Thread: Need some help with turbines, voltage, amps and wire

Ok so I really know nothing when it comes to electricity as a whole. I really am not exaggerating lol, but I do have some questions I hope that I can phrase correctly so that you guys can help me!

I know, that I am trying to build a small wind turbine to place on top of my house its slightly windy not very windy though. I want to know some basic information. 1) how do you transfer the energy from the turbine spinning into electrical current that can then be channeled out and stored/ used. Approx what kind of AMPS/ Volts does a turbine generate and also what kind of wiring usually is needed for lets say a battery wired hypothetically maybe 20 inches away and also what is the type of wiring needed for a battery hypothetically hooked up 10-15 feet away? And then as a final question for wires id just want to know if i hooked one up maybe 16-25 feet away... I know that realistically I wouldn't be hooking up this battery 20 inches away but i might.. I have some ideas but i need to know more before i even begin to do this. I have an electrician in the family except he is extremely unhelpful considering he works 60 hours a week and has ADD and can never spit a straight answer out lol.

Ok so part 3 of my question! Lets say i wanted to power one specific lightbulb in my back yard off of this turbine how would I go about doing such a thing? And how would that differ from lets say charging the battery?

In actuality my ideal setup for this Turbine is this.. I want the turbine on the roof towards the back of my house with a light that is attached to the house as well shining on the back yard. Also I want this turbine to store a charge on a mid sized battery possibly in a housing next to the turbine... As of now its only a rough copy of the setup but thats why I asked for varying distances of the battery from the turbine.

Thank you! I appreciate it in advance also I will be checking quite often so if I left important information out or something doesn't make sense then let me know!

If you google home wind turbine, you'll find lots of information on the turbines themselves.

The wiring requirements for distances from 2 and 25 feet (or longer) will depend on the amount of power the turbine generates The overall idea is, for example, that electrical codes would not specify different size wiring for 25 feet as compared to 2 feet. Yet, the codes would probably require you to use larger wire for distances over, let's say, 50 or 100 feet.

Wire size affects the resistance in power transmission from the turbine to the batteries. This resistance leads to two concerns: the danger of fire from overheated wires, and line loss (ie, inefficiency of transmission). These two concerns go hand in hand, but the danger of fire is the greater concern, and it determines the minimum wire size; whereas the concern over obtaining a little more efficiency might drive you to use slightly larger wire.

PS — My gut reaction to (lead acid) batteries on/near roofs is: #1 – leaking and being a danger to the house and its occupants below, #2 – being struck by lightning and exploding/etc and creating the same dangers above, and #3 – the inherent difficulties with installation, servicing, etc.

Originally Posted by jrmonroe

If you google home wind turbine, you'll find lots of information on the turbines themselves.

The wiring requirements for distances from 2 and 25 feet (or longer) will depend on the amount of power the turbine generates The overall idea is, for example, that electrical codes would not specify different size wiring for 25 feet as compared to 2 feet. Yet, the codes would probably require you to use larger wire for distances over, let's say, 50 or 100 feet.

Wire size affects the resistance in power transmission from the turbine to the batteries. This resistance leads to two concerns: the danger of fire from overheated wires, and line loss (ie, inefficiency of transmission). These two concerns go hand in hand, but the danger of fire is the greater concern, and it determines the minimum wire size; whereas the concern over obtaining a little more efficiency might drive you to use slightly larger wire.

PS — My gut reaction to (lead acid) batteries on/near roofs is: #1 – leaking and being a danger to the house and its occupants below, #2 – being struck by lightning and exploding/etc and creating the same dangers above, and #3 – the inherent difficulties with installation, servicing, etc.

