both be sensible and set for compatible modes, voltage set points etc.

My small off-grid PV system feeds into its (12V) battery (a) a Morningstar MPPT for the primary ~550Wp of panels (60-cell, so I'm also getting voltage conversion as part of the deal) and (b) a small cheap PWM for the rag-tag of 12V other panels I have.

Rgds

Damon

 I figured I would be ok on the battery side. It would be like having a solar charger and a wind charger on the same battery bank. I was wondering if I bought 2 500 watt 12v charge controllers and hooked them both up to the output of the same mill if I would be ok? I would not see why not if they are the same and set the same.
 I might be way over thinking it and maybe I will not need more then 500w idk.

[Astro]

Some news??? I think the Midnite Kid  works for turbines!!! It has a clipper and I would not know why if it was not for a turbine. I also noticed on the marine version it says in red "for solar only" but not so on this one.
I think we have found a mid sized quality controller for our little projects!! This is great news.
https://www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=669&productCatName=Charge%20Controllers%20-%20KID&productCat_ID=43&sortOrder=1&act=p
 
Or maybe not. Looking at their boards they have been working in this for many years. So who knows if the mppt is for wind or not. Probably need to call them.

[MattM]

$500 to find out you were wrong could be painful.

[DamonHD]

I figured I would be ok on the battery side. It would be like having a solar charger and a wind charger on the same battery bank. I was wondering if I bought 2 500 watt 12v charge controllers and hooked them both up to the output of the same mill if I would be ok? I would not see why not if they are the same and set the same.
 I might be way over thinking it and maybe I will not need more then 500w idk.

Having multiple controllers connect to the same source is less likely to go well, for various reasons.  Many controllers manuals point out that they cannot reliably share loads on their terminals for example, and on the input you also have the slightly more nuanced issue of the MPPT scanning algorithms fighting one another.

Rgds

Damon

[Astro]

I figured I would be ok on the battery side. It would be like having a solar charger and a wind charger on the same battery bank. I was wondering if I bought 2 500 watt 12v charge controllers and hooked them both up to the output of the same mill if I would be ok? I would not see why not if they are the same and set the same.
 I might be way over thinking it and maybe I will not need more then 500w idk.

Having multiple controllers connect to the same source is less likely to go well, for various reasons.  Many controllers manuals point out that they cannot reliably share loads on their terminals for example, and on the input you also have the slightly more nuanced issue of the MPPT scanning algorithms fighting one another.

Rgds

Damon

 I wondered about that. Thought that may be an issue, even if all the settings were the same.
So it looks like when I get to that point I will go with a pwm. As long as I rectify it will not matter if it is a solar charger pwm will it?
 I tend to worry/think about the future, last night I was sitting here thinking, KISS, 1 build the dam thing 2 spin it/test in the garage 3 put a load on it in the garage. THEN you can start thinking about the next step or what to buy for it after that.
 With that in mind, I am going to order some resin. Thinking vinyl ester. Do you guys add anything to your resin? My mold will be 18in then plus mounting ears and about 3/4 in thick. Do you think it will be good to go??

[bigrockcandymountain]

Pwm is maybe going to work, but then your turbine will only really see battery voltage, so 15v.  Think of it the same as direct connecting to the batteries. 

Of you are thinking, man this is a crapshoot trying to pick a controller, you are right.  There are very few true wind controllers on the market. 

I still recommend ts45 tristar controlling a dump load and the inputs direct connected to the battery. It may cost a bit more, but if your goal is 10 kwh per day you are going to need to put some decent controls on this thing.

I just had the best wind day ever and logged 20 kwh. 

[Scruff]

Clicky

[Scruff]

[Astro]

Pwm is maybe going to work, but then your turbine will only really see battery voltage, so 15v.  Think of it the same as direct connecting to the batteries. 

Of you are thinking, man this is a crapshoot trying to pick a controller, you are right.  There are very few true wind controllers on the market. 

I still recommend ts45 tristar controlling a dump load and the inputs direct connected to the battery. It may cost a bit more, but if your goal is 10 kwh per day you are going to need to put some decent controls on this thing.

I just had the best wind day ever and logged 20 kwh.

