Not mad at all...

The people who most often succeed with a small-scale wind-turbine (less than 3kW) are doing it on a DIY basis.
They succeed because the nature of a DIY strategy means that they think through what's required and understand how it operates.

Most of the effort and cost goes in the tower and the electronics/inverter on the end of the cable inside the house/garage.
The turbine itself gets all the attention, but that's not the most significant part of the package.

My turbine blade-set and PMG (permanent magnet generator) were purchased from a professional outlet.
I did everything myself on the tower, the cabling, the safety features, the battery connections and the dump-load (surplus generation) controller.

Guess which bit went wrong?

That's a photo of the PMG with the casing and top-bearing removed so you can see the coils.

The debris is the aftermath of the fire, caused by the naff Chinese bearings which ceased to run smoothly.
I'd be happy to start again by buying in a Chinese-manufactured PMG...
... but I'd replace the bearings with FAG-manufactured ones from Germany before I used it!

https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/additional-battery-v-wind-turbine-v-ripple

Some details on this thread also

Posted by: @johnmo

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https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/additional-battery-v-wind-turbine-v-ripple

Some details on this thread also

super thread, thank you. 

I wasn’t aware of Ripple. Looking into that now. 

Posted by: @transparent

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Interesting notion @marvinator80 

In case you were wondering, here's how I would apply a mechanical lever to the wall of your garage in order to shake the bricks apart:

-- Attachment is not available --

Better still, I could achieve the damage much faster if I used a varying force at the top of the pole.
Instead of it always being applied in the same direction, I would vibrate it randomly around the horizontal plane.
At some point in time it might even achieve resonance with the length of the pole above the upper bracket, which would amplify my efforts.

The applied maths element of my Further Maths A-Level was the most practically useful stuff I learnt at school 50+ years ago 🙂

Those with A-levels in Science and Maths will appreciate that the parameters applying to the mounting of a pole (a lever) on a brick wall, are addressed by Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, applied angularly, rather than in a linear direction.

Or, as Sir Isaac himself would've put it "Just a moment..."

Those who didn't study science or maths to A-level are not expected to understand that reference.
Please ignore it and read on...

You said you're considering a wind turbine, and that you already have an inverter and battery installed in the house.

Are you aware that most inverters don't have an input port to which you can attach a turbine (wind or hydro)?

One manufacturer which states this is possible with their inverters is SunSynk.
Although Sunsynk inverters are normally supplied with both home-generation inputs configured for solar panels, the Advanced Settings show that either or both of those connections can be reconfigured for a turbine.

There was more information on configuring for wind-turbines in earlier versions of the installation manuals.

That suggests to me that Sunsynk were receiving a lot of requests for help from customers who didn't understand the basic principles.
For example, a Sunsynk inverter does have the facility to configure the Aux-input (mains) port to have a dump-load attached.
But if the end-user doesn't even understand that a dump load is required, then they're not going to be looking for that section in the instructions.

Once again, this is why using a Forum like this is an important first step in the research, before going out to buy something.

Posted by: @transparent

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You said you're considering a wind turbine, and that you already have an inverter and battery installed in the house.

Are you aware that most inverters don't have an input port to which you can attach a turbine (wind or hydro)?

One manufacturer which states this is possible with their inverters is SunSynk.
Although Sunsynk inverters are normally supplied with both home-generation inputs configured for solar panels, the Advanced Settings show that either or both of those connections can be reconfigured for a turbine.

-- Attachment is not available --

There was more information on configuring for wind-turbines in earlier versions of the installation manuals.

That suggests to me that Sunsynk were receiving a lot of requests for help from customers who didn't understand the basic principles.
For example, a Sunsynk inverter does have the facility to configure the Aux-input (mains) port to have a dump-load attached.
But if the end-user doesn't even understand that a dump load is required, then they're not going to be looking for that section in the instructions.

Once again, this is why using a Forum like this is an important first step in the research, before going out to buy something.

indeed, I would imagine I would need another inverter. I guess what I was trying to say that the garage is where I happen to have the renewables stored in my house and if installing a turbine there then there is space and relatively easy access for more electrical equipment very close to where the the turbine would be located.

this thread those is giving me serious pause.

Yes, please take time to think... but don't be too concerned at learning these technical details.

You might like to know that SunSynk have a special classification with the ENA for applicants who want G99 approval to install their inverters.
They have an integral software protocol which allows ZERO export to the grid.
So all the self-generation from solar, or wind, or hydro gets used or stored within your own house.

A G99 application which specifies that you're going to use a SunSynk inverter model configured for Zero Export will very quickly get approved.

I also have a copy of an earlier SunSynk Installation Manual which provides more detail on connecting a turbine.
I'll post the relevant content here if required.

I have been looking closely at Ripple in the past 24 hours. It seems almost too good to be true. @toodles is it? 

My ASHP uses about 4500kwH per annum, most of this by far is November, December, January and February. The very months where we have the least yield from our solar array. 

I can buy a share in Ripple worth 4500kWH for £3200. 

I pay an average of 18p per kWH from Octopus so this would seemingly offset £810 per year give or take. So I would make my investment back in 4 years and then have the benefit of it going forward.

this can’t be right, surely?

Posted by: @marvinator80

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this can’t be right, surely?

Not sure about the figures - will see what comes back, but you invest today and don't see any return for a couple of years, until they start generating 

@johnmo ah, that’s the catch. 

this current one is due to start producing in just over 2 years time. Winter 26/27. 

you don’t get 4500kwhs you get paid for 4500kwh at the rate Ripple get paid for the electricity currently 3-4p so your 4500kwh is only worth £150 a year so 20 year payback