DIY Small Scale Solar Wind Hybrid System

[skaterfilms200]

i like your halfpipe

[london1817]

@skaterfilms200 Thanks man!

[jwaflergmailcom]

hey love your code system!!!!! lol Nice set up !!! how much was that Turbine!!!!

[london1817]

@jwaflergmailcom Thanks! The turbine... I made so It was altogether like 40 dollars.

[DJMC5ive]

I think that what you are doing is a beautiful expression of the human nature of invention and creativity.  I feel that so much of the rules that govern American hoa's etc limit creativity and attempts to bring self sufficiency. Feels like, that in the name of property values, we are molded and forced to be the same. I am seriously jealous of those who have these freedoms such as you, and one day...The HOA can kiss my ass! I'm movin to somewhere where I can do what you do!

[london1817]

@DJMC5ive Good for you! I felt the same way and moved from San diego calif. to the foothills of NC....Big change but I am able to be me & do what I want to do .......so go for it!

[DJMC5ive]

@london1817 Thanks! I'm actually on vacation in NC right now :P

[london1817]

@DJMC5ive cool! how do you like it out here? Really green out here!

[DJMC5ive]

@london1817 its very pretty! I'm out on the outer banks right now, its rainy. I'm one of those people who walks around all day thinking about how I can reduce or eliminate my energy consumption, or at least offset the cost of a bill by some other means. I might just sell one day, and move away to somewhere with less regulation. (which seems silly to me, that everyone promotes green living then turns around and makes it against the rules).

[ProtocolsMaster]

hi, do you need a grid instalation when you have both wind turbine and solar panel? Im looking to install both wind and solar because my town is very resourceful on both.

[london1817]

@ProtocolsMaster no....just hook em up together & straight to the batteries.

[SimianAxiom]

You don't experience all 4 seasons do you?

[london1817]

@SimianAxiom Yes, I certainly do...It gets freezing cold here and hot as hell...I love it...The changing of the leaves is my favorite...

[SimianAxiom]

@SimianAxiom How does your system hold up to heavy snow?

Have researched or tried the system on magenergy.us ? I've just recently started getting interested in going off grid so I'm a little green. No pun intended ;)

[london1817]

@SimianAxiom Well, its been up for years and not problem with snow...... but the huge wind storms

have hurt it where I had to lower it down and do repairs....never heard of Magenergy......this is pretty cool

stuff just get a plan and do it.....but make sure you know what you want to power up first like...lights radio, battery charging tools and such to subject loads.

[SimianAxiom]

@london1817 Someone replied to one of my posts their site and commented on magenergy, they didn't seem to impressed. They said it was a well known scam, and that I should be more cautious lol. Do you think it's true?

[london1817]

@SimianAxiom I don't have a good answer for that...............trust your heart.

[fatmanplaying]

Could you tell us what you did to fry your other batteries?

It might be helpful for some of us to know what went wrong.

Thanks for your video I can't get enough of theses.

[london1817]

@fatmanplaying well the biggest problem was I fried them by leaving radios and my drill charger & other stuff left on. Draining the batts. will kill them fast. The other not putting water in them will do it.....batteries never die of natural causes.....they are murdered!

[ferdzrt]

great video.. thanks for sharing.. i'm planning to make my own solar panel & wind generator like you..

[london1817]

@ferdzrt Good fer you!! Go cheap at first my friend!

[ferdzrt]

great video.. thanks for sharing.. i'm planning to make my own solar panel & wind generator like you..

[tismoiyo]

Hi, thanks for the great info. You are so funny! Love the videos, keep 'em coming.

[london1817]

@tismoiyo Thanks for the comment!

[Padstack1]

dude - you are my FAVORITE DIY power guy! Mainly b/c you and I are of the same blood. I can tell from this line alone:

"This is all to code. Uh... Yeah..."

I'm not knocking it either. I'd do the same thing. I wish I lived out of the city. If I did, I'd do the same thing that you did. Good luck man!

[TheAav05]

Rick i have a 12.5 volts magnetic motor the size of my hand and i notice that the positive and negative terminal have a carbon, can i used it to have a wind generator?

