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Transformer Tutorial

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PeterDove

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Hi All,

I have decided that the best way to go to charge my Lead Acid battery from my high voltage ( but low current ) wind turbine would be to create a transformer which would convert the voltage to an acceptable level for charging the battery. This would also bump up the current to an acceptable level.

Does anyone have any links for tranformer tutorials? Looking for the simplest solution possible.

Cheers

Peter
 
Gayan Soyza said:
To charge the Lead Acid battery you are going to use a wind turbine???But I wonder how do you have internet in that area????

Ah, well we use a very fast client monkey who bit bangs the TCP/IP packets out to a server monkey which interfaces directly to the bongo drums

Peter
 
Pretty pointless question as you don't give any specs on your generator - like what does it output?, AC or DC?, what voltage?, what current?, and how constant is the voltage?.
 
hi peter,
To advise on a suitable 'convertor' for your window turbine to charge batteries, need to know turbine and battery specifications.

To help with the monkey and bongo drums, we need a flow chart and if possible a signed picture of the monkey. [is it male or female?]

Im not paying peanuts to my ISP!!!

Regards
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
Pretty pointless question as you don't give any specs on your generator - like what does it output?, AC or DC?, what voltage?, what current?, and how constant is the voltage?.

A/C, up to 60V at about 50milliamps. Voltage can vary to windspeed :p

Battery is a 6V 12Ah Lead Acid Deep Cycle

I am thinking about upgrading from bongo drums to

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549

Peter
 
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Nigel Goodwin said:
Are you sure about 50mA? - that's not much of a generator! (presumably it's pocket sized?)



Not a very big battery either, 12AH isn't much storage.

Correct on both accounts ( a little bigger than pocket size ). When I attach the two wires of the turbine to a AC / DC adapter the adapter outputs 4.5V at 200mA DC - though this wasnt in a very strong wind.

I just double checked the specs actually, it can output up to 120V but amps is about 25mA not 50... So no - its not a powerhouse, but its just something for me to work with while I play with wind power. Plus it can charge my battery!

The reason for making my own transformer is that I can get the output to be just over the 6V needed for the battery.

Peter
 
Those little AC adaptors aren't very efficient, winding your own transformer is probably a good idea as you could make it more efficient.

What about using a miniature toroidal transformer?

Also what's the maximum frequency at the maximum voltage? If it's significantly higher than 60Hz you could use less turns resulting in lower copper losses and higher efficiency.
 
Hero999 said:
Those little AC adaptors aren't very efficient, winding your own transformer is probably a good idea as you could make it more efficient.

What about using a miniature toroidal transformer?

Also what's the maximum frequency at the maximum voltage? If it's significantly higher than 60Hz you could use less turns resulting in lower copper losses and higher efficiency.

Thanks for the help! Much appreciated - this is what I had thought about, and that just helped me direct my search! Now I can make a nice little box with a toriodal transformer with a diodes to convert the AC to DC.

Cheers

Peter
 
hi peter,
As you say, the as the wind speed is variable so will the frequency and output voltage from the wind turbine alternator.

Have you considered using a mains rated bridge rectifier, connected directly across the alternator terminals
to charge a large mains rated capacitor.

It would possible to design a switcher psu to step the capacitor voltage down to about 7.5Vdc for your 6V lead acid battery.
 
ericgibbs said:
hi peter,
As you say, the as the wind speed is variable so will the frequency and output voltage from the wind turbine alternator.

Have you considered using a mains rated bridge rectifier, connected directly across the alternator terminals
to charge a large mains rated capacitor.

It would possible to design a switcher psu to step the capacitor voltage down to about 7.5Vdc for your 6V lead acid battery.

Do you have any links to information on how to build this and how it works?

Sounds like a good solution. I understand the toroidal approach, but I would have to pick a 'kick in' voltage at which the toroid would convert the X volts from the turbine to 6.5 volts, which would be enough to charge the battery. As the wind speed picked up so would the input voltage, and therefor the output voltage too. At this point I am losing efficiency because the extra voltage is in effect wasted on the battery.

Cheers

Peter

Peter
 
ericgibbs said:
As you say, the as the wind speed is variable so will the frequency and output voltage from the wind turbine alternator.
That wouldn't pose a problem to a transformer providing the transformer is rated to a lower frequency and higher voltage than the maximum voltage and highest frequency output from the turbine. The reason is because the voltage drops as the frequency drops so core saturation wouldn't be a problem. For example, if the output is 120V at 60Hz at full speed then the 60V at 30Hz produced at half speed won't damage the transformer.
 
Hi peter,

Quote:
That wouldn't pose a problem to a transformer providing the transformer is rated to a lower frequency and higher voltage than the maximum voltage and highest frequency output from the turbine. The reason is because the voltage drops as the frequency drops so core saturation wouldn't be a problem. For example, if the output is 120V at 60Hz at full speed then the 60V at 30Hz produced at half speed won't damage the transformer

...........

To use a step down transformer when the input is say 120Vac, it would have to be say, 12:1 to have about 10Vac on the seconadry, before rectification and regulation, to charge a 6V battery.

If the wind speed dropped and the output was 60Vac, thru a 12:1 it would have 5Vac on the secondary, and so on.............

What transfomer did you have in mind ??? The OP is talking 50 mAmps, the charger has to be efficient as possible.

Peter search this site for a suitables switcher design: its interactive.

**broken link removed**
 
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