FAQ
1) Distributorship Opportunities?
2) Warranty?
3) Home Connection?
4) Wind Turbine?
5) Charge Controller and voltage and watts?
6) Solar Panels?
7) Tower Pole?
8) What else do I need?
9) What kind of Inverter do I need?
10) Battery Banks?
11) Pricing Change?
12) Do I need an arrestor for lightning protection?
FAQ
1) Distributorship Opportunities?
We have the most advanced designs. Our wind turbine generator, blades and charge controller designs are each done by PhDs in their expertise currently actively doing R&D here in America. Manufacture is done in China. Some of our customers have been telling us of the inferior wind turbines they have previously purchased: some purchases from honest advertising and other purchases from scams. Beware of business opportunity scams where they want to sell you three turbines to get you started. Although we are looking for distributors, we encourage our potential distributors to first buy one system, set it up, and then talk to us about dealing. A dealer cannot be a distributor, until he is first a successful dealer. Many additional customers have come from neighbors and friends of our satisfied customers.
2) Warranty?
Dead On Arrival (DOA): Within the first thirty (30) days from the shipment date, any DOA unit will be replaced with a new wind turbine. Defective Parts: Within the first five (5) years from the shipment date, any defective part will be replaced at no charge.
3) How many or what size of wind turbine do I need?
A typical American home uses 10,000 kWh/year, i.e., 830 kWh/month, or 28 kWh/day, or 1.16kW/hr. To be conservative, we assume the generating time for wind and solar to be 6 hours per day. 28 kWh/6 hrs = 4.6 kW, which is roughly 5 kW. So, we say a typical American home needs 5 kW produced by wind or solar to meet the needs of the home.
The size of the wind turbine or hybrid solar-wind depends on several factors: kWh per month your home needs, the wind speed at your area, and the height of your tower. To get the average of kWh usage in your home, please look at your monthly electric bill. You can find the average kWh per month or per day on your utility bill. And we recommend you to monitor the wind speed at your property to decide the size of the wind turbine and the possible combination of hybrid solar-wind generator. We provide Wind Monitor Kit (a single Anemometer or Triple Anemometer) to help you measure the wind speed at different spots and different of heights of your property. Higher your tower is raised, stronger wind speed will be.
Our system engineers can also help you to do system engineering design for your power system. Please drop us an email at: info@arigreenenergy.com.
Q: Is there a way to easily switch from wind power back to conventional power? I would like to eventually be able to run my whole house by wind power, but would like to be able to switch back or even automatically switch to conventional power only as a backup in the event the turbine(s) do not produce enough power.
A: A "Grid-Tie" inverter allows the energy produced to be directly connected to the existing home electrical system and remain on the utility company grid to supply extra electricity to meet your needs. If your system produces more energy than you use, the grid-tie will run your utility company meter backward as it feeds the electricity to other electrical users. This in effect banks the energy for other times when you will be drawing more energy than your system produces. It is also possible to bank to a battery bank for emergency use, when the utility grid is down, with the proper grid-tie inverter.
Q: Do you have people that can come to my house to better explain how it all works and can tell me if my location would be suitable for wind power, and if so, where the best place to put them?
A: We are a global company. We do not do local site evaluations and installations, except for very large business contracts. We would be glad to direct you to installers and dealers of our products in your area, if we have any in your area. We are currently looking for dealers and installers globally, so if this might by your interest, please talk to us about it.
4) Wind Turbine?
What voltage wind turbine should I get? Lower voltage is safer, but higher voltage is more efficient. If you already have an existing system, you may wish to go with the voltage of your system. However, you may wish to rearrange things and go with a higher voltage system as it is more efficient and our charge controller automatically regulates itself to the battery bank voltage of 12, 24 or 48 volts. Generally, we recommend going with higher voltage turbine and system.
Does the 3 turbine conductors require any special ordering to the controller? No, they are unregulated AC current and order does not matter.
Weight? The packaged ARI-750 system of wind turbine and charge controller is 66 pounds; turbine alone is about 50 pounds. The ARI-450 package is 55 pounds; turbine alone is about 40 pounds.
What is included? Our wind turbines include the wind turbine with blades, yaw shaft, and electrical connection pig-tail, hybrid charge controller, and manual.
What additional will I need? Minimal: A tower, wiring. However, other Common Accessories include: DC-AC inverter, battery bank, solar panels.
How much wind do I need? Cut-In wind speed is about 6 MPH. Maximum performance wind speed is 31 MPH. Since wind speeds vary each day and each season, we have designed our system�s charge controller to be hybrid to be augmented with solar panels, since wind power and solar power are often reciprocal, they can be complementary.
What are the differences in the marine vs "regular" unit? Additional corrosion protection for the salt-air environment.
What are the recommended maintenance items and schedule for the turbines? Check and tighten all nuts and bolts on the turbine and tower three times during the first 30 days of operation and at least yearly thereafter.
5) Charge Controller and voltage and watts?
The Amps on Controller seems low; is 0.8 Amp at about 10 MPH normal? Yes, near start up wind speeds, that is normal.
Our Charge Controller automatically determines battery bank voltage and adjusts to 12, 24 or 48volt output accordingly, but for better efficiency, we recommend that you run battery banks and inverters at the same voltage as your turbine system is designed. For better efficiency, we like to encourage our customers to buy and run the higher voltage, whenever practical.
LCD and LED indicators: LCD screen from right to left, top to bottom: picture of turbine, voltage from turbine, picture of sun, voltage from solar. Next line: picture of battery, current charge on battery, picture of amp meter, current amp rate charging battery. Bottom row: movement indicates energy going into system. LED indicator lights: charge level of battery, energy coming from turbine, energy from solar, charging current.