Thank you very much..! And more power to you...! :)

[london1817]

@TheAav05 Whatever you use should be a low rpm motor. i don't know about yours. is is a RC motor?

[TheAav05]

@london1817 Thanks for the answer.. :)

my neighbor told me that my motor is a RC motor/permanent magnet with a carbon brush,

And it weight a 1/2 kilo a little heavy..:) Can i used it as a wind turbine? Thanks very wide!

And more power to you and your Educational CHANNEL.. :)

[london1817]

@TheAav05 Sorry, That would make a terrible wind generator:( The RPM's of the motor would be too high to spin hard enough to get 14 volts to charge a battery. Find a Dynohub or an Ametek 30 off of Ebay.....:)

[TheAav05]

@london1817  Ah ok. Now i know.. Thanks again Rick.. :)

[london1817]

@TheAav05 Any time. I am always here.

[TheAav05]

@london1817 Thank you very much Rick.. :)

And Merry Christmas too.. :)

[london1817]

@TheAav05 Thanks! Merry Christmas to you...:)

[nicky89107]

@london1817 you know, you have a pretty good set up wherever you live, i think its awesome how you set it all up!

[MegaAlfie007]

R ick I found the video Called DIY Cheap Solar Panel System Ever Part 2 Do You Have yor Xanterx Inverter? You Could Use it For Your Wind Set Up The Xantrex Is Adjustable For12.24,48 Volt System Battery Charging ,Load Charger If You do not the manual for your charger Just Go to .the xantrex site and get the manual for FREE [Some Advice for You Al

[london1817]

@MegaAlfie007 Oh yeah. That would be a great idea!

[MegaAlfie007]

The System That Was in You House Video [Cheap Solar System]

It had 45 Watt Harbor Freight Panels Extension Cords Around Your House Running A TV, Some other Things  You Had Also A Xantrex Charge Controller Battery Charger For a Dump load Also 110 Volt Switches for lights This Was the Update version,version before you had yor harbor Freight Charge Controller

Al

[MegaAlfie007]

What About your First System?

You Showed A long Time ago

You Had A Good System

You Could Have just Wired the wind Turbine Using Three Wire [extension cord] 120 volts Down Your Tower Connect Wire to your rectifier to convert to 12 volts

Then To Your Wind Turbine Charge controller Then To Your Deep Cycle Batteries You Don't lose Power From The Wind turbine To the rectifier.

Just a thought for yo

Al

[london1817]

@MegaAlfie007 Oh wow! Which First system? I have made soo many. would you remind me ? Thanks for the comment!

[StMeade]

thumbs up.

[london1817]

@whateverujoke I not bringing you. You will have to do your own thang.

[calvinblinkee]

@london1817 LOL too much Left 4 Dead?

[london1817]

@calvinblinkee aww you are right. Maybe I should lay off left for dead 4

a while!

[thundergod989]

You can be my new friend in the post-apocalyptic world, k. If you want another fun project you can go to the scrap yard and pick up some broken air conditioners... take the fans/motors out of them (when put vertically they effectively work as vertical axis wind generators) and mount them on similar poles. You can make a field of them with 1 visit to the local scrap yard :) Ceiling fans can also be made into a wind generator (upwards of 240watts per unit) and used in the same fashion.

[london1817]

@thundergod989 Yeah man when the zombie apoclypse takes over

find me and we will get out our weapons and aim for the head!

[Jthetinman]

Where did ya get the wind generator? Doest it put out good power as the harbor freight special? I think I am going to invest in buyin four or five sets of them solar kits, have em charge a shit load of good deep cell battries. Invert em to houshold. Whatcha think? By the looks of your ranch, I was waitin for Bo and Luke to be haulin in with their Dodge Charger and give you some moonshine. Where in the he'll do ya live?

[london1817]

@Jthetinman Bo & luke never met them . that was funny though!

That would be cool. I made the wind generator from an old bicycle dynomo

called an "Dynohub" you can use them for that straight up no gearing or hard shit.

