I would like to add a wind turbine to solar MTTP inputs on my 6000xp. Does the wind turbine need to be on a separate MTTP input from PV panels or can it be incorporated into the MTTP strings with the PV panels?
Is there a MTTP calculator adjustment I can make to incorporate a wind turbine?
Thanks
A wind turbine cannot be connected directly to the inverter. You can use a wind turbine to charge the batteries, but this requires a separate charge controller between wind turbine and battery. Also, the charge current from both the wind turbine and inverter cannot not exceed the combined Ah rating of the battery bank.
@eric Thanks for the quick response! Can you provide some reasons for the incompatibility?
Also, would the addition of a string optimizer allow the unbalanced energy between the PV and wind to be optimized and sent to the inverters MTTP input?
I really appreciate the assistance with understanding the extents at which these systems can be utilized and setup for the best ROI.
@whiskyneat305
The inverter's MPPTs are engineered solely for solar applications and are not compatible with wind energy. Under no circumstances should wind energy be fed into the inverter, as it is not designed to handle such input. The only viable method for utilizing wind energy in this system is to charge the batteries directly.
@whiskyneat305 with wind the challenge is defining a wind curve. As the wind blows, the turbine spins generating volts. The faster the spinning the higher the volts. But as the MPPT pulls amps generator causes the turbine to slow down. So, if you are not pulling enough amps the turbine spins out of control, if you pull to many amps the turbine stalls. On top of that a good wind controller will also provide a safety brake, if the turbine spins too fast (batteries are full and the wind is still blowing) it will apply some form of breaking. Many turbine/generator combinations will come with a controller preprogrammed with a wind curve that matches the equipment, or you can buy some controllers that allow custom programming of the curve. EG4 and most AOI's do not have that capability.
So, you say, fine I will use the controller from my turbine package and feed the MPPT circuit after all DC is DC right?
The problem is that the DC from the turbine controller is relatively low voltage (just chagrining voltage). For a 48V battery that is only 56 odd volts. This is not enough to even start a charge on the MPPT circuit of the EG4 inverter (or even enough to start a charge on most MPPT's). And depending on your turbine MPPT output the amperage could be way too high for the EG4 MPPT. You would have to review the specs of your turbine controller. But either way the MPPT from the turbine will not charge through the MPPT of the EG4.
As @Eric mentioned the most economical methodology would be to use the wind controller that came with the turbine (if it came with one) and charge the batteries directly from it. Just make sure that the turbine controller matches the charge voltage needed for the batteries and that it does not exceed the what the batteries max charge amps are.
Hope that helps your understanding and if anyone sees any mistakes in my comments, please let me know. I am not a wind specialist, but I have looked it quite a bit along with Hydro - similar issues there as well.
JB
PS on the Midnite solar forum there are many posts regarding using wind and programming wind curves. (A Forum run by Enthusiasts of MidNite Solar - Index)
@joel-brodeur Thank you Joel for that amazing summary! This makes sense and will help direct the expansion of my system. 😊
