I know this has been discussed plenty of times but never seem to get to the bottom of it for my setup. I need an MPPT for my wind turbine, the turbine has a 48V DC output, I would like to use the Victron MPPT’s as I have a spare one but up until now no one seems to have succeeded in modifying things for this to work. Most turbines I come across online and on forums seem to have a 3 phase output for use with MPPT’s, if someone has any ideas then would appreciate the help. Remember my turbine is a 48v DC output, 1.8kw Max output.
If your turbine has a dc output, then the rectifier is already built into the turbine.
This said, the generator of the turbine is probably a 3 phase machine internally. The rectifier pack may also include some form of voltage regulation, you do need to look into that.
Using MPPT’s with wind turbines is different from using them with Solar modules, as wind turbines can have very high outputs, particularly in strong winds. They also need a dump load to limit the turbine speed when the MPPT is not taking much power (when the battery is full charge). This dump load can get very hot. An alternative is to stall the turbine by shorting the 3 phase AC output.
Thanks Mike, yea the turbine has a rectifier unit in the head as I had to replace that as well as the slip ring. It’s a Furture Energy one FE1048V. It was part of a PowerGuard system that was fitted in 2011 but I’ve replaced that system now with a Multiplus ii. I still have the turbine controller unit on the wall which has a dump resistor next to it but I can’t be sure if the panel is the controller. The power guard setup was a bit dated and certainly not a patch on Victron. Ideally I wanted to use the spare Victron MPPT but I do know that the solar MPPT’s aren’t ideal for turbines. The power guard system doesn’t tell me anything about the amount of power being produced etc. I think I could just connect the old panel back up to the 48v and the panel is controlled by a Crouzet, the only issue I’m not sure of this crouzet worked in conjunction with the main control unit which has now been decommissioned. So as you can tell from my ramblings I’m a little concerned about testing a theory by connecting the output of the power guard turbine control to the batteries without testing it first somehow.
Regards
Simon Rogers
Victron do not manufacture any charge controllers/invert suitable for use with WTs.
You FE48 has 3x bridge rectifiers configured for 3ph to DC within the head, they are very prone to failure. The entire Futurenergy range of small WTs are prone to main bearing failure, I would not invest too much time or money into it. I believe Dale Vince took on the range ( Ecotricity)
A Mastervolt Soladin (the WT version) can be used to grid tie the FE48, or DC coupled using a Midnite Classic in WT mode.
Using a charge controller designed for PV with a WT is a futile exercise.
You will obviously need to manage loss of mains and dumping etc.