 Yeah I think you and Scruff might be right. When I was up all night reading about different methods of charging batteries, this is almost exactly what I came up to build. I can tell you this much a google search says it is $185 on Amazon and that is not bad. I can not build something like it for that price.
 Lack of controllers is why I decided to just take one step at a time and keep it simple. Because I have no idea how this thing is going to perform. BUT hooking it up like you guys suggest, it does not matter how it performs. I could put out 18v or 50v and it won't matter. Then I can use a voltage sensing relay and make a clipper circuit as an over speed control device for when the wind blows a little to hard for my liking. Not that the tristar is going to care, but that I do not want damage to be done to the mill,  in the event we get 50 mph winds.
According to your wiring diagram, maybe I should also have said voltage sensing relay control something that disconnects in an under voltage situation?? Say I have a 12v bank and hardly no wind or 9v worth of wind, wouldn't I be better off disconnecting the battery from the mill at that point?? If I am worried that it will free spin, well yes it will,  but only until it gets back up to a set charging voltage again, then it switches back to being connected to the battery. How does that sound??

Edit. The trstar does shut off at 9v. But it might be nice to add a circuit like I said to disconnect the battery from the mill at a certain voltage as well. Say at 21v if you are running a 24v bank. No sense wasting anything charging the wire to the mill and the coils in a low voltage output situation. Because if the mill is putting out 16v, the tristar will power up at that voltage (powers up at 9v), but it is not going to charge a 24v bank.
 I suppose one could make it so it just shorts the 3 phases and stops the whole thing, but that is a ton of wasted energy if your rig likes 15mph wind and the wind is blowing at 25mph. You can't stop it in an under voltage situation, because then it would not know when to start again and reconnect to the battery.
 Yeah I think so.
Since my mill is wound with #14 and I am really only looking to put out 20 amps, I think a couple of 30 amp relays and a voltage sensing relay could be had for pretty cheap. Then I just need to pick my resistors for the clipper circuit. That would need to be decided on an individual build bases. On mine, I would probably only want to clip 1/3 of it's capabilities before total shut down, because it is a vawt and over speed on a vawt is rarely a problem. If anything most do not spin fast enough for the design of the generator.

[Bruce S]

Astro;
Have you decided on what style and size VAWT blades yet. Both Sovanius and Lenz2 are somewhat self-limiting, especially the S type. As a "bucket" turns into the wind it of course slows the whole thing down. The Lenz2 even with it's much improved design will still slow down or more correctly will reach it's RPM max.

Bruce S

[Astro]

Astro;
Have you decided on what style and size VAWT blades yet. Both Sovanius and Lenz2 are somewhat self-limiting, especially the S type. As a "bucket" turns into the wind it of course slows the whole thing down. The Lenz2 even with it's much improved design will still slow down or more correctly will reach it's RPM max.

Bruce S

 That is exactly why I like the Lenz design. Because over speed will not be much of a worry. Only big concern is really heavy winds that will tear it apart. I am having a little discussion of the give and take of the fly wheel (mag plates) weight in my head right now. As to heavy and I am going to wear on things faster and start up will be higher. To light and momentum will not carry it through little changes in the wind speed and to some extent direction. My goal was to just have it chugging away almost always making X amount of power. Slow and steady, just like the great big mills. I am a little disappointed at the projected voltage numbers, but hey physics ya know. But once I realized that 12v might be ok AND now that you guys sorted me out on how to get everything from the mill, it should work ok. See the problem I had with the controllers was, I need to be able to put out 35v if I can, but into a 12v bank. Cant' find a controller that will allow that. Then if I find something that might work or is somewhat close. the wattage is low. So if I can put out 600 watts I do not want a controller saying nope, 500 is the limit, because then I am back to wasting energy.
 Way back when I joined the board, I said that I had been thinking about the whole torque vs speed thing of this project for a long time. That I wanted to build something that was efficient. Just chugs along doing it's thing most days of the year. I love the way the airplane airfoils look and they can spin pretty darn fast. But they also slow down and speed up easier and they might have a problem getting anything very big to start turning.
 I have incorporated some designs into the build that will hopefully allow some "tuning" ability and provide for an easier path should I ever decide on taking the project to the next level.

