Is anyone running a small turbine system?

Something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Hi-Output-600W-W...lenotsupported


Basically I am doing the solar panel thing over time and was curious if these little guys pay off.

I have a 2 story house in DE and would consider putting one on the roof. Honestly, I am not really in a windy area so I am not sure if it would be worth it.


Anyone play with these?

We are just setting up a wind-generated turbine but still need a controller. Ihave not found the right size yet. But,everything looks promising.Will let you know.

if your looking for a charge controller, and or some other goodies, you might look at powerplanted.com. I've been talking to John over there, and he's been really cool to talk to.

Just a thought. Might not be exactly what your looking for.

I cant say I have used one from ebay but I do have a DIY built one on my shed and have been working on it for some time now. I can tell you this, the rating for this unit is:

485W @ 13 m/s or 29 mph, 450W @ 26 mph

One thing to point out. I dont know were you live but around OH our average speed is only 15mph and when they state in the ebay auction that the wind speed is 10mph. Thats 10mph @ 30 meters up. Not in the parking lot like they have in the video. Keep this in mind if you are looking into wind. I have noticed while playing with wind generation that you might have some good speed gusts for brief periods of time in our local area but to produce a constant rate you will need to put the turbin up high and also have plenty of open space.

None of this urban "mount it on my roof" style of installation. It works on the roof but you wont get consistant results.

yea thats exactly what i've run into on the unit i bult, so now i'm trying to prepair myself for the process of putting my tower up. I have it, i've had it for some time and actually brought it with me when i moved, but man thats a lot of work.

Yeah the wind project is one of many projects that have stalled cause I dont have time (or money) to put towards it. I have found a much better use for my tower though. I am going to attach it to the side of my daughters playhouse and let her use it to slide down like a fire pole

When the set is all said and done she's going to be the only kid on the block with an off-grid playhouse

Wind turbines in the roof are not a good idea ( I found that the hard way) they vibrate and become annoying at high speeds. I started with a 2k turbine and change it to a 1k when install the panels. This things are heavy and require a solid tower.

Your wind generator or turbine has to be firmly grounded like on a pole set in the ground and put your solar panels attached on your roof. Ours we attached to a set in telephonepole completely by itself. You can buy the older poles from some of the light companies for so much a foot

You have to make sure you have enough space around ever how high you extend your tower, for safety reasons,but you can also get permission from your neighbors and can set up a coop - that way the whole neighborhood can benefit and gradually add their own units.

It is a lot of work and it may take some time before you see a big money difference, but, for each type of unit installed you can get a government tax credit and there is all kinds of rebates paid plus you are helping the environment. Plus Going thru Ike my neighborhood still has total blackouts and the few little systems I got going are a Blessing!!!