Micro wind turbines

Well your controller that you buy will dictate what you will be working with. With the ISTA breeze being AC, your controller will need to have an AC input for the wind turbine of correct voltage capable of handling what the ISTA breeze is putting out. Then the controller will (most likely) output DC to your immersion load. I don't know what the ISTA puts out. There are probably different models some with 24V and some with 48V. A few controllers can handle different 24V/48V and will automatically swap as necessary.

I'm not really an expert in this. Sure - I know a fair bit as i've an interest in it and watch a lot of Youtube videos on people who have them, but the ideal thing here is to get to talk to someone who's got one running.

I have a 12v Ista Breeze 800w on the bench awaiting a pole, better weather and time 😀. Not high on my priority list.

I have connected it through a bridge rectifier and spun it with my drill and starts generating a voltage pretty quickly, but I expect low current.

I connected it to my charge controller connected to a 24v battery, and it started producing power at about 13v and then rose as it spun faster. So even though it is a 12v unit, I will go with 24v, especially because I have an old inverter which will take 22 - 65v

I'm in Sth. Dublin. PM me if that's of any help

Therefore what?

Quite. Don't think AC or DC matters if we are only talking about a resistor.

My home mains Willis type immersion is 3kw.

It will draw around 12 Amps,as each kilowatt is 4 Watts.

1000 Watts devided by 250 volts equals 4 Amps.

Trying to keep things simple in that 250 goes into 1000, 4 times.

In fact the power company tell me they only guarantee the voltage in the city 5 %. and in rural areas it can vary considerably. But I take your point.

Thanks for that and the correct use of KVA.

I found a turbine company in Mayo.carbon free energy,after searching the net over a couple of years.

Horizontal,100 Watts,blades 3 ft diagonal.

It's only about 10 ft off the ground,so I don't forget and put my hand up.! On a day of about 15 knots it produces 5 Amps into a 12 volt system which includes solar pv.

Think the turbine came originally from UK.i paid Mayo €200. 3 phase rectifier or controller was extra.

It's performed well over 3 years,and an optimum size and weights for a man to comfortably handle,Good luck,PV is much easier.

Thats basically what the Eddi system does with PV. Though when the thermostat hits its temperature limit, power gets exported to ESB.

In his situation, there must be a plan in place when the thermostat hits its limit.

You've had several people tell you that you need an electrical "safety valve" (dump load or grid tie) or risk burning out equipment.

What's the value in dumping in to heating zone in July though?

Still think you're mad not to do grid tie and something like an Eddi. To be generating enough to heat a 2000l tank and not have that energy available other than in water of various forms / zones. Will eliminate water heating requirements but could do so much more, potentially.

All in cost might be similar too when you factor in controllers, dump loads etc. for 6 turbines.

I’ve scratched the idea of 6 turbines. I’m going with 2 2,000 watt. Personally I can’t ever see a situation where the buffer is overheated but I may be wrong. How much extra would an Eddi cost?

I tend to agree with you dtp1979 that it'd be a rare day that you'll have the buffer overheated, but that's not why the dump load resistors are in place. Conceivably you could have a burnt out element inside the immersion tank, and you'll need an alternative load for where the electricity goes. You'll wreck the turbine which could have cost you north of €1000 without one. They are relatively cheap too.

There is another case which we didn't talk about. Most charge controllers monitor the current output which is being generated from the turbine. If the turbine is in a hurricane (something like this week by all accounts :-) the blades could be spinning excessively fast. Fast enough that the rpm could exceed the rated rpm of the turbine, and the blades will damage itself...if not fly off. The charge controller then applies the "brake" which is that dump load resistor. When you place the load on the turbine, it slows it down.

I like your idea of 2x bigger turbines. I would probably though go with 1 small'ish turbine as a test bed first though like you originally suggested. If you can't heat a 200-300L tank with say a 500w turbine, then you might save yourself a bit of grief purchasing a larger turbine. Perhaps the wind resource you have isn't as good as it seems. (I don't know - I'm just saying to hopefully avoid disappointment down the road)

As mentioned, I for one am rooting for you.

At least they admitted it before you bought! Loads advertised with their daily energy output dressed up as their instantaneous power output.

Im in a housing estate with about 15m of distance the most I could get a turbine away from the house and in the clear (would be clear in North South direction for couple of hundred metres but boxed in about 30m on the other side making a north South wind tunnel).

Even something that generated 100w+ in those conditions is likely too big to be wife and neighbour friendly.

Your wider plan provides better context. Dump load resistor and you're good. An energy monitor be good to assess output and put you in a position to merge it with the solar if it's outputting enough.... Or even a changeover for summer when the heat is less useful to you.