Wind Power Charge Controller

Wind power is one of the cleanest sources of renewable energy. According to the American Wind Energy Association, a home wind turbine may lower your electricity bill by 50 to 90 percent. Electricity-only homes can have utility bills of only $8 to $15 for nine months of the year. In northern parts of the United States, where less air conditioning is used, the bills can be low year-round. A domestic wind turbine is a smaller version of those large-scale turbines we see looming over the landscape. It can be fitted to the house or somewhere suitable very close to the building. An essential component of a wind power system is a wind power charge controller.

A wind power charge controller is a device that limits the charge to a battery system to prevent overcharging and keep batteries in good condition. Some controllers may have a monitoring and logging system which can display exactly how much power has been harvested and what charge level the batteries are at. Once the battery or batteries are charged the controller kicks in and opens, diverts, or shunts the generator circuit.

A good wind power charge controller includes a DC-DC converter which changes your output voltage to what�s most suitable for charging the battery. But the main function of a wind power charge controller is to control the current to the battery in order avoid overcharging it. If the voltage approaches a set maximum, also known as float voltage, the controller turns on a dump load (also known as �shunt�) to prevent excess power from overcharging the batteries. Once the battery voltage has fallen back to a set threshold (usually 0.2V-0.5V below the float voltage), the so-called dump load will be turned off and battery charging will resume.