question

tedwad avatar image
tedwad asked

Wind power measurement

I recently added a Leading Edge Wind charger to my set-up - which I monitor through a smart shunt. Does the screen shot below suggest the charger is drawing power -rather than adding?

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wind
1717748133546.png (680.5 KiB)
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28 Answers
nesswill avatar image
nesswill answered ·

For reference the LE-v50 spec and manual and typical hybrid wiring. (from attached manual)

And web site https://www.leadingedgepower.com/le-v50-vertical-axis-wind-turbine-1013843.html#

  • Rotor Height: 456mm
  • Rotor Type: 3-Blade Savonious
  • Blade Material: Aluminium alloy
  • Rated Output: 10 watts @ 12m/s (26mph)
  • Peak Output: 70 watts
  • Cut-in speed: 5m/s (11.1mph)
  • Weight: 9Kg
  • Generator Type: 3-Phase Brushless NIB rotor PMA
  • Output voltage: 12V, 24V or 48V wind turbine
  • Warranty: 2 years

GA-LETU-010B-LE-v50-&-LE-v50-Ex-User-Manual.pdf

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

I think the answer is wire die t to the battery and forget trying to monitor via the smart shunt.

thanks for your input - much appreciated.

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bierchen avatar image
bierchen answered ·

It looks to me that the only option for decent integration of 3rd party charging sources is a smartshunt in energy meter mode and type set as solar charger. I have this with my A2B charger in the RV and it works perfectly, besides the GUI /VRM showing it as solar charger. At the end of the day it could be saying "strawberry cake" in the VRM tile, i dont care. It charges and the SOC of the Multiplus is gaining percentage accordingly.

Not sure what the problem is to just add "Alternator" as a tile on VRM, as this will always be a power producer, not a consumer. Totally understand that for "DC System" that is a different story. Sadly no motion from victron here.1000207518.jpg


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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·

had some good input from leading edge (turbine supplier) - but still struggling.

will have a look at your suggestion.

excuse my ignorance - a2b charger?

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bierchen avatar image bierchen tedwad commented ·
Alternator to battery, but you can also call it b2b for Battery to Battery :-)
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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·
This has worked so far. Not the best display but works and thats the most important thing. Greatly appreciate your help.

Hopefully Victron will address this in the future.

cheers

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bigbadbob76 avatar image
bigbadbob76 answered ·

I also have a LE-v50 although it is not connected to my victron system. it is connected to my standalone batteries.

I have yet to see it generate any power at all. and I live in NW scotland, we're not short of wind.

the voltage from the turbine never rises high enough to charge a 12v battery.

If you can measure the current from yours on a windy day using a multimeter that would be the first place I'd start.

but from my experience the LE-v50 is useless.

your power readings in the DC loads box are probably system power drain from the battery plus or minus acceptable inaccuracies in the current measuring and calculating.

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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·
It does seem to trickle charge - very low output - but just enough for me.
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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Another screen shot.

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nesswill avatar image nesswill commented ·
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atebee avatar image
atebee answered ·

Did you setup the shunt with Victron Connect as a DC meter? What metering does your Cerbo think is being used for your battery currently?

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Setup as manual except not using aux cable?

setup as a dc meter - charger.

also - have set ‘has dc loads‘ - as advised on another posting on this site.

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nesswill avatar image nesswill commented ·
When mine is running it will show as a negative reading in DC Power but to do that it has to be more than the watts used by other devices.

I have a separate controller for my turbine that tells me the power it's producing do you have a way to measure that power separate of the shunt?

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

No the turbine is wired direct to the battery via the shunt.

other than a 5g router nothing should be pulling power.

current screenshot - 48 solar 55 wind - but battery -7w

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nesswill avatar image nesswill commented ·
That's correct the 55w is power being used and the 48w is power produced so- 7w is correct, the 55w needs to be -55W then that is power produced.
Are you sure the DC load wiring is correct?
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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

What meter are using to measure your charger/turbine separate to the shunt?

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nesswill avatar image nesswill commented ·

Marlec

The controller that came with the turbine

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

I will check later - but I’m sure in double checked. Unless the shunt is labelled wrong?

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

As I have two shunts - would this be a better wiring configuration?


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nesswill avatar image nesswill commented ·
Yes that's how mine are setup.
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atebee avatar image
atebee answered ·

Perhaps a stupid question but do you have the shunt installed the wrong way round? System Minus and Battery Minus on the wrong terminals?

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Now wired exact as two shunt diagram above

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Waiting for system to settle

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Wired as recommended - but still showing load to turbine1717948132336.png


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Duivert NL avatar image
Duivert NL answered ·

did you try to turn the connections around on the shunt, then it should be negative if it is positive now

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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·
Trying that now.
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tedwad avatar image tedwad tedwad commented ·

Cables reversed on shunt - doesn’t seem to make any difference.

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Wondering where to be now …… is there a Victron charge controller that will handle the turbine.

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Duivert NL avatar image
Duivert NL answered ·

Maybe wait and see what it does when your battery soc is lower? 99,9% is full so no charge needed right now

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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·
Will do - ta
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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Two shunts def not working -many other suggestions to monitor low wattage wind turbine in a Victron system

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Device list

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sean avatar image
sean answered ·

Ignoring the Victron side of things for a moment, what are you seeing on the LE display when you've a fair wind ?

