Battery Charge Controller

[TheSuperFantasma]

Hello to all,

I just finished setting up my first wind generator and I have one big problem.

Fist of all let me tell you all that my knowledge in electronics is minimum to the very letter and the big problem that I'm facing right now is that I do not have a battery charger controller. I do not know where to buy a cheap one. I'm only planning to use this generator to have a light going on outside my property, my house is like 80 feet away from the gate and its pitch dark all the time ( I live outside the city limits of Austin, Texas). I built my generator from a pma alternator modified which has it's own rectifier built in, but the site where I got it from suggested me to put a 20 or 30 amp fuse on it to protect it the unit and is also suggesting me to use a Battery Charge controller in case the battery becomes overloaded. This pma alternator is supposed to start producing 12 volts at 150 rpms...today was making easy more that 300 rpms.

Does anyone know how to make one of this controllers?  What devices do I need? Any instructional on this?

I do not have a camera, other wise I would put some pictures of my pretty ugly wind generator.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read my posting.

[Nando]

Super Fastama :

You sound Spanish are You ?.

Read http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/3/25/0160/68107 where I am responding to about the same question.

Nando

[coldspot]

"was making easy more that 300 rpms."

Did you check the voltage with a multimeter???

Do you have a Multimeter

Whats your battery bank, ?

 Kits are available, but a little bit of knowledge would be needed.

Cheaper charge controllers are available but why not go ahead and get a better one??

Like a c40

A dump load will also be required so when battery is full wind turbine power has a place to go. Maybe a few extra lights for a dump load would be good idea for you.

$0.02

and not worth that.

[ghurd]

Tell us more about the maximum output of the windmill.

There are easier controllers than the Homepower circuit.

G-

[TheSuperFantasma]

Nando,

Yes, I am Spanish, as you can tell by my horrible English. Thanks for your help, but I cannot tell how to tackle the diagram on the link you posted. I appreciate very much - your input. I will try to figure it out.

Gracias Señor.

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Coldspot,

No, I did not check the voltage as I do not have a multimeter, neither do I have a battery bank.  Basically I will be using one of my cars battery to test this generator and if everthing goes well I will be considering a serious battery bank to store whatever energy this unit will be producing.

I guess I'll just go ahead and buy one of those commercial ones like the one you suggested, which it already has it's own dump load built in. I did a little research on thess units and they are running at about 140 bucks.

Thanks very much for your input, and I will be posting further info as this project develops.

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Ghurd,

I have not had the chance to really test this unit other that watching it going nuts spinning like crazy. As soon as I'll get it all set up I will be posting every little detail on the entire thing.

There are easier controllers than the Homepower circuit.)  

Really???  Could you give me a little more info on this, please!?!!!

Thank you for taking your time to read my posting.

TheSuperFantasma.

[mukunthko]

You get solar charge controllers on ebay for less than 20 dollars but the solar ones dont like voltage spikes and the voltage needs to be regulated. You might need to use a buck-boost dc-dc converter in between.

The other option I can think of is mppt charge controller (maximum power point tracking). I think these convert voltages as well. You'll need to check. You get them on ebay as well but they're expensive. the cheapest one is about 150 dollars.

[nothing to lose]

A charge controller for a wind genny does a couple things. Don't use a solar controller!

And the controller should not have a built in dump load as you mentioned, you need to add your own dump load. The controller should just turn the dumpload on/off as needed.

Besides any other fancy stuff the controller may do, the primary points are it charges the battery to a preset voltage level and once battery/s is to the full charge the controller turns on the dumpload to use the extra power the wind genny is making. Using that extra power keeps the wind genny from going into a run away freespin that could destroy it in good or hard winds. It is not good to just disconnect the genny to let it run wild!

I think most solar controllers simply shut off the incomming power from the panels, they don't dump the power to any other load, trying to set one up for a wind genny would simply let the genny spin free once batteries are full.

For a dump load you can use anything that will eat up the max excess power the genny may produce durring dump mode. Extra Lights, a heater, motor, etc.., doesn't matter if you need it yourself, the wind genny needs it. But if you use something usefull that's good.

 Like if you have a garden pond, you might be able to run a second DC pump for a fountain as a dumpload?

[ghurd]

I spent a lot of time designing this one to be simple and cheap, for DIY on smaller windmills.

It has 17 parts. 5 parts have 3 pins. All the others have 2 pins.

Higher power will require one or more additional 3 pin parts like the one on the far right.

I believe it is fine for smaller windmills such as Ametek or treadmill based machines.

Machines over 250W could possibly benefit from a more advanced controller.

G-

[TheSuperFantasma]

Nothing to lose,

The garden pond is a great idea!

I recently got a brand new garden pond installed in the middle of my front yard and I will be using it as the dumpload as you have said.

Thanks very much for your great input on this!!!

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Ghurd,

I Just ordered the Xantrex c40 with it's digital display.  My mill is not big at all (over 5 feet in blade radious).  I do not know if my alternator will be performing as said by the guys where I got it from.

I wish I could determine what is what on your design, but my knowledge is extremely minimum.

Thanks very much for your great input on this.

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To all,

Like I mentiond above I just ordered the Xantrex C40 with it's digital display.  What kind of cables will I need to get this electronic device going from the alternator to the controller and to the dumpoad as well?  Will I need a fuse?  Welding cables?

I just want to get everything I need in one trip to the hardware store.

Thank you all very much!!!

[TheSuperFantasma]

Mukunthko,

I appreciate your input amigo. I will keep you all posted on this little project.

[(unknown)]

What did you get to work? Do you have any drawings, parts list maybe? Thanks.

[ghurd]

"What did you get to work?"

A super-simple super-cheap dump controller.

"Do you have any drawings, parts list maybe?"

Soon.  I hope!

The never ending battle for improvements appears over.

With the system you have, I expect a SG-4 would be better.  I believe smaller PV systems are better suited to a good solar controller than a dump controller.

G-

[rossw]

There are easier controllers than the Homepower circuit.)  


Really???  Could you give me a little more info on this, please!?!!!

Here's one I knocked up several months ago during a discussion.

Quite a few have been built and working fine. There are some component changes from whats on the diagram for 36 and 48 volt operation, but I suspect you're running 12V??

http://www.albury.net.au/~rossw/dumploadctlr4.jpg

Not as simple as 3 or 4 transistors, but a lot less complex than some.

May or may not fit your needs...