[DanG]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

[Astro]

 Part of what I am going to need help with is picking the resistors. Or 1 resistor since it is a dc circuit. I am not good with electronics and my mind says that if I wanted to "clip" 1/3 of my capabilities, and my coils weigh x amount, that I should be able to just take the weight of 1 phase worth of coils (so 1/3). In my case about 2.5 pounds and take 2.5 pounds of #14 (same as the coils and good for 20 amps) and wind up a resistor.
Now I am in no way saying that is even close. But it would be nice if it was. Pretty simple way of explaining it.
I was knee deep into resistor reading the other day and while I get the concept, I have no idea how to size them.
 I swear I have read 200 published papers on things to do with this project and some days my head is a little spinning. I just could not grasp what it was trying to say about designing a resistor the size I wanted.

[Astro]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

 IDK I was not around for that, but you are about straight north of me. Lol. I used to know some people up in the Alexandria area and would run around a bit up there when I was younger. Worked on a Pro Gold project in Wahpeton many years ago as well.

[Mary B]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

Using resistance in the line tuned the turbine closer to its maximum TSR. It was used on turbines with to small of coils if my bad memory serves me. Adding resistance to the line let the turbine match to the load better.

MPPT negates that need. At that point low loss cable is more power produced.

[Mary B]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

 IDK I was not around for that, but you are about straight north of me. Lol. I used to know some people up in the Alexandria area and would run around a bit up there when I was younger. Worked on a Pro Gold project in Wahpeton many years ago as well.

Now I wonder how far north of me you are LOL I am 30 miles west of Redwood Falls...

[Astro]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

 IDK I was not around for that, but you are about straight north of me. Lol. I used to know some people up in the Alexandria area and would run around a bit up there when I was younger. Worked on a Pro Gold project in Wahpeton many years ago as well.

Now I wonder how far north of me you are LOL I am 30 miles west of Redwood Falls...

 South of you. There is a big wind farm from Storm Lake Iowa to the Minnesota border and I live in that wind farm.
Enron started that wind farm down by Storm Lake many years ago and I almost went to work for them. Then they did there little whatever and went out of business and then back in the Obama days (dang now I can't recall the name of it edit, I remember it was Vetsas) another company came in with bigger units and just kept building north to the border. A few married in relatives work or did work for that company and I still can't remember the name of them off hand. The blades were made in Luvern Mn I think and I think a bunch of the parts inside of them came from the Dutch.
 When you get on top of a hill (hills are rare around here) at night, all you can see for as far as you can see is the red flashing lights on top of all them. It is kind of pretty. They all flash at the same time.
 But it did not make everyone happy. I know one guy who would catch the reflection off the blades right across his house. Which that would be annoying. Having your room get brighter and dimmer constantly.
What pisses me off is our tax dollars. Every American citizens tax dollars were used to build this wind farm, right?? Yet we get charged a renewable energy charge on our monthly bill. .0024 cents per kwh. My last bill was 1146 kwh and so that charge was $2.75. My bill is higher in the summer and thus so is the charge. That does not sound like much, but how many people are paying $3 a month for wind mills that #1 almost all the power from gets exported to Minneapolis and #2 That our tax dollars built??
Don't get me started on the utility company. A little over 2 years ago I said "Jesus it is just me and my wife, why do we pay so much for electricity??" " I can't imagine what people with 2-3 kids leaving the lights on all the time are paying". So I started thinking...............

[Astro]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

Using resistance in the line tuned the turbine closer to its maximum TSR. It was used on turbines with to small of coils if my bad memory serves me. Adding resistance to the line let the turbine match to the load better.

MPPT negates that need. At that point low loss cable is more power produced.

 Hence me wanting mppt. But I am just going to have to get by (and see what this thing can do first) before I go dropping that kind of coin on a midnite classic. I get it, they are worth it, but a little big for what I need it for.
 I think what I am after is a mill that can dent your usage pretty good, but also fit well in a town or city limits.
Besides my other parameters of the build, you have to remember, it is going in my garden and can not be an eye sore. If I had 5 plus acres, I might have tried for a larger one. I also do not want one that sounds like a dang electric weed whip every time the wind blows. I knew a guy that had one of those and my God was it awful to listen to. He had it a long ways from anyone else, but still it was on his rec property and it took a little of the relaxing out of it if you ask me.

