Wind Power For RV's?

[markarbogast]

My coach is already 12 1/2 feet high. Most of the overpasses around here are 14 to 15’ high so the blades couldn’t be too big

[Dav L]

"All wind turbines are designed for a maximum wind speed, called the survival speed, above which they will be damaged. The survival speed of commercial wind turbines is in the range of 40 m/s (144 km/h, 89 MPH) to 72 m/s (259 km/h, 161 MPH). The most common survival speed is 60 m/s (216 km/h, 134 MPH). Some have been designed to survive 80 metres per second (290 km/h; 180 mph)"

[Searching_Ut]

Originally Posted by Dav L

"All wind turbines are designed for a maximum wind speed, called the survival speed, above which they will be damaged. The survival speed of commercial wind turbines is in the range of 40 m/s (144 km/h, 89 MPH) to 72 m/s (259 km/h, 161 MPH). The most common survival speed is 60 m/s (216 km/h, 134 MPH). Some have been designed to survive 80 metres per second (290 km/h; 180 mph)"

The blades on the commercial turbines are variable pitch, like the props on a turbojet aircraft and can be and are feathered when the wind speed exceeds the capability of the generator system. The higher ratings you're mentioning are the max wind speed prior to possible structure issues. Without the ability to feather the blades damage would occur much earlier.

[Ret.LEO]

Now this is enjoyable. People sharing why and why not it would/wouldn't work. Discussions like this are enjoyable.

It still looks like the best option to provide recharging of the battery bank while traveling is a additional alternator with a heavy gauge wire.

The intent of my first post was to explore the idea of a VERY SMALL anemometer to supplement a battery bank while traveling in hopes of not requiring to run a gen, to "top off" the batteries ............no intent of turning a rv into a miniature wind farm at a CG or a helicopter

[Jmac00]

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Is there a blade in you home heating system?????

Think out of the blade box.

JMHO,

well, seeing as Im an HVAC contractor AND I have a seasonal cabin in the Adirondacks that is off-grid and is powered by solar panels and batteries
I KNOW FANS and air movement. The blowers in your furnace never come under the stress of a wind generator.

As previously mentioned, I have friends down the lake from me that tried wind generators, three and four times. every time the blades never made it through an entire season.

small-scale wind generators do not have the ability to feather their blades nor do they have electric brakes to slow them down in an 'over speed' condition. Winds coming down lake can reach 60 - 70 mph or more. The blades on a 500 to 900-watt wind generator are not strong enough to withstand high wind conditions. The blades literally get ripped off.

you want to charge your batteries while driving down the road, get a properly sized PV system. and let the sun do the job for you with ZERO effort.

BTW, a properly sized system will charge your batteries even if it's raining. I have watched my system charge the batteries while it was raining, granted it was only 4 or 5 amps, but they were still charging the batteries

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by Jmac00

...
I KNOW FANS and air movement. The blowers in your furnace never come under the stress of a wind generator.

I think I understand what the OP was thinking....

A squirrel cage blower exposed naked to the wind as you were driving would spin. It would not spin fast enough to destroy it. A very small generator would not put much load on the axle and it would generate a small amount of electricity....

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by pasdad1

I think I understand what the OP was thinking....

A squirrel cage blower exposed naked to the wind as you were driving would spin. It would not spin fast enough to destroy it. A very small generator would not put much load on the axle and it would generate a small amount of electricity....

Not trying to Power a City, just help with the Batteries - with a squirrel cage it could be located anywhere and the Air/Wind/Force needed to propel it could be directed from the Nose/Roof/Side of the Coach - It would only function when going forward down the road.

Really don't think anyone wants to try to Mount a Typical Wind Turbine on the Roof - - -

[Dav L]

Variable pitch props. yes, I used to have that on a Radio Control airplane many years ago. And yes, it would be required to keep the blade tip speed down. Apparently 180 mph tip speed is what the big blades require. And there are formulas readily available to calculate that. And why three blades are what works vs two of four...

there is nothing new in any of this discussion. Bottom line, there is no innovation that makes it practical. And, if I did have a way, I wouldn't be posting in on a public forum prior to the patent as that would set the year to get it done date.

But, yes, discussing can help bring the folks interested up to speed on why it's impractical. So, carry on

[Searching_Ut]

Originally Posted by Jmac00

.....

small-scale wind generators do not have the ability to feather their blades nor do they have electric brakes to slow them down in an 'over speed' condition. Winds coming down lake can reach 60 - 70 mph or more. The blades on a 500 to 900-watt wind generator are not strong enough to withstand high wind conditions. The blades literally get ripped off.

Actually, with small wind turbines the generator itself is used as the brake. The higher the load, the more resistance. You have to use them with a controller that limits the load until the windmill is up to speed then varies the amount of generator output used to control the turbine speed. The controllers also have the ability to dump the load to a short circuit type connection when necessary for maximum braking so to speak. I've help a couple folks install them as part of off grid power systems. Unfortunately, neither one lasted very long as although they are pricey, they tend to not be cheaply manufactured and the bearings etc don't hold up. They really don't like turbulence and gusts which you tend to get a lot of unless you can get them quite a ways off the ground. They used to use a small pop up wind turbine for emergencies on military aircraft like the old F-4 (RAT, or Ram Air Turbine) They were only designed for short term emergency use.


As for using a wind turbine on the RV, they really need to be pretty high in clean air, need to be bigger and have more wind than I think most folks realize, and have a lot of other issues that make them impractical for use in most RV type applications in my opinion. I can't imagine any reason you'd want to use one while going down the road as there are much better options for harvesting the vehicles engine power for electricity.

[Soppy]

Originally Posted by Ret.LEO

Now this is enjoyable. People sharing why and why not it would/wouldn't work. Discussions like this are enjoyable.

It still looks like the best option to provide recharging of the battery bank while traveling is a additional alternator with a heavy gauge wire.

The intent of my first post was to explore the idea of a VERY SMALL anemometer to supplement a battery bank while traveling in hopes of not requiring to run a gen, to "top off" the batteries ............no intent of turning a rv into a miniature wind farm at a CG or a helicopter

The very small anemometer will work , but only produce a few mili amps of current suitable for charging a couple of AA batteries. There are formulas for calculating the amount of power available in the wind. All you have to do is plug in your numbers ( wind speed , blade diameter, rotor efficiency ) . That will give you a good idea of the amount of power you can obtain from the wind.

[D.Sapp]

Wind driven generators have been around for years, we used them on our Pa18 cubs and stearman for years. Latere versions are available from Aircraft Spruce
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...od11-14298.php

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by D.Sapp

Wind driven generators have been around for years, we used them on our Pa18 cubs and stearman for years. Latere versions are available from Aircraft Spruce

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...od11-14298.php

Excellent....here is the solution the OP was looking for

[F4Jock]

Exactly! You do NOT need or want a huge home unit when rolling. Was going to suggest one of these. Solar when you are stationary. Love it!

[Nanci]

Saw a motorhome in Quartzsite that had a few solar panels and a wind turbine and they seemed to get enough power to recharge their house batteries for everything except microwave and AC