Small & Miniature Wind Turbines

Delivering between approximately five and twenty kilowatts, small and miniature wind turbines are great for smaller communities or plants that run off of lower voltage line systems.

Small wind turbines (unlike regular wind turbines, which are created for large scale electricity production), do not take us as much land to operate.

Also called ‘mini’ wind turbines, small turbines can operate in wind speeds lower than ten miles per hour. Larger ‘regular’ wind turbines are only able to operate in wind speeds of between ten and twenty-five miles per hour.

Wind turbines which are smaller are able to give you the convenience of getting installed in places that are smaller such as on the terraces of buildings, on balconies of apartments and mid to small-sized farm houses.

Most wind turbines that are classified as ‘mini’ have a generator that is able to work under any weather conditions and a blade that gives you a high performance of generating seventy watts of power at twenty miles per hour. Many times, smaller turbines start to turn with wind speeds that are just eight to nine miles per hour.

Specifically, this means that a twelve-volt battery will slowly become charged using a mini turbine at fifteen mph winds. When it breaks down and you need to have your unit fixed, all you need to do is conveniently pack it into your backpack and take it to the turbine repair shop. Mini wind turbines are also able to power a twelve-volt light bulb. If your child has a science experiment he or she needs to create, you can use mini turbines as the school project.

Folks who are interested in larger turbines will be able to save a lot of time and money experimenting with a small turbine before moving on to larger versions. This way, you will know if turbines are indeed what you are looking for before investing large amounts of money. If you live in a climate that has great wind speeds, you may want to consider getting yourself a small wind turbine to supplement your solar paneled installations such as your shop, sailboat, cabin, gate opener and barn.

Small and miniature wind turbines need to be mounted on a pipe or a pole so that they are able to operate in good, clean air conditions. Next, connect the negative and positive wires from the wind turbine to the negative and positive battery terminals using a sixteen-gauge wire. Many times, a fourteen-gauge wire works just as well. You do not need a charge controller in this case because ten power watts will not be able to overcharge a battery that has twelve volts.

Miniature wind turbines are usually twenty-inches long from the prop tip to the tail fin end. These come with a blocker diode that is already installed so that your battery does not drain when the turbine is not turning. The frame or main beam is made of two-fourth inch square. The down tube is created out of one-inch steel and is welded to the main beam.

The countless advantages of small and miniature wind turbines make this a worthwhile investment.