Victron MPPT and wind turbine

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lufihengr asked Mar 16, '24

Victron MPPT and wind turbine

Hello,

I am working on a wind tubine for a thesis project and of course I want to put any possible electrical energy generated in to a battery or useful load.

I have found some threads advising against using Victron solar MPPT controllers, but they all relate to the potentially high voltages caused by runaway turbines when unloaded. Which of course must be handled externally.

What I haven't found is any reason as far as normal operation goes, why not to use the Victron MPPT's.

So my question is, as long as I implement a braking and overvoltage protection (arduino with rpm and voltage sense and a relay for enabling braking resistors for example) is there any reason why Victron's MPPT controllers would be not compatible with a wind turbine?

In short, what other issues are there? As long as the voltage is kept under control, there is no issue, correct?

MPPT Controllers Hydro and Wind Power

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nesswill commented · Mar 16 at 10:35 PM

I purchased my wind turbine with it's own charger controller, i have a smartshunt set as a dc energy meater and wind charger.

This for me work's perfectly as when the turbine produces power the MPPTs drop down production if i dont have demand for it. Turbine braking work's by shorting the 3 phases together as i am sure you're aware of and the voltage cut in/out on my controller is programmable so no chance of over charging my batteries.

You're call but i would get a charge controller for you're turbine and not use MPPT could save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

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Matthias Lange - DE answered · Mar 16 at 06:52 PM

The only official answer you will get here is that the MPPTs are not designed for that and using them for a wind turbine is against warranty.

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lufihengr commented · Mar 16 at 08:04 PM

Officially that is I would expect. As it is an experimental project for my studies, I don't expect a warranty on any component used in the first place.

But I what I would expect to hear what others have found, and what mechanism would prevent it from working. For example Midnite solar MPPT's are used with wind turbines. The only difference I can find is that the midnites have a dump load control (which can be implemented externally) and that it is not readily available in EU.

I would prefer using a victron, of course.

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Answer 1 · 2024-03-16T20:43:09Z

matt1309 answered · Mar 16 at 08:43 PM

Hi @lufihengr

My understanding is the maximum power point calculation needs to Be adjusted for wind (happy to be told I'm wrong)

However my understand is with pv, the mppt adjusts load on the system and then measures the change is pv generation immediately to determine if its hit maximum power point or not. If not it will adjust again until it finds maximum power point.

However with a turbine so hydro or wind. It was my understanding that when load is changed by mppt you need to add a time delay for turbine speed to slow before measuring output to determine if you've hit maximum power point or not.

You need that time delay between adjustment and measurement to allow turbine speed to adjust first. Which I believe is why you change other mppts into wind/hydro mode to get them to work. It's adjusting the mppt algorithm.

I have seen other people have success with hydro/wind but not sure if they're done anything special. If I'm ever lucky enough to have wind/hydro my plan would be getting midnite and integrating in victron system using smart shunt and/or community made drivers.

If someone reads this and I'm wrong please correct my understanding.

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Michelle Konzack commented · Mar 18 at 09:27 AM

Using a WindTurbine as a HydroGenerator does not need an Expensive MPPT.

All you need is a Buck-Inverter which support the maximum Power of the HydroGenerator.

I have gotten an HydroGenerator iSTA-Breeze 4500W with 52,4Vmpp.

I run a DIY (Polyphase Buck-Inverter from LinearTechnology) and charge my Batteries with up to 200A @21V (deep discharge). It has an active current limiter for 200A included. The material has cost me around 300€ including a VERY BIG heat sink (160x500mm). Unfortunately I have to use a SmartShunt to get the data into the GX device and I wish, the GX would accept my Cortex M0 (cost only 8€) and read the data from there instead of using an external device for 170€.

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lufihengr Michelle Konzack commented · Mar 18 at 01:13 PM

That is fantastic information. Do you have a video/blog post about this setup?

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Michelle Konzack lufihengr commented · Mar 18 at 03:23 PM

Not currently, but I can NOT recomment using a Solar MPPT or pure Buck-Inverter for a Windmill.

A HydroGenerator is running with a mostly constant speed, which is WHY you can use a SIMPLE Buck-Inverter as long the INPUT and OUTPUT support the Maximum Power of your Generator. I use the Application Note from Linear Technology and use 6 phases of 50A (the Mos-FET D-Packs support 120A each) each.

Otherwise I use my WindMax2500 (MPPT Windcharger) from Schams Elektronik in Germany but they are quiet expensive and do not work wit LiFePO4 Batteries.

The MPPT Charger for Windmills must react MUCH FASTER (in seconds) then for Solarenergy (up to several minutes). And if I get a very strong windgust, I see, my WindMax2500 hit the break if he can not sync the MPP.

I have installed two 100A DC EnergyMeters bought on AliExcess where one is measuring the charging current and the second one the Break Energy but it need an isolated DC-DC Inverter (5-12V, 50mA output) to operate correctly

And I see clearly how much energy was pumpt into my HeatingBuffer of my PowerStation

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Answer 2 · 2024-03-18T16:21:08Z

max-payne answered · Mar 18 at 04:21 PM

Its very simple solution. Yes MPPT will work. Yes MPPT is better than a Buck since it finds the optimal working point very quickly.

Contrary to the messages here it will adjust quite quickly to wind speed changes since normal PV operation also can see intermittent shading and works with that too.

It sounds like you dont want this in a commercial environment and want to try out stuff so just go for MPPT and report back IMO.

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