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preparation
so what is one to do?
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Preparation for an uncertain future
Stop being proud of yourself for what you own. Be proud of yourself for what you can do.
Philip Churchill's email response
I think there's something wrong in the wind generator numbers in your figuring there - My Air 403 (equiv to the Air-X) had a built in charge controller and put out quite a bit more power on average than you're numbers come up with. Check out the specs of the Air-X at $500.00. At 17MPH 120 Watts (10 Amps right?) average (150 Watts clean wind). The tower is just Schedule 40 and some masc. wire parts (less than $40 in the case of the bus set up). If you are going to compare solar/wind and be fair, the solar panels need hardware to mount to something tilt/mounting brackets & bolts - or a PV pole/stand - you don't set them on the ground... Do the math on the Air 403/Air-X at $500.00 and see how it compares. I think your showing favoritism <grin>...

Gary included these two pictures with his email.


That being said, I have some complaints about wind generators - especially the 403 & larger ones - they take more work/tweaking/storage. Mine would spin out of the wind if we bounced it a little from our movement in the bus - and occasionally it would flex the pole enough to pull it off vertical and make it spin out of the wind... It took quite a bit of fine tuning and guide wiring to get it solid and *somewhat* consistent. We had it mounted only a few feet above the bus, so we got some strange wind turbulence off the roof/panels when the wind came from the bus side. It was damn noisy too. At night if their was a storm brewing it was hard to fall asleep with the high spin of the blade and the hum of the generator. It took up a TON of space inside the bus (15 foot pole, generator, 3ft diameter blades & all that damn wire from the top of the pole to the battery bank). It's not a mobile power source really. Unless you spent a lot on mounting a pivoting mast, folding blades (you have to remove the blade assembly when storing/moving), etc to resolve those issues - it's just not worth the hassle unless you stay put in one place for months on end. If you move a lot - say more than once a month - it's not very practical.

I think (and this is just my gut instinct) that if you're going to take advantage of the wind - you'd be better off with a half dozen or so mini-generators in the 1-1.5 foot diameter range that work more like a wind speed meter in terms of blade design (like the attached images). Something you could just toss on the roof (suction cup base?) and would give you a little power regardless of wind direction or how "dirty" the wind came through. Either based off a wind meter design or a small scale version of the kind they use in the arctic to get power where there's no good solar opportunity... Imagine a center pole turning a gear motor in the larger version attached. With little power output and small size you could attach them directly to the shaft of the motor and run them through your existing charge controller if the motors were 12V. I'm thinking small motors (.5 Amp or something like that).
Think it would be worth playing around with a design while I'm stuck here and still have tools & shop?

 
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