[Mary B]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

 IDK I was not around for that, but you are about straight north of me. Lol. I used to know some people up in the Alexandria area and would run around a bit up there when I was younger. Worked on a Pro Gold project in Wahpeton many years ago as well.

Now I wonder how far north of me you are LOL I am 30 miles west of Redwood Falls...

 South of you. There is a big wind farm from Storm Lake Iowa to the Minnesota border and I live in that wind farm.
Enron started that wind farm down by Storm Lake many years ago and I almost went to work for them. Then they did there little whatever and went out of business and then back in the Obama days (dang now I can't recall the name of it edit, I remember it was Vetsas) another company came in with bigger units and just kept building north to the border. A few married in relatives work or did work for that company and I still can't remember the name of them off hand. The blades were made in Luvern Mn I think and I think a bunch of the parts inside of them came from the Dutch.
 When you get on top of a hill (hills are rare around here) at night, all you can see for as far as you can see is the red flashing lights on top of all them. It is kind of pretty. They all flash at the same time.
 But it did not make everyone happy. I know one guy who would catch the reflection off the blades right across his house. Which that would be annoying. Having your room get brighter and dimmer constantly.
What pisses me off is our tax dollars. Every American citizens tax dollars were used to build this wind farm, right?? Yet we get charged a renewable energy charge on our monthly bill. .0024 cents per kwh. My last bill was 1146 kwh and so that charge was $2.75. My bill is higher in the summer and thus so is the charge. That does not sound like much, but how many people are paying $3 a month for wind mills that #1 almost all the power from gets exported to Minneapolis and #2 That our tax dollars built??
Don't get me started on the utility company. A little over 2 years ago I said "Jesus it is just me and my wife, why do we pay so much for electricity??" " I can't imagine what people with 2-3 kids leaving the lights on all the time are paying". So I started thinking...............

Very familiar with your area! And that Vestas wind farm! You are about 80 miles south of me... I am the other side of Buffalo Ridge. Yes that Dutch wind company came in with bigger turbines, blades and towers were made in Pipestone MN(towers are  still made there!). A heck of a lot of fiberglass worn out blades ended up in a landfill down there and caused a ruckus because it filled it.

[Mary B]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

Using resistance in the line tuned the turbine closer to its maximum TSR. It was used on turbines with to small of coils if my bad memory serves me. Adding resistance to the line let the turbine match to the load better.

MPPT negates that need. At that point low loss cable is more power produced.

 Hence me wanting mppt. But I am just going to have to get by (and see what this thing can do first) before I go dropping that kind of coin on a midnite classic. I get it, they are worth it, but a little big for what I need it for.
 I think what I am after is a mill that can dent your usage pretty good, but also fit well in a town or city limits.
Besides my other parameters of the build, you have to remember, it is going in my garden and can not be an eye sore. If I had 5 plus acres, I might have tried for a larger one. I also do not want one that sounds like a dang electric weed whip every time the wind blows. I knew a guy that had one of those and my God was it awful to listen to. He had it a long ways from anyone else, but still it was on his rec property and it took a little of the relaxing out of it if you ask me.

They banned those AirX wind toys up at the lake my parents were on. Noise was to disruptive of the peace and quiet lake life brings. One thing to listen to a boat motor(music to my ears LOL), it is an intermittent noise, that weed wacker constant drone set my teeth on edge. Lake Association got together and banned them, 2 guys complained out of the 800 people who were members. They lost. I could hear the one across 1 mile of open water! Get up at 6AM to go sit on the dock and enjoy sunrise and it was all you could hear.

[Astro]

Any one remember the balance act of Dan-Built wind turbine alternators - tune cut-in RPMs with wire gauge, protect alternator coils with resistance in drop cables, negotiate long site specific wire runs AND tall tower drop lines... once the wind jenny is flying keeping it protected is Job One...

Does providing low loss cable to MPPT controller solve those gremlins?