Ok this is extremely helpful but lets say hypothetically I have figured out a way to insure that the battery is safe... and inclosed in a spot which is fully surrounded in an air tight container and if wired correctly lightning isn't a big deal and leaking isn't a big concern either. Now I have read a lot of information on wind turbines but what my problem is, would be the fact that i have no experience in the stuff. So once they begin to talk, slang terms and so on and so forth im lost. A lot of the manuals out there for building a wind turbine incorporate a general bias that we have prior electrical knowledge. My expertise that i am comfortable with is equivalent to screwing in a light bulb... lol now hence my uncles supervision but the problem is i refuse to go to him until i have EVERYTHING understood already because he talks to me at 100000 miles an hour and on 20 different tangents lol.

Now I am also researching a little bit more on the turbine aspect like you recommended and i appreciate your response we are deff getting somewhere in terms of answering my questions. But I am still at a loss for answers when it comes to the wiring. Lets say i build the turbine right and I still dont know how to extract the energy how would i go about seeing how much power it generates? Amp meter? or volt meter? or like both in one?

Thanks for the info

Lets say i build the turbine right and I still dont know how to extract the energy how would i go about seeing how much power it generates? Amp meter? or volt meter? or like both in one?

Okay, first things first. You will already know how much it should produce because you will have researched the statistics of wind in your area by doing things like googling united states wind statistics and finding sites such as the 80-Meter Wind Maps and Wind Resource Potential and also the Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States.

You don't need to "extract" the energy because, as it's running, the electrical power will be available on the output wiring, similar to the power available at the wall socket in your home. So, you can do more research, such as to wiki small wind turbine, which leads to small-scale rooftop turbines, and to google home wind turbine kit. A kit might contain all the needed instrumentation for monitoring the turbine's performance.

I can't tell you much more. You need to assume more responsibility because this exercise needs to acquire some real-life dimensions for it to go any further — that is, to go from theory to application.

[QUOTE=jrmonroe;280695]

Okay, first things first. You will already know how much it should produce because you will have researched the statistics of wind in your area by doing things like googling united states wind statistics and finding sites such as the 80-Meter Wind Maps and Wind Resource Potential and also the Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States.

You don't need to "extract" the energy because, as it's running, the electrical power will be available on the output wiring, similar to the power available at the wall socket in your home. So, you can do more research, such as to wiki small wind turbine, which leads to small-scale rooftop turbines, and to google home wind turbine kit. A kit might contain all the needed instrumentation for monitoring the turbine's performance.

I can't tell you much more. You need to assume more responsibility because this exercise needs to acquire some real-life dimensions for it to go any further — that is, to go from theory to application.

No defiantly you are right i understand what you are saying 100% ive been trying to say that the whole time that i know i need to put more research in but the problem for me was that i didn't know how someone knows how much energy generated and i couldn't find the specific questions i needed answered. I surely understand what you are saying and i appreciate the answers. They helped for everything i needed they were prefect and i could understand they were what i needed so that now when i read online things make sense. Because i was reading reading reading about turbines and it wasn't making sense because i didn't know the little things that you just answered.

I appreciate the answers that you have provided and I will do some research! hopefully I can sooner than later turn theory into application.

The word "responsibility" wasn't the right word to use. I meant that you needed to take some control of the project because you're the one (and not me) who can fill in some of the blanks such as average wind speed. From there, the power transferred through the turbine's blades is probably a function of something like the Length of the Blades (or maybe Diameter of Rotor) × Number of Blades × Efficiency of Blades. Companies probably advertise about their models' performance characteristics, under what conditions, etc.

Lots of info is readily available on the Internet, and it's a matter of finding it (or how to find it). As an example of a "ballpark" guess about turbine size, there's a little info on a webpage linked from Wikipedia's "Small wind turbine" page which says that a rotor diameter of 2 meters might yield about 500 kWh of electricity per year. So, do a little math: 500 kWh/yr = 500,000 Wh/yr → 500,000 Wh/yr / (365 days/yr × 24 hr/day) = 57 Watts (continuous). So, you get the rough idea that a 2-meter rotor will average 57 Watts of electricity, depending on the average wind speed in your area, availability of wind at your location (is it out in the open, surrounded by trees, atop a mountain, deep in a valley, at the sea shore, etc), etc.

I appreciate it I have enough knowlege now, to almost be confident starting the project.