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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·
No monitor on the LE - that’s what I’m trying to monitor - might have to think about a charge controller to monitor - but wanted to keep everything on the VRM system.
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sean avatar image sean tedwad commented ·

The LE charge controller, the one you previously posted an image of, is not wired into your system at all ?

Have you confirmed that you've actually got a voltage coming from the WT ?

Is it the usual wild AC or have you rectified it before feeding the Victron shunt ?

Let's confirm the WT is actually generating a voltage first before starting to log it via a shunt - just a simple multimeter will do for now.

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bierchen avatar image
bierchen answered ·

I have had the same issue with my Sterling B2B and thus have set the Shunt as DC Meter "Solar Charger". That seems to be the only way to get correct measurements as well as SoC readings/gain by charging. Not too pretty but function-wise working fine, no issues. Maybe give it a try?

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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·
I will give this a go - and report back later.

very frustrating

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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

@Tedwad

Try setting up your 'DC Source' widgets, which will show what the shunt is measuring. The 'DC Power' tile doesn't do this accurately, especially at low Watts with full batteries.

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tedwad avatar image tedwad commented ·

Good point - however, the DC power doesn’t appear on the widgets option - see below.

the battery monitor is the other shunt.

would it matter that that shunts are different;

BMV-700 BATTERY MONITOR

SMARTSHUNT - 500A BEING USED FOR THE DC CHARGER (turbine)



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nesswill avatar image nesswill tedwad commented ·

You will need to create a custom widget

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Then you can see any power being produced.

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nesswill avatar image nesswill nesswill commented ·

Also can you tell us please is yor turbine one of these the LE-300 m, LE-600 , LE-v50 and LE-v150 and do you also have a charge controller.

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tedwad avatar image tedwad nesswill commented ·
LE-v50 no charge controller - as I was told it didn’t need one. Have measured volts when not connected to the battery - and it def is producing. When connected to the battery the volts reading at any stage in the wiring defaults to the battery reading. Never been convinced it adds anything to the battery bank charge overnight when solar has ended. Is there a suitable Victron charge controller that would work with this turbine.

only looking for enough charge to run a 5g router and some garden led lights.

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Creating the custom

only options available

What do the numbers in brackets mean

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Not sure what is going on.

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nesswill avatar image nesswill commented ·

Hi can you answer these questions please...

Without the below info I can not determine if there is likely any power coming from the turbine , it looks like there is not by what you have posted so far.

Questions

What is you turbine model - LE-300 m, LE-600 , LE-v50 and LE-v150 ?

Do you also have a charge controller.?

Do you have a dump-load and run control switch?

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tedwad avatar image tedwad nesswill commented ·
LE-v50

no charge controller as I was told it didn’t need one

no dump load

fused control switch


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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

LE-v50 no charge controller - as I was told it didn’t need one. Have measured volts when not connected to the battery - and it def is producing. When connected to the battery the volts reading at any stage in the wiring defaults to the battery reading. Never been convinced it adds anything to the battery bank charge overnight when solar has ended. Is there a suitable Victron charge controller that would work with this turbine.

only looking for enough charge to run a 5g router and some garden led lights.

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nesswill avatar image nesswill commented ·

Ok that helps thanks

The first thing is the cut-in speed of 5m/s , this means you need a moderate breeze before it starts and you will only get 10 watts @ 12m/s (26mph) so don't expect to much from it.

So at this low amps you can put a multimeter in line to measure the amps but please understand what you're doing before attempting this, I take it you have the 12v model turbine.

If you not sure or feel uncomfortable about undertaking these measure please contact a local professional

But as others have said you will need to wait till your battery discharges a bit.

I haven't looked in detail at your turbine but ensure it will ramp down when you're battery is fully charged.

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tedwad avatar image tedwad nesswill commented ·
12v model - comfortable using a multimeter.

live in an area that has high wind speeds - BD21 5QT - very exposed.

from the dashboard - it appears the turbine is pulling any solar created?

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tedwad avatar image tedwad tedwad commented ·
Ps - very much appreciate all the help with this.
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nesswill avatar image nesswill tedwad commented ·
You're very welcome.
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sean avatar image sean tedwad commented ·
What voltage are you reading ? ... the actual measurement ?
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nesswill avatar image nesswill tedwad commented ·
Ok let's see what you get with the multimeter in-line then we can work out what you should be seeing.
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tedwad avatar image tedwad nesswill commented ·
Best fitting connector for inline measurement - want to avoid the battery reading.


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sean avatar image sean tedwad commented ·
Can't you just measure the voltage being generated by the WT ?

.. unloaded, with nothing attached.

You haven't even confirmed if you're feeding the shunt with with an AC or DC voltage yet, or if it's just rectified wild AC from the WT.


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tedwad avatar image tedwad sean commented ·
I’ll test disconnected from battery bank later.


turbine is an dc generator

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tedwad avatar image tedwad tedwad commented ·
No load - direct to multimeter - spinning by hand I producing 6v
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bigbadbob76 avatar image bigbadbob76 sean commented ·
LE-v50 is just rectified ac from the three turbine windings.

through a 3 phase bridge rectifier.

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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

Have set shunt as


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tedwad avatar image
tedwad answered ·

And VRM showing

Note no wind at mo


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