Most folks use low RPM generators like the "Ametek 30" you can find both these on EBAY thats were I did. The systems from harbor freight are better though. Do you like moonshine? I sure do. more like love I think. haha. later. Rick.

[sirmasterpimp]

Nice man, do you still have this same setup or have you upgraded ?

[london1817]

@sirmasterpimp Same old setup! Works so i don't mess with it! Haha

[london1817]

@tupelosurfer Awe...I never was too good with stuff like that.

[OscarTankMan]

Eher R you that they allow a wind generator like that, im in Pa. and they do not alow that, they evan got me to take down my solar i built!!!!!!

[london1817]

@OscarTankMan You need to build a hidden power sorce.

[frigitar]

Good stuff!

I have a couple of questions :)

1) Why did you say that the dynohub can never overcharge the battery?

2) Would you be willing to put up some numbers on your info area ... like total capacity installed, specs and maybe price?

Thanks for the tour and once again proving how simple RE tech can be.

[london1817]

The dynohub puts out such a small trickle charge it won't hurt the battery. Well I don't really know all the specs on it .I just used stuff I had.....& did the best I could.

[shadowdo]

That's great work in your system dude. Is there a way to make the wind and solar charge the same battery or do you have them seperate?

[london1817]

Thanks so much, Both chargers are hooked up to 1 battery bank....and it dosen't take long to charge it up. Thanks for the comment.....Rick.

[shadowdo]

So there is something to keep the power from going from the solar back up to your wind turbine? Some form of electronics to block the current?

[london1817]

Everything came with blocking diodes ...so that doesn't happen.

[scidhumouse]

nice setup dude! That skate ramp is sick!

the chickens need to clean up after themselves :-) Thanks for the info on the batteries. good luck !

[london1817]

Thanks! The surface is 14guage metal.

 It skates fast!! Thanks for the comment.

[happygameshow]

what would you recommend for batteries. Deep cycle seem to cost a lot the cheapest I could find is $120 is it worth it or can I find an alternative?

[london1817]

I like the batteries from "Sams club".

 They are 6 volt golf cart batteries. All you need is two of them hooked together. $ 65.95US

[happygameshow]

Dont think we have a Sams Club in Canada but I'll look into golf cart ones. My buddy told me that used batteries from battery powered fork lifts are the way to go if you can find them.

[london1817]

Oh Canada! Well ummm....If you can get a fork lift batt. That would be great...they are very expensive! ......At walmart they have deep cycle marine batteries for $79.98us. Or you could try a boat place.

[OscarTankMan]

@happygameshow , i got my batts from sears, there awesome, I have 3 batts on one settup and one batt settup next to my main pc and they do great, they r deep cycle and run bout 90 bucks!

[joe18370]

london1817, what kind of bearings did you use for wind generator,to allow it move with the wind, i need to pick up more electric tap,nice

[london1817]

It has no bearings, It is 2 pieces of pipe that slide into one another.

[joe18370]

rick, awesome video,my tv is 27 inch uses 125 watt, my inverter is a colman 400 watt 800 watt peak,, looking for a 1000 watt inverter soon to run microwave. and thanks for the info.

[london1817]

Awesome man, I need to get a larger inverter myself. I would be happy with a nice 800 watt 1600 for my setup.  Peace............

[joe18370]

london1817, you split the wires ,did you put black wires together and red wires together.how did you connect the wires .

[london1817]

Yep...Red to red....Black to black. Never ever get the wires wrong with solar panels hooked to batteries...You could have a electrical situation.

[joe18370]

rick, thanks for sharing,i got my kit at hb,and the frame i dont like at all ,so i made my own frame,to be able to mount it flat on my roof, i run 2 lights and my tv at night,and dorring the day my wife runs the tv ,and it doesnt drain the batteries at all

[london1817]

Hey Thats awesome! Yeah I did not like the frame on the roof either. My roof is too steep. I made mine from 2x4's. How many watts is your TV? What kind of inverter and how many watts is it? Mine has had trouble. Thanks for the comment!!! Rick.

