-----Original Message----- From: Carl Hibbard there is one brand which definitely uses automotive pieces right from an AC Delco catalog. Other than that most of the brands are really alternators, that rectify the AC to DC internally, so your friends advise was quite appropriate. Carl Hibbard
REPLY I have begun researching wind mills recently and find many manufacturers are not particularly forthcoming as to internal details of design. The new permanent magnet designs rely on the battery to regulate the output. Once full voltage is measured at the terminals some kind of regulator dumps the output into a diversion load. This not always the best way to complete the charging of lead acid batteries. There should be a float stage to remove the last vestiges of lead sulfate. On the other hand leaving the charger connected for too long will cause gassing and lead to electrolyte loss. Worst case being a sealed AGM or Gel battery bank which could suffer permanent damage from over charging. Automotive alternator designs would be better but these automotive alternators require a fairly fast rotor RPM to be really effective. Now we need a speed up ratio similar to what we have in a normal engine application. Does anyone have some knowledge of which models ( if any) do have such a speed up incorporated in the design? Yes I am aware that such a feature would also require a higher wind speed to start turning. Perhaps someone did have a design to compensate. regards to all Arild _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
