Oz
so sorry to have blown your dress up my friend, it was not my intention to piss you or anyone here off.
however i stand with everything i posted, and was careful to also state that if i were proven to be wrong, then i would be the first to admit it, and not only apologize but also promote the end product.
having been on this forum for many years, albeit not as actively as some in recent years, "if" you go back to the early years of this particular forum you will find i was one of the first if not the first to posit the question about load (impedance) matching via a converter. it would have been open source and basically exactly what the OP has in mind.
this is not my first rodeo either. again i never meant to piss off anyone, however if i have done so perhaps it should be used a motivation to actually do the project and see it through rather than take it as an opportunity to attack me for being less than optimistic about the prospects.
as for your changfa, good on you for saving the old girl. i too resurrect old engine's sometimes without anything more than my hand tools. i have hand knurled pistons, reground piston rings with a hand stone reworked babbit brgs, weld repaired all manner of castings, welded up pistons, and replaced gear teeth...on and on and on. i will match my wrench with yours any day of any week. i don't think you want to go there my friend.
as for microcontrollers i have reverse engineered a plc and its backplane, along with its control modules, something i was told was not going to happen, but something nevertheless i did and got an email from the oem asking for first rights to whatever product i came up with.
i have spent thousands of dollars on books, parts etc learning about controllers in particular, and as i stated earlier i stand by what i wrote.
i can program a basic stamp just fine and find it capable of doing everything i need, it is well supported and i like it. probably not the cheapest or best for this project but an option nevertheless.
i guess i would like to end this with the following.
my purpose is never to discourage anyone from doing anything they like, however just sitting back and not providing some of the realities is not being responsible as a member of this or any forum in my opinion. there are too many forum's that support all manner of idea's where the members get all excited, spend all sorts of time and money, and end up with nothing to show for it but aggravation. i am not saying this is the case here!
and finally, some thoughts fwiw as it relates to a mppt controller for a wind generator. the FCC concerns are very real, the liability issues are equally real, and the complexity if you are going to go to the trouble to build it and make it right are also very real.
now to add constructive input
in my opinion you need to have the following control handles, at least...
1. a rpm sensor to read the rotor speed, that can be hz from the generator fairly easily.
2. a windspeed sensor
3. battery voltage sensor
4. generator amp sensor
5. battery temp sensor,
6. maybe an embedded temp sensor in the generator stator core? (if you going to design it, then maybe you provide for protections too?)
then...
7. the converter should be a buck converter, probably not worth the effort to use a boost version as there is very little power down low anyway so why spend a lot of effort trying to boost something that is very low to start with and spend the resources and grief to capture it.
going the boost route allows the builder to wind for as high a voltage as he can get, this is not only useful for the buck converter, but lowers transmission losses as you already know.
then the microcontroller along with is program code, a couple look up tables and a lot of testing then you will probably get something useful.
the problems as i see them aside from those previously stated,
wind speed is hugely variable, which makes meaningful real time testing and results that you can interpret to make subtle changes in the coding is going to be very difficult.
battery charging is also variable and non linear, especially over the life of the batteries, and over the temperature ranges during not only charge/discharging cycles, but often across the seasons unless the batteries are in a climate control room?
so you end up with a problem with many factors that have to be accounted for, which would not be as difficult if they all held still rather than move all over the map!
i know you already know all of the Oz, i only state this to illustrate that i have "some" basic understanding of the project, the procedures, and problems likely to present themselves all along the way before a useful product emerges.
again in my opinion
this is going to be an ambitious project, one that is compounded by the distances between all those involved and the various levels of experience.
now if you could get together a group of perhaps a dozen well motivated people, that have a decent grasp of the technology, "and" have a leader that can keep the group focused, "and" could get everyone to agree as to what needs to be done, how it will be done, and with what controller and what converter, then you likely will succeed... otherwise it is much more likely to happen in one guys shop in my opinion, where he has control over all aspects of design, build and programming.
its been my experience that most folks that get involved with this sort of project (read that as complex) and are members of this sort of "serious" forum, are generally type A folks. i don't know about you, but getting a room full of type A folks to agree on anything is like hurding cats!
i can just here it now, "i want aurdino" , "i want a stamp" , "i want a cubloc", "i want a motorola" , "i want a plc"... "i want buck" "i want boost" " i want both"
i have always thought of this as a worthwhile project, and have been a strong proponent for many many years, just not overly optimistic about the prospects of success at this point.
now that is my opinion, take it for what you paid for it!
group hug?
bob g
ps. we can't get changfa's anymore here in the states, the epa has ruined that, and in doing so has made it also a necessity to import the parts direct from china. so we are in the same boat as you guys down under.