christopherglenn wrote:
Most of the wind turbines are in the 200-400 watt range, and while nowhere near as loud as an open frame generator, needing to be on top of a mast you can't hide it behind something. They also require a stiff breeze to do anything, and a moderate wind to be anywhere near peak output. Solar is about as loud as the wind blowing past the RV, and does nothing in the dark, shadows, and very little in the rain.
Small wind turbines typically are way over rated by the manufacturers. Typically they will not make ANY power below 7 MPH and the MIN windspeed to make a couple of milliamperes of current is around 10 MPH (the point where the turbine starts making power is called cut in speed). Typically they will not reach the "rated" output until you reach 20MPH-30MPH windspeeds, windspeeds above the max is the cut out speed, at that point the turbine will stop generating power and apply braking to prevent the blades from over speeding (bad things happen when the turbine blades go to fast).
I don't know about you but camping in a place where you have a constant 20mph - 30 MPH wind at 6 or 10 ft off the ground simply would not be fun at all. And I am not a fan of having a large potential cutting device spinning rapidly a few feet above my head..
Wind is fickle, comes and goes, shifts around and is not reliable.
Save you money and put it into solar and a nice generator.. A 300W-400W windturbine is merely a decoration which will only net a couple of watts of power unless you are in a storm. A generator will charge up your batteries at a much faster pace and is far more reliable than wind power.