Using resistance in the line tuned the turbine closer to its maximum TSR. It was used on turbines with to small of coils if my bad memory serves me. Adding resistance to the line let the turbine match to the load better.

MPPT negates that need. At that point low loss cable is more power produced.

 Hence me wanting mppt. But I am just going to have to get by (and see what this thing can do first) before I go dropping that kind of coin on a midnite classic. I get it, they are worth it, but a little big for what I need it for.
 I think what I am after is a mill that can dent your usage pretty good, but also fit well in a town or city limits.
Besides my other parameters of the build, you have to remember, it is going in my garden and can not be an eye sore. If I had 5 plus acres, I might have tried for a larger one. I also do not want one that sounds like a dang electric weed whip every time the wind blows. I knew a guy that had one of those and my God was it awful to listen to. He had it a long ways from anyone else, but still it was on his rec property and it took a little of the relaxing out of it if you ask me.

They banned those AirX wind toys up at the lake my parents were on. Noise was to disruptive of the peace and quiet lake life brings. One thing to listen to a boat motor(music to my ears LOL), it is an intermittent noise, that weed wacker constant drone set my teeth on edge. Lake Association got together and banned them, 2 guys complained out of the 800 people who were members. They lost. I could hear the one across 1 mile of open water! Get up at 6AM to go sit on the dock and enjoy sunrise and it was all you could hear.

 The guy I knew had one up in the mountains. He had 10 acres or so and lots of trees, so you really could not hear it when off his property, but in the clearing where he had an rv and small shop, it would get to "zipping". It reminded me of those cars kids would push down and rub across the floor to get them going. Has almost a zing noise to it.
 Yeah Pipestone that was it. Maybe Luvern is a staging area or something, but there is a place there you can see from the interstate that had towers and such there. Last time I went by, it does not look as busy, still some tower sections out there but not as many.
 

[Mary B]

There are 4 or 5 storage yards all along I90 in SW MN... One west of Pipestone, one just east...

[Astro]

Astro, here are the approximate figures of the output of that alternator.

These figures could be + or – 10%

If you have 2 rotors with 32 magnets each, open DC volts would be:

56 volts at 214 RPM and 28 volts at 110 RPM.

If you have 1 magnet rotor and 1 steel rotor without magnets on the other side:

56 volts at 305 RPM and 28 volts at 156 RPM.

If you have 1 magnet rotor only, and no steel rotor on the other side:

14.5 volts at 120 RPM.

The maximum that you can squeeze out of 64 of those magnets would be about 900 watts max.

Those coils are a bit thick for those small magnets, but should work ok.

I hope this will be useful to you in choosing the charge controller and VAWT to go with this.

Ed

 So let me think about this for a second.
Option 1. I use all the copper I have left ($100 or so if I had to buy it) and make another stator. I use a thick piece of steel and put mags on both sides and then just thinner plates with no mags on the other side of each stator. So double the coils.
That should give me about 58v @ 156 rpm
"If you have 1 magnet rotor and 1 steel rotor without magnets on the other side:
56 volts at 305 RPM and 28 volts at 156 RPM."

 OR. I use the 64 mags I have on one stator with mags on both sides.
"If you have 2 rotors with 32 magnets each, open DC volts would be:
56 volts at 214 RPM and 28 volts at 110 RPM."

 Ideally I would put mags on all the plates, and I could do that if I used the copper I have AND bought another $250 worth of mags.
That should put me at about 56v @ 110 rpm.
 
So option 1, 58v @156rpm
Option 2 56v @ 214 rpm
Option 3 and the best, but most expensive way. 56v @ 110 rpm.

 I am seriously thinking about option #1. Then I can get it flying and buy a few mags here and there and next year take it down and add mags to the two outer plates and get the numbers from option 3 with very little work.

 What do you guys think??
I am a little concerned that with a limited shop and trying to get a 24/32 set up lined up fairly well, that doing it twice and then getting those 2 different stators and rotors all lined up. It might just be to much. I don't have the machinery and it is pretty much hand built. So a half a degree can get away from you when you follow it down the chain and multiply it by that number of coils or mags. You can get out of alignment very fast that way. So maybe I have made it as complicated as I should without a machine shop.

