Charging with TV alternator... Mod with pics...

Hi,

Do you have a link to this wind machine?

quasi wrote:
but at $400, I may add the windmill cause I'm a gadget freak . . .
Jim

quasi wrote:
GD ~ Some of your assumptions are a little dated.
1. The turbine mounts 4-8 feet above the roof, in my case that would be 17-21 feet high.
2. Modern windchargers have inverter technology so the start producing power at any revolution speed.
3. These are considered trickle type chargers which run 24-7 and make up for lower charge energy with extended charging time.
I agree that the forest would be a deal breaker. I'm thinking of adding a windcharger to augment my genset so that I can eliminate or reduce the total runtime on the generator.
I'll be adding solar as well since I think it's the best bang for the buck but at $400, I may add the windmill cause I'm a gadget freak . . .
Jim

I've never seen a wind power device that produces power in less than a linear fashion from the speed of the wind. I doubt such a thing exists.

Most turbines are rated as to the wind speed being square to the power produced.

These small multiblade turbines don't produce much power and most are not very durable. It is more an experimental set than a power producer. I would caution anyone mounting one of these to a ladder or roof mount to check for vibration noise before final connections are made.

FWIW, I have a small wind setup. I have a 7' balanced aluminum aircraft style prop. It is about the smallest sized prop to gain any appreciable power. The prop shaft is mounted through a double bearing pillow block and the connection to the DC generator is through a Lovejoy coupling. The shaft and prop set are about the most quiet you can achieve in this size. With a 15' tower, there is < little noise at the base of the tower. I am on about my fifth motor in this set up, still trying to get the most power with the smallest wind.

IMO, wind power and mobile RV'ing are not compatible. You can harvest more power with solar and with less trouble.

GD ~ Some of your assumptions are a little dated.
1. The turbine mounts 4-8 feet above the roof, in my case that would be 17-21 feet high.
2. Modern windchargers have inverter technology so the start producing power at any revolution speed.
3. These are considered trickle type chargers which run 24-7 and make up for lower charge energy with extended charging time.
I agree that the forest would be a deal breaker. I'm thinking of adding a windcharger to augment my genset so that I can eliminate or reduce the total runtime on the generator.
I'll be adding solar as well since I think it's the best bang for the buck but at $400, I may add the windmill cause I'm a gadget freak . . .
Jim

quasi wrote:
Look here.

Jim

OP is camping in a forest.. Wind turbines require OPEN unobstructed areas.. Not to mention the one in the link states 8-30 MPH wind.. 8 MPH is when the gen STARTS to charge (IE cut in) and at that wind speed you are only getting a few milliamps of charge current..

The max output would be at the 30 MPH level and that is only 400W.. I would NOT want to be in the woods when the wind is 30MPH at say 8 to 10ft off the ground :E Those tall trees will be swaying something fierce..

Wind is not "dependable", can not predict when and how how much wind you will get so most folks who have wind turbines typically have a backup plan "B" and sometimes backup plan "C".. Typically solar AND a backup generator..

Look here.

Jim

lawrosa wrote:

Near 20yr old vehicle.. It IS living on "borrowed time"..

Your living on luck not economy..

When it is you only ride out of the woods and that old you might be really wishing that you had listened to the advice given..

There is times and places for being cheap.. Hiking out of the woods is not one of those places to be cheap.

Nope. My truck has been highly maintained and is in impeccable condition.


So per your advice my only option is to get a gen and upgrade my convertor to a 3 stage. or a portable charger?

Again if I wanted that I would not have posted here about my project. Dont you think I researched this already before I took the time to install my mod?

I dont want to sit in nature and listen to a gen run for 10 hours trying to charge my batterys back up. I have no use for high draw appliances like I was home. No toster, coffee pot, microwave, a/c etc.

What I have is a box fan 1.0 amps if needed to keep cool in camper, tv for kids 1.7 amps, and all led lights with a .17 amp draw each. Propane stove,oven and fridge.

Water pump sparingly. and heat maybe to take chill off before bed...

I have 2- 75 ah battery's. So thats 150 ah... minus 1/2 is 75 ah till 50% soc.

So if I can dump 40 amps in from my alt I can recharge in 2 hours or so. So I will run my truck 2 hours maybe every 3rd day..

And at less then .5gph for my V6 thats less then 1 gallon of fuel.. $1.95 here in NJ

Again 105 amp alt running at 1/2 capacity...



Tell me if anyone can, what your amp draw is from your alternator with lights on, blower fan or a/c and maybe heated seats on if equiped, wipers and rear defogger on. Typical what may happen on a rainy night where the windows fog up. Sitting idle in bad traffic. And post the amp capacity of your alternator.

I myself will be charging my batterys with no accesories on...LOL as the truck dont have any except the basics.



When I get the amp readings from my recharge test this weekend then we will see the actuals..

Ill also test the amps the alt puts out just to keep the truck running...

Thank you to all the few that supported me so far. For those interested I will post back during the upcoming weekend.

No matter how "impeccable" of "maintenance" you have given to your vehicle SOMETHING OUTSIDE YOUR CONTROL can and will go wrong..

