Adding a wind generator. Need mounting info

I wouldn't use black iron pipe, because weight and rust.

We have a boondocking guest who comes regularly to dump, fill propane shower and launder.

He has solar, and wind. His 200w wind turbine folds down behind his Roadtrek MH effortlessly with nitrogen strut assist. When erect, it 3 piece telescopically raises with a cable type boat winch to 20'. made the same way as patio umbrellas with internal cables over top pulleys in each stage to extend the sections simultaneously. He demonstrated raising and lowering, took about 2 minutes of easy effort. He engineered it.

Wind gusts give a little 'shove' to the rig. no discomfort.

pianotuna wrote:
There used to be a company that made a pole with a hinged flat panel. The idea was to drive the RV wheel onto the plate, and after attaching the turbine, raise the mast up.

Be sure to let us know your results--and have fun with the project.

It would be easy to get a welding shop to make one but check out tailgating supplies. Lots of people do flag poles this way. Most I've seen aren't hinged, the bottom piece simply is a socket for the pole on a plate that you park a tire on top.

On our boat, it was a 2" Stainless steel pole on the wind generator that came with the boat (and we removed because it wasn't worth fixing as the solar did the job nicely). Of course, that was only about 8' tall. If you needed to go higher to get above the RV, you might need to bump up to 2.5-3.0" diameter.

If you can use the wind power not attached to the RV, that will be a better experience. Less noise and vibration into the RV, Or mount it on the ladder, you might like the soothing vibration?:@

I have a 7' stainless steel prop mounted into my DIY shaft bearing bracket. Generator is attached to shaft. I deploy it with one inch pipe and guy wires. Currently, it is a ***** to bring down and up but I have the steel in hand for a new bottom hinge that will greatly aid set up.

Good luck if you add wind power. I'm betting you won't harvest a lot of power but it's educational. For the casual RV'er, installing additional solar would probably net more power, IMO.

There's a guy in Bouse, Az. that boondocks there in the winter that uses wind for power. Damm it's noisey, I'd never want it, solar is the way to go. Again NOISE!

I used to have a 400 watt Sunforce wind turbine on my old camper. Have since moved it to my cabin. Have enough solar and a gas generator for the RV and needed more on my cabin.
The combo of wind and solar works great. You need to get the turbine at least 8-12 feet above the RV. I used surplus army camo support poles, they are about 40 inches long. Get the fiberglass ones, not the metal. Fiberglass deadens the vibration more.
I used 6 poles. I set the bottom pole on the ground, ran the rest along the ladder and used exhaust clamps to secure the poles to the ladder in 3 places. Make sure all the weight of the turbine is on the pole before you finish tightening the clamps so the pole is solid on the ground. I used a parachute cord (550 cord) as guy wires small diameter and strong. I used duct tape to secure the ropes to the bottom of the top pole and then staked the other end down.
I took my turbine and a pole to a exhaust shop and had them make an adapter between the pole and the turbine, I made it 8 inches long. At the bottom of the pole I took 2 PVC 90 degree fittings that fit into the bottom of the pole, put it in the pole so I could run my wires thru without the pole cutting into them. Kind of looks like a U when it is in (the wires run down through the inside of pole).
Make sure you use a heavy enough wire other wise it will not move enough amperage and charge well enough. I ran the wires straight to the battery's with a 50 amp automotive style fuse. When you look at turbines make sure you get one with an internal regulator and an auto brake. I am not endorsing any brand name, I looked at a lot of them. I chose the Sunforce because it will sense the battery voltage constantly and shut down when the battery's are charged or the wind speed gets to high. There are many brands out there, I like the automatic controlled one because I can leave it on and leave the cabin for weeks at a time and not worry about over charging. All depends on what you want to spend.
I have had this system in this configuration for 6 years now so I know it works. I even attached my TV antenna about 4 feet below the turbine for better coverage.
The kick in speed they advertise is on the low side but and it takes a HIGH wind to get 400 watts but if it only works at half the rating that is still 15 amps. If you can get 5-10 amps all day and night you will have full battery's.
You will sometimes get some wind noise, but it is not bad and to me it lets me know it is working. hours a day.
Remember the sun shines only so many hours a day but the wind can blow 24.

After over a decade off grid using both wind and solar, I would strongly advise to spend the money on more solar.

Wind simply doesn't produce anywhere near the same power per day that similar priced solar does.

John Burke thank you so much for the very informative reply. The pole idea is a keeper and I'm going to research getting poles. I have a lot of light aircraft stainless steel cable from a previous tower job so probably will rig something using that and clips or what ever to secure it. I like the idea of the clamps to the ladder but suppose depending on location, I could use cable on 3 legs to the ground. I am planning on using screw in dog leash ground screws as I think they will provide the needed support (more research lol). As for wiring I chose an external controller for several reasons. First 3 wires from the generator is less amperage therefore less copper loss to feed the batteries. Second, heat is a killer and I want the heat at the battery, not in the generator. Third it gives more choices for smart controllers that you chose. The brake works fine as I've tested that. I agree, 20 amps for all night would be wonderful! Even if it's not 400w. And where we stay, there is very rarely a day there isn't 15 to 20 mph winds but the location is superb so we put up with the wind! Again thank you for the info and not bashing me because I have already bought and plan on using it. Can't see how it can be any more noise than generators!

Also, I believe that there is now a new import tax on solar panels and they have gone up in price at least 30 to 50 dollars a panel. Two 100w panels are about 8.25 to 9 amps each with excellent sun for 16 and 1/2 to 18 amps total. So even if I don't get 400w from the generator, again, if I have 15 to 20 amps I'd be very satisfied. I am doing a test here where we are at as soon as I get the rest of the mounting mast finished. The drive on plate is a grand idea too. Planning on getting an anemometer and will do some Excel spreadsheet stuff to get a better Idea. I decided on 1 1/2" pipe for here for now. Anyone seriously looking to do this or wants to chat about it, PM me. Thanks everyone.

Sparksvonrou wrote:
Also, I believe that there is now a new import tax on solar panels and they have gone up in price at least 30 to 50 dollars a panel. Two 100w panels are about 8.25 to 9 amps each with excellent sun for 16 and 1/2 to 18 amps total. So even if I don't get 400w from the generator, again, if I have 15 to 20 amps I'd be very satisfied. I am doing a test here where we are at as soon as I get the rest of the mounting mast finished. The drive on plate is a grand idea too. Planning on getting an anemometer and will do some Excel spreadsheet stuff to get a better Idea. I decided on 1 1/2" pipe for here for now. Anyone seriously looking to do this or wants to chat about it, PM me. Thanks everyone.

The trick with both of these is not what the peak output is. 500amps is pointless if you only get it for 2 minutes per day as you wont' add much to the battery state. What you want to look at is amp-hr (or watt-hr if you have multiple voltages you are working with)

A good rule of thumb for solar is to assume 4hrs at the rated output. So, a pair of 100w panels (200w total), will put out about 65-70amp-hr12V per day. It will vary a bit depending on how far north you are and if it is heavily overcast but it tends to be fairly consistent.

Wind...it's all over the board. If you are in a forested area, valley or just a calm day...it can be near zero. Getting 20amps, implies you are camping in fairly strong winds (depending on the unit probably 20-25mph) where noise and vibration become an issue. There really is a sweet spot around 12-17mph where you get decent output. Below that, the output drops precipitously. Above that, you want to consider locking it down to avoid damage (depends a lot on if it's gusty)

It's doable but for the average user, I would put my money on 200w of solar generating more amp-hr per year than a 400w wind generator.