[Astro]

Although.............. One thick disc in the center with 2 thinner ones on the outside would act more like a flywheel. Making it so it is even harder to knock of it's game with slight wind and amperage changes.
Did I mention I am trying to run my 6 amp furnace fan, my 3 amp fridge and my 3? amp freezer from this rig? If I can get close I may as well add a current sensing relay that fires a relay and if either the fridge or freezer (that circuit) is drawing anything over an amp or two (for lights inside), then to fire a relay that either lets the furnace fan be powered from my system or from the grid. That should balance the load nicely and never pull to hard on the system. It can charge and discharge at a more consistent rate.

[JW]

Is that with the 3 magnetic plates and two stators.

I'm thinking "magnetic circuit" here 

[Astro]

Is that with the 3 magnetic plates and two stators.

I'm thinking "magnetic circuit" here

 I am not going to do it. If i had access to a machine shop and some more precision tools, then yeah I probably would.
 I think I am shooting for about 50v at 200 rpm. 50v at 18amps is 900w. which is about the max I will ever get out of it anyway. So now we know our rpm range we want to be in. Obviously it is going to take some torque to keep it spinning at 200 rpm when under load. We also know that 20 amps and up is considered fast charging and when you really have to watch for gassing. Kind of hard on batteries the higher you go over 20 too. So 18 sounds good. We know that only 6 amps (720 watts)max will ever be drawn at one time (not counting start up) because I am going to wire the furnace fan as a secondary load, or just kick it back to the grid when a fridge is running. So as they cycle, there should be time (especially when not in the deep part of winter or the hottest part of the summer, when the fan runs less than it has time to put into the bank. But even during those times in the winter there still has to be many hours a day where none of them are running. We know that a 100ah battery will run a 6 amp CONSTANT load for about 1/2hr. So 400ah, should keep things going for a couple hrs IF there is no input charging going on AND it is drawing 6 amps constantly. That gives me enough time to get up get dressed and make a cup of coffee, see what is up and if I need to fire up the genny. It also is enough time that if a guy was at work, everything is going to be ok until you get off work.
 So yeah, that is how I talked myself into this project. Lol
 

[Astro]

More numbers
200 rpm x 32 mags puts it at 6,400 times a magnet has crossed any point on the stator per minute.
400 rpm with a 12 mag would be 4800 times.
400 rpm with a 16 mag 12 coil would be 6400
 And that is why it is important to know that since water turbines operate with less pressure then steam, they have more mags and coils. Because they spin slower.
 Some knowledge that did not turn out to be so useless.

[Astro]

 Now if any of you have been in this for awhile and thought maybe something is up, here is a snap shot that shows in recent (since about 2018) years the winds have been acting a little different. The winds in Jan are not as high and the winds in Aug not as low. (at this location anyway). Ta da that is why the climate is different.

[Astro]

 Stator mold is cut and a good coat of linseed oli applied.

[Astro]

 Lots of prep work on the stator mold today. Hopefully I will pour it tomorrow. I used silicon caulk around the edges and then (after a couple coats of linseed oil the other day) I used candle wax to coat everything. My wife makes candles and had a bunch of wax pellets, so I took a handful and stuck them in a jar. Placed said jar in hot water on the stove until they melted and used one of those painting sponges on a stick to coat everything. It turned out really nice. It is slicker than snot. If you get a little thick or want to work it a little more, you just get out the hair dryer or heat gun and melt it a little so you can get a nice even coat.
 Coils are laying in the mold tonight and with so many coils, I can already tell getting them exactly placed where I want them is going to take a little work. I will measure several times before I pour it. I opted to not use the knurled bolt idea and am just going to have stator wire coming out of the mold. I think. I do have some #10 stranded all cut and taped together that I was planning on soldering up inside of the mold and bringing those out and might still go that route, depending on how I feel and how it goes. I am just worried with a tail soldered on like that I am going to end up moving coils around trying to get it through the hole in the lid of the mold. So I figure, I can always solder them on after I pour the mold and then pour a little more over that connection. IDK yet, like I said we will see what happens.