Portable wind turbines?

[Gunn1707]

With all the interest in renewable free energy I’ve been looking into portable wind turbines….
Has anyone any experience, knowledge, etc of putting one on a motorhome ?

 

[jockaneezer]

Past posts have generally been unfavourable. Overrated claims of their actual output, quite noisy and if you attach it to your van, you get vibration "noise" travelling through your van's structure, plus you have to lug it about, set it up and then store it somewhere. Solar will give a better return for your money.

 

[Gellyneck]

With all the interest in renewable free energy I’ve been looking into portable wind turbines….
Has anyone any experience, knowledge, etc of putting one on a motorhome ?

Don't have his phone number but got a sneaking suspicion he may be able to advise!

 

[Guigsy]

Modern grid connected wind turbines only make sense because they are situated in windy spots, high up and with a huge blade swept area. They work on boats because they are bigger, higher and the sea is windy. A portable setup for a van will very rarely produce it's rated output unless you're parked in a very exposed location. And you need to assemble it to get anything at all.

As mentioned, a roof solar panel makes far more energy most of the year for very little effort and costs considerably less.

 

[Tombola]

the noise killed it for me

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[scotzsue]

Son had one on his, moored, narrowboat, was more bother than it was worth.

 

[Gunn1707]

Modern grid connected wind turbines only make sense because they are situated in windy spots, high up and with a huge blade swept area. They work on boats because they are bigger, higher and the sea is windy. A portable setup for a van will very rarely produce it's rated output unless you're parked in a very exposed location. And you need to assemble it to get anything at all.

As mentioned, a roof solar panel makes far more energy most of the year for very little effort and costs considerably less.

I can see your point thanks, I’ve got solar but our typical English weather seems to mainly lack sunshine lol… so was thinking of a way to supplement the solar with some other form of renewable energy. Particularly here in the far SW wind is usually something we experience lots of.

 

[Spriddler]

Put one on my yacht but couldn't sleep for the racket.

 

[dazandandrea]

Quite a few narrowboats used to have them . Im going back 20 -25 years . Their output has been surpassed by newer solar panels.
On a motorhome it would be a pain in the arse setting it up etc .

 

[Two on Tour]

With all the interest in renewable free energy I’ve been looking into portable wind turbines….
Has anyone any experience, knowledge, etc of putting one on a motorhome ?

I thought about a wind turbine some time ago but space to store something like the size of a Rutland Windcharger when not in use was a problem for us, so I bought and tried a new-to-market compact wind turbine a little over 5 years ago and it was a complete waste of time.

Here's a link to the thread for you to peruse. My wind turbine adventures start from post #10 of the thread.

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...rbine-for-your-motorhome.193017/#post-3243880

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[Lenny HB]

All the ones I've looked at they sound like a great idea until you look carefully at the spec. They don't achieve anything like their rated output unless gale force winds are blowing.
And then there is the claim they are better than solar as they still produce power when the sun has gone down but in reality the wind tends to drop at night.

So if you want to spend your life camping on top of Mont Ventoux (The Windy Mountain) it might work.

 

[Gellyneck]

.... but in reality the wind tends to drop at night.

Curry and Guinness for dinner is the solution for that.

 

[Hedgewitch]

I can see your point thanks, I’ve got solar but our typical English weather seems to mainly lack sunshine lol… so was thinking of a way to supplement the solar with some other form of renewable energy. Particularly here in the far SW wind is usually something we experience lots of.

I have solar on the house roof and a portable panel in my van which I bung onto the dashboard or outside.

Both produce energy when it is LIGHT. Not true that they only work in the sun.
Right now it is dull here with 100% cloud cover at high level. Have just had a look at the inverter which is reporting 1.6kWh.
Yes, far more energy is produced when it's sunny but I get something during daylight hours, 365/year, which is why solar will always be a better investment on any scale than bloody great turbines.

 

[Raul]

The only type of turbine I would consider as portable, is a VAWT verical axis wind turbine from Leading Edge. They have a model that can be mounted on a wall or a corner of a structure, and does not need a set direction of wind. Also you will need a decent mppt specifically designed for wind, solar mppt will not work on wind or hydro. The algorithm is very different, and will stall it. Been there done that.

 

[nicholsong]

If one is in the habit of moving say 50km every 2-3 days one would get more out of a B2B charger, particularly if one has a battery bank of say 200Ah, or higher.

That and some solar for when one is static should satisfy most needs.

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[Maxieras]

Don't even think about it. The noise will drive you mad and your neighbours will destroy it.
Also (speaking from boat experience) the output from the size you will be mounting will be trivial.