David Szymas's posts

Also I believe that some of these new 6 blade rotors require an extended "add on" tail to keep the wind generator facing into the wind. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I have been very frustrated with the Air X rotor design because the blades are somewhat inefficient and the cost and assembly of the tower has been beyond my means. Air X is rated 400 Watts @ 28 MPH! We don't get winds like that very often except in a storm!

I have been studying the ornamental windmill rotor design for sometime and have noticed that these things are always working so long as there is wind. They are not fussy about turbulence and always eat up the wind and turn it into energy. They have always been the work horse of rotors.

I talked with the Amish to see if they would design a windmill rotor blade and they said it would be about $1200 to do that. They would have to design a jig which would be the majority of the cost.

So...  I went out and bought a $50.00 8ft ornamental (lawn) Windmill for the rotor and attached it to the Air X. It was tricky finding a way to attach it and keep it balanced but I did it and have energy all day long. The Air X always faces into the wind with this blade on it. Turns with a higher rpm, thus more energy.

I only have it on a 1.5 inch galvanized pole 7 feet high and it collects all of the energy I need. (Keeps the Air X closer to the ground avoiding higher air speed for this rotor). I can also access it much easier if I need to.

My start up speed is 4-5 mph vs 7mph with the original rotor design.

Probally voids the warranty but has made it much easier and practical for me.

Much appreciated guys!

I added 2 batteries yesterday and did a 30-60 minute generator run to top it off last evening and actually woke up with a full battery bank this morning.

Beautiful thing!

I will look into buying the battery monitor very soon and as always... Thank you tons for your knowledge and help!

Dave

Thanks Dave for the great info. Quite a loss with the inverter! Might have to look at other options to get me out of the hole!

Always appreciate the knowledge of others!

Priceless....

                     Thanks, Dave

Dave, I will help cover you for your insight!
The battery bank is 9 months old to be exact.
So, with that saying, how many batteries would you add?  Dave

Thanks Dave for the reply!

I am willing to try anything new for efficiency.

I am using a vector inverter for all ac loads. No DC in the shack. I have available electricity in the house when I wake up for coffee and toast but the cloudy days leave me with no play room.

How many batteries would you add and when you say to top off the load daily with the generator, how long should I run the gen for a "top off?"

Much appreciated!  Dave

Lets just say... When it comes to batteries, "I don't have a clue!"

All I know is that I am getting storage capacity but would like more if at all possible yet still have a balanced system that will be effecient.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated and just curious to know what most of you would do with a small system such as mine to give me the best bang for the buck?   Thanks, Dave

Ok, so I live really simple and I am off the grid with a hybrid system of Solar 480 watts with a Honda Generator and a small Wind Generator of 400 watts.
I am pioneering so to speak and solar is rare in my neighborhood so we have to pay for most advice.
I have been learning on my own by trial and error. So far I have been able to survive reasonably well. I live on my own and run a small refrigerator that consumes 150 watts when running, a television at 150 watts, and a laptop computer.

I have a limited budget and have been working this battery bank for one year but would like more storage for night time usage. Am I dreaming or can I do better with the Trojans or something better?

Or would I do better just saving my money? What would be a better way to go with my low end system for a stronger battery bank that would give me longer juice time through the night?

I have 8 12V batteries parallelled togather with 105 amp hrs each. They are marine deep cycle batteries which I understand are not a true deep cycle battery.

My question is will I be much further ahead by purchasing 8 6V T-105's and stringing them together?
Will that give me more storable energy or less for the night time hours.

Please reply as I am new to the solar arena and don't want to spend the money unless it will improve my ability to store the capacity.  Thanks!

If I have a 12 volt inverter with a 12 volt paralleled battery bank, can I do series/parallel wiring to the same battery bank and still use the same 12 volt inverter or will it cook it because I would then be at a 24 volt battery bank?

New-by in learning...