Wind and Solar on the same controller ???

[SolarMusher]

Have a customer who run two small wind turbines on a classic 200, he called me for solar panels he would like to add on this same controller. He told me he bought the Classic for this purpose... First, I thought he was dreaming and answered: no you can't. But after a while I had a doubt. Have you ever seen different current sources (turbine, wind or solar) on a single controller? Right now I can't see how...
Erik

[niel]

i think he's going to need a separate controller for that.

[boB]

Well, first I must say that this is not an application of the Classic that we support.

OK, after having said that, I must say that I have definitely thought (somewhat) about this before.

I do not know how it would track the two types of sources at the same time, but it is kind of fun to think
about.  PV and wind normally require quite different tracking methods.

For wind, the profiling of the particular turbine is done at different wind speeds and put into a table
of tracking voltage and power values.  PV is pretty much tracked in real time.

Working with one wind turbine is fairly straightforward but 2 (two) wind turbines at one time is kind of
weird and may be unpredictable.  The nice thing about tracking wind, and only one wind turbine is
that there is no partial shading like with solar.  Add a second turbine and if both turbines are able to
produce power at the same time, chances are that they are not seeing the same wind speed at
the same time.

But none of this says that you can't hook them up and see what happens.

One thing I know that might be helpful when using a small wind turbine with a moderately sized
PV array is that IF the maximum current of the wind turbine at the Voc of the PV array it is connected
in parallel with is LESS than the PV array's total series fuse rating (and fuse value), the PV array can
actually act as a voltage clipper/clamp to keep the turbine(s) from overspeeding and over-voltaging
the Classic.  But this assumes they're not going to get a hurricane or something and blow the fuse
and the go over-voltage.

So, instead of just one turbine and one PV array on one Classic, he/she wants to put TWO (2) turbines
and one PV array on one Classic ??

As I said, it is not a supported application (kind of a broad term I know...), BUT, it is an interesting question
and I, personally, do not give up so easily on such questions unless I've played with it enough to know
that it just won't work.  I do know you could get more power out of it than just one of the sources, but I
don't quite know how you would handle the tracking scheme of that combination.

Maybe there is "some kind of way" (algorithm) that just hasn't been thought of yet.  Post it here if anyone does
have any ideas.

boB

[SolarMusher]

Hi Niel and boB,

i think he's going to need a separate controller for that.

That was exactly my answer.

So, instead of just one turbine and one PV array on one Classic, he/she wants to put TWO (2) turbines
and one PV array on one Classic ??

From what I understood, these two small turbines are home-made and are running right now on his Classic 200... Don't know how, but I'd like to see that. Off course these turbines doesn't not produce enough current and that's why he wants to add solar to this system.
He should call me back on monday, maybe we could learn more 
Erik

[SolarMusher]

boB,

BUT, it is an interesting question and I, personally, do not give up so easily on such questions unless I've played with it enough to know that it just won't work.

Maybe another Midnite project, you should call it: "Michel, the new multi-purpose all in one controller from Midnite!"
Talking about controllers, do you have some news about Mario, your next little controller?
Erik

[Viking]

Hello everybody

I'm trying to find a neat way to use the auxes .
This is the situation:
I have 2160 watts of solar, that gives me 0.3 KWh on a bad day during winter. Therefore i would like to add my wind generator to the system during winter. I will buy another classic in the future (waiting on the kid), but would like to get the turbine running. Its a summerhouse, and the turbine will be clamped (manually) when we are away.
Here is what i was thinking:
Connect the turbine directly to the battery and let one aux control either a brake or a dump load for heat. maybe let aux one control the brake and aux 2 the dump load ?
what are your thoughts ?
Here is the power curve http://www.futurenergy.co.uk/pdf_doc/FE1024U%20(406).pdf

Its a 24 volt system

Best Regards Svend

[dgd]

Connect the turbine directly to the battery and let one aux control either a brake or a dump load for heat. maybe let aux one control the brake and aux 2 the dump load ?
what are your thoughts ?
Here is the power curve http://www.futurenergy.co.uk/pdf_doc/FE1024U%20(406).pdf

So, for example, use AUX1 float high to implement brake and AUX2 diversion to do the dump load.

dgd