[jerebear78]

Love the videos...though some of you wiring practices make me nervous :-)

[london1817]

aww your too worried man, electrical tape is good stuff! Thanks..rick.

[dpdevil1]

London keep up the awsome work your so cool, Got myne running on charger right now but i will post in a few mouth keep it comming< Thanks Nebraska Dave

[london1817]

Well that sounds great! Get the build on video!!  Thanks for the awesome comment!

[originalmetalchick]

OMG!! you are so freaking smart. I wish you were my neighbor. Your setup is exactly what I want.

[london1817]

My systems are way to small scale to do AC's or frigerators...Maybe in a couple years....To get where I am took around 10years of going to classes and reading a ton of books.

I run mostly tools and lights.

Check out the "GOT WIND" site on the net. Thanks for the comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ArashiNage]

You ROCK dude! Love your videos.

[london1817]

Oh thanks man! I had to edit a lot out of this one.

[oisiaa]

I don't think you have to worry about meeting code. It is only ~12 volts after all.

[london1817]

I was being silly.....I don't think alot of people would do it the way I did it but I made it happen and I am happy with it.

 Thanks for your comment!!!! Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[field16]

I like your one-man tilt up tower... on the roof! You're brave to install it up there... nice job. I also built a one-man tilt-up tower and ours look very similar, except mine is anchored in the ground with concrete. (I also put up a video if you want to see.) Our choice of pipe pieces is almost the same. I just subscribed to you so I can keep up with your projects. Keep up the great work!

[london1817]

Thank you!!!! I like you video!!!!!!!

[bonescrub]

love the video great job once again. Keep us posted

[london1817]

I will.........Thanks for the comment.

[slokkro]

4:28 "but i learned a lot" <--- best quote

[london1817]

Haha........Thanks for the comment...Rick.

[breezebro]

Do you plan to keep buying the Harbor Freight solar panels until you get enough to power your whole house?

[london1817]

No...I just got the system to do basic stuff when the power goes out here...Which is all the time here.

[aokspage]

the way it all works is so cool. its good stuff man.

[london1817]

Thanks for the comment!

[SGardner11]

pretty cool man. i was thinking about setting up a solar/wind power collection when i move to a new house, but i wondered, what exactly would i power with it...

i also wondered, say you didnt use the power that day, would the battery overcharge?

[msamour]

hey I can answer that. ?(lol) been doing research in wind/solar for a couple of years now. You would need a charge controller for the wind turbine that will sink the extra energy into a sink load. As the batteries charge the voltage increases, usually this activates a switch, and the load is transfered to a sink load. Usually people use a 12 volt heather, or use it to heat water in a tank so they can use later.Hope this helps. Mike, London, On.

[SGardner11]

i was thinking about connecting the solar/wind stuff to atomatic lights in the backyard.... well my future one.

would that work?

[london1817]

What ever you want to do..Use your imagination....

[msamour]

it would work if you calculate what type of lights you use, and the energy you need. If you use the big CFL spot lights, they use approximately 25 watt (equals to about 150 normal lights in lumens) then you can rig a bunch of them using a 1000 watt inverter tied to one or two 12 volt batteries. As for the sink load, you will need something that can turn on and off by itself, and use up the remaining power comming in constantly. like an heating element in a water tank to heat water.

[SGardner11]

how much would it cost total for all that?

[london1817]

Oh no! Not this~ I think maybe, well i don't know.......um say in the 400$ range..no more than 5.

[SGardner11]

that would be if i did all the construction myself right?

where did you get all the stuff?

[london1817]

I got the Dynohub on EBAY. NOBODY will do this for you unless you have a pile of money. If you have an intrest in R.E. YOU will have to do all the research and build it youself just to operate it safely.

[SGardner11]

can you lead me in the right direction in learning about all that stuff?

[london1817]

That's no fun....whahaha..just use it everyday...

[SGardner11]

well i was thinking on just using it for backyard lights to light up my whole back yard. i wouldnt know what to do with it in the mornings-afternoons

[london1817]

I use it everyday..... most the time. I never overcharged it yet.