My oldest daily driver up to a couple of years ago is a 2003 F250.. It has 200,000 miles of mainly highway driving.. In the last two years I have had a BRAKE LINE RUST AND FAIL, I have had not once but twice the TRANSMISSION LINES RUST AND FAIL, I have had ONE BOTTOM RADIATOR HOSE CLAMP RUST AND FAIL..

Fortunately I was not towing nor was I far from home when all those failures occurred.. NONE of those failures are "normal" or "routine" maintenance items that you would just replace like you would with engine oil or transmission fluid..

You have a 20yr old truck with a 20yr old body and are subject to those and many more pitfalls..

Needless to say my 2003 is now an backup vehicle since my daily drive is 100 mile round trip.. The last thing I want is to be forced to MacGiver it on the side of a very busy Interstate road with folks traveling at 80+ MPH.

You don't also realize that sitting still at idle IS one of the hardest things you can do to your engine and transmission.. Ask ANYONE who drives antique cars in parades.. Cars that normally do not boil over tend to boil over extremely easy while driving a parade route..

Idling for extended periods basically allows more heat to build up under the hood.. Modern day vehicles do have better cooling but they STILL depend on the mere fact that the vehicle WILL be moving at speed MORE than sitting at idle for several hrs at a time..

That additional periods of high heat will take its toll on OTHER items like vacuum lines, wires, sensors, plugs, coils, power steering pump and such.. Pretty much any one of those items fail you will be walking home..

As far as you plans to recharge at 40 amps.. Not going to happen, auto alternators will TAPER the voltage back as they get hot and depending on your vehicle the charging is controlled via the vehicles body computer which is going to taper the voltage down to 13.8 perhaps 13.9 and rarely above 14.1..

Your discharged battery may start at 40 amps but within minutes as the voltage of the battery rises the current drawn will quickly taper off and at the same time the alternator will taper off the voltage..

You will get nothing more than a surface charge voltage and will reduce the capacity of your battery very quickly..

I doubt that you will get any more than HALF of the Ahrs back into the batteries with your plan.. Each day you do that you will get less and less capacity to work with..

Battery charging TAKES TIME, even with a 40A charge rate it is going to take at a min of 2-3 hrs of idling your vehicle at least TWICE a day in order to not have a totally dead battery the next day..

It is for those and more reasons that to me your idea would be a Plan "B"..

Yes, there ARE folks with conversion vans and such who do what you are planning to do but they HAVE TO LIVE with some short comings of the consequences when a failure does happen..

As far a spending money on a converter, what is wrong with yours?

Do you deem it to small?

Do you realize that you CAN operate a converter AND a portable battery charger at the same time?

There are folks who do that..

You can also find used converters for sale all the time on Craigslist for a few bucks, just add in parallel to your existing converter..

Not to mention if you dig around you can find deals on reconditioned converters.. That is how I got a PD9160 (60A) with the charge wizard pendant for $125!

As far as noisy gens goes, if you are out in the wilderness, a 50ft extension cord works miracles on noise.. Place gen behind some bushes or brush and the noise is reduced.

As far as expense of a gen, lots of folks have found used Hondas or Yamahas at good prices.. Not to mention there are many Chinese knockoff versions which are not as expensive (although not as quiet as a Honda but not as noisy as a old time contractor gen)..

You can get a Harbor Freight 2500W INVERTER gen often on sale for $499, it is a throwaway gen but it is half the cost of a Honda Inverter gen also..

You can get Champion gens which have a great reputation for low cost, reliable and parts availability..

If you really wanted on the cheap a Champion 4Kw non inverter gen can often be had for $299 and it will be STILL be quieter than running your vehicle engine.

To me using a vehicle engine to charge recreational batteries is a lot like using an atomic bomb to take out one little flying nat.. 40A is only 560W at 14V or about 3/4 HP.. You are running an engine which has 200 HP or more or about 145KW or more of capacity...

At 560W you could easily buy a 1000W gen which will have a 2HP or a bit smaller engine.. This will drop the fuel consumption down to OZs of fuel per hr.. I know myself that I can run my weed eater or even a chainsaw for SEVERAL HRS on ONE CUP of fuel.. There is something to be gained by downsizing the engine to your load and fuel consumption is one of the best reasons..

There is nothing like a 275HP 4000lb generator.:)

I bought a generator last year,but before that I had been recharging with the vehicle through the 7 pin connector. I only needed to recharge this way a few times per year. I plan to get a solar charger at some point.

Just wondering if you have enough wind to use a wind generator. A fuzz under $400 and with your handicraft skills, you could have a good primary source of energy with no ongoing fuel costs. Even with only .5 gal per hour, your break even would be pretty short.

Just a thought,

Jim

Hi lawrosa,

Unfortunately lead acid battery recharging is NOT linear. Once the battery gets to 85% of fully charged the amps going in will taper. If it takes one hour to get from 50% to 85% it probably takes another hour to get from 85% to 90%. At 85% state of charge all that is going to go into the battery is about 12 amps.

The above is why no one in their right mind attempts to recharge to 100% on generator. It could take 8 to 10 hours of run time.

That is why solar systems work so well. They work over time to get the battery bank fully charged.

lawrosa wrote:
I have 2- 75 ah battery's. So thats 150 ah... minus 1/2 is 75 ah till 50% soc.

So if I can dump 40 amps in from my alt I can recharge in 2 hours or so. So I will run my truck 2 hours maybe every 3rd day..