Alternative Energy Forums

I am in the process of adding a 300 watt turbine to my 210 watt (3 home made 70 watt panels) solar electric system.

The system is currently running through a 20 amp regulator. The instructions on the wind turbine tell me to attach the + and - wires directly to posts on my 570 ah battery bank (the turbine has an inbuilt regulator of sorts). This worries me.

Could someone please explain how I can have both solar and wind charge the same battery bank at the same time.

Thank you for your help.
Rob.

As long as you have a regulator or charge controller, your batteries will not be overcharged.

You need to generally have a separate charge controller for the wind and solar systems unless you get an expensive hybrid. Depending on how you have your battery banks wired (series, parallel, or combo) you need to ensure that both regulators are feeding the bank at the correct voltage. Then the batteries can all go to an inverter to give you AC.

IE if your turbine has a regulator built in you need to know what voltage it is regulated to so you can match your battery bank set up. Else get another regulator in line before the bank of batteries and ensure it can handle the load coming from the turbine to convert it to the correct voltage for the batteries. It is recommended to set up your battery bank based on your charging and draw needs and work backwards as to what type of regulator you need to charge it rather than vice versa which is what you are trying to do...

brenneis