connecting small wind turbine directly to a light bulb.

[Arashi]

I have a small turbine. Puts out maybe 150watts if the wind is blowing well, I've never seen it produce more than 17volts. Could I just wire it directly into a 12v 100watt lighting fixture ...to get a little light in my back yard when it's spinning?

I have a battery bank, charge controllers, dump load... all that good stuff, but it's packed away in a storage shed a couple hundred miles away. I wont be able to get to that stuff for another couple of months. Sort of wanted to put up my wind turbine, I like watching it spin!

[BB.]

Ideally, you can make or buy a current mode buck converter... Takes variable input DC voltage and outputs a steady state DC current for LEDs (within the ability of the input voltage and current). Here is one example:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...-SST-50-SST-90

-Bill

[65DegN]

Be careful about letting lead acid batteries sit for very long without applying a charge. They typically self discharge 5 ~ 10% a month.

[john p]

Arashi was that 17v under a load or with the generator output connected to nothing?

[Arashi]

Be careful about letting lead acid batteries sit for very long without applying a charge. They typically self discharge 5 ~ 10% a month.

wow, I did not know that. I bet my batteries are dead. :( They had a full charge........ two years ago when I put them into storage. :(

[Arashi]

Arashi was that 17v under a load or with the generator output connected to nothing?

I saw 17v during a storm once when winds were really howling. It was under load.

[BB.]

Yea, the batteries are probably toast... You can store flooded cell batteries for about 1 month without recharging... AGM batteries for about 3-6 months.

Hot and older batteries self discharge faster than new/colder batteries. For every 10C (18F) you cool a battery, a ~2x longer life.

-Bill

[Arashi]

Yea, the batteries are probably toast... You can store flooded cell batteries for about 1 month without recharging... AGM batteries for about 3-6 months.

Hot and older batteries self discharge faster than new/colder batteries. For every 10C (18F) you cool a battery, a ~2x longer life.

-Bill

...any way to fix them?

[BB.]

Charge them about about a 5% rate of charge until they bubble well (flooded cell--monitor Specific Gravity for each cell as they are at full charge--If the SG continues to rise, try discharge/charge cycle again until SG stabilizes at full charge)--Discharge--Repeat 2-10x--Then buy new batteries.

If they are AGM--Depending on brand, there are some slightly different charging recommendations.

-Bill