Wind Turbines / Wind Generators

I've also been looking on line for a wind turbine, but only get as far as you both - the volts & amps confuses me.
I met a bloke near here, him & his Mrs are totally off grid, and they have 2 wind turbines as well. Problem is they are over 100kms away, and no phone to ask.
EBay has a range - not sure how good they are - I'd be the same TH - a set up to a deep cell battery, hooked to a fridge ( 110 w - I knew enough to look at that ), and keep it running 24/7. We are pretty much assured wind here 365 days a year. Will the battery, if kept charged by the turbine, produce enough power to run the fridge, and maybe evn lights in a caravan??
Or is it enough to run direct to the fridge? Lighting, without a battery for backup?

SA talk to Wookie...hes a sparky...

I was looking into setting up my house for stand alone solar and completely disconnecting from grid power.

There are some really good on-line calculator tools and instructions for collecting data from your home applicances to help design systems.

Thats why houses run on 240V - go look in your distribution box and observe the amps written on the circuit switches. A large electric element heater (4800W) only runs on a 20A circuit. The wires connected to the heater element are only a few mm thick and they don't get very hot.

Then if you go look at an arc welder contemplate what 90A at 24V (only a tenth of the volts) looks like coming out of an electrode. It's makes huge heat and melts steel easily.

No experience with wind turbines but I will add the thoughts I have gathered over the years.

They work well as a supplement to charging battery banks. The example mentioned will add up to 650 watts while the wind is blowing.
Here are some relevant points from what I have read.
They only produce power when the wind is blowing. Obvious but a limiting factor. So they work best in windy areas.
They are low maintenance. Put them up and leave them to spin is about it. Blades can break but replacements are available.
The can be noisy. Generally they aren't very noisy and different blade shapes can reduce noise, but it may be annoying.
For best results they need to be above trees and buildings. This normally means a tower of some sort. So there are tower costs, installation costs and the inconvenience of it being meters up in the air when maintenance is required.

One of the reasons to use a 24 or 48V system is called 'transmission loss'. Using a higher voltage to transfer the same amount of power means less power is wasted 'forcing' the power through the wire. The losses are very low using high voltage (240V) but can be significant in the lower voltages (12V). This is a more detailed subject which involves a lot of confusing numbers so can be explained elsewhere if anyone desires.

Wind turbines are good for marine applications because water is flat. It doesn't have trees and buildings popping up everywhere getting in the way of the wind. So higher wind speeds occur.
Probably the main reason they aren't used more in Aus is because we get a lot of sunshine so solar becomes a more economical option.
But with a bit of research they can be a valuable addition to your power supply.

General thoughts on wind for off-grid applications.
They are similar to a solar panel in that they provide some power some of the time.
With solar you don't get any power at night and you get much less power when cloudy.
With wind you only get power when the wind reaches a certain speed. Up to a point, you get more power from more wind. On calm days you get nothing.

That said, the two can complement each other.
If you have both there is the possibility of getting power at night (wind), power when cloudy (wind) and power when calm (solar).

But with calm, cloudy weather you get very little power from either. If this sort of weather lasts for too long the battery bank can be drained.

So, as a supplement both systems work, but generally some sort of proven backup is needed. This will usually be a generator.