Your battery bank will be charged by the charge controller, as long as there is enough wind or solar energy, until any connected battery bank is fully charged, then the charge controller will shut-off charging, until charge is partially consumed, then charging will resume. This process has nothing to do with the inverter. The function of an inverter is to convert the DC to AC, since every household in America uses volts AC but battery banks and the ARI charge controller are volts DC.
The manual has max input to charge controller listed on diagram 6.2.3, but you must use Amp x volts = watts formula to get max watts input of: 30 x 30.5 = 915 watts. Technically, if when 750watt wind is produced, only 165watt solar can be produced. But in the most cases, when there is sun, wind is weak and when wind is strong, the sun is about sunset or after dark. It is less likely that wind speed is really high and sunlight is also bright, simultaneously. Alternate method: If you have a large capacity of solar power, you can use another solar charge controller to regulate your solar power, by-passing the hybrid solar-wind charge controller and going into the battery bank or grid. Thus only using the hybrid charge controller with solar up to 165 watts.
Like Miles per Hour or Kilometers per Hour, gages tell us the speed we are driving at a specific time. If we continued that rate for one hour, we would travel that many miles or kilometers. Likewise, watts is shortened terminology for watts per hour, unless otherwise specified. If the wind turbine's rate would generate 750 watts over one hour, we say it is producing 750 watts.
What if I connect higher wattage solar panels than recommended on the hybrid system to use the charge controller? It should work while the turbine is not causing the charge controller to reach maximum amperage, but once maximum amperage is reached the dummy load should burn off the extra wattage.
MPPT Maximum Power Point Tracking: Yes, our system uses MPPT.
6) Solar Panels?
Do you really need the solar panels if you keep your conventional power as a backup? Meaning if you don't get enough power from the turbines it can automatically switch to conventional power. A: No you don't need solar panels, but you may want them as back-up and to augment your power production. If you have good wind, solar panels can be as much as 20 times as expensive to purchase for the same power.
ARI-450 Charge Controller can take 2 solar panels. ARI-750 Charge Controller can take 4 solar panels. Our systems are designed to automatically allow both or either wind or solar without issue. The smaller turbine's charge controller is designed for up to 2 solar panels, but the larger turbine's charge controller is designed for up to 4 solar panels. This information might influence your decision:
750W 48V, it can go up to 60x15=900W (see the manual, pg 22, section 6.2.3 Charge Controller, table)
750W 24V, it can go up to 30x30.5=915W
450W 12V, it can go up to 35x15.5=542W
450W 24V can go up to 18x30.5=549W
We sell solar panels in pairs, because they are packaged in pairs, but the system will handle up to the above combined limits.
Solar panels have pre-configured set voltages. The solar panel voltage coming into the charge controller must equal the voltage of the ARI wind turbine/charge controller, which you own. Example: If you own a 48 volt ARI wind turbine, you can use 48 volt solar panels connected in parallel, or 12 and/or 24 volt solar panels connected in series adding up to 48 volts.
We recommend you to purchase 2 or 4 solar PV panels to take advantage of our ARI Solar Wind charge controller, as well as to give you backup complementary energy, just in case you have no wind for some days.
7) Tower Pole?
Metal pipe is recommended for the pole. The ARI wind turbine is designed to be mounted by slipping the turbine's mounting shaft inside the tower pole/pipe. Our mounting shaft has been re-engineered, so wait until your turbine arrives to determine the pole size you need. Our mounting shaft often has spacing collars on it for which can be removed for smaller sized diameter poles. Shaft diameter: 3"/2.5"/1.94".
We recommend that the turbine be mounted at least 40 feet above the ground and 20 feet higher than the highest obstruction and at least 15 feet from any obstruction.
One picture from a customer shows his wind turbine to be mounted barely above his trees. We have encouraged him to raise it higher, but he finds it to be working well where it is. I would believe that any height above the trees would be fine, if there are no trees blocking the wind...but of course the rule is that higher is always better for more wind. It the trees at your location are not in line with your prevailing wind and so they don�t cut the wind, you can possibly work around them with a lower tower.
Our 450-750 tower kits are designed for poles up to 50'. Long poles require adequate diameter and strength of pole and possibly multiple levels of guy wire support.
8) What else do I need?
Along with our system, you will need to buy wiring locally at any hardware store. If you are buying a wind turbine, you will also need some type of mounting tower. We supply a pole tower kit (without the pole, which is best to buy locally). If you wish to save the energy, you can either put it into a battery bank or put it into your local electrical utility grid. If you put the energy into the "grid", it will run most electric meters backward, allowing you to save on utility costs or get paid for the energy you produce. To do this, you need a grid-tie inverter, which you can purchase locally. Or, you can save to a battery bank. To use the energy that you produce for household electronics, you will need a DC to AC inverter rated up to 1.5 times whatever wattage that you plan to use. There are several options for using the energy you produce. You can tie it into your whole house or cabin; you can wire to power limited items, such as outdoor lighting, pool pump, or shop power; or wire it to limited circuits. You must decide what you prefer. We recommend an 110 or 220 VAC 60Hz pure sine wave grid-tie inverter for grid-tie; or non-grid-tie for non-grid-tie applications.
9) What kind of Inverter do I need?
The power capacity of inverter needs to be 1.10 times of the system output for high efficiency sine wave inverter, i.e., 1.5kW x 1.10 = 1.65kW, so you need a 1800 W or 2000 W 120 VDC/110 VAC 60Hz inverter. You can choose either a modified sine wave inverter or pure sine wave inverter. If you decide to go stand-alone system, then you need an off-grid inverter. But if you want to grid tie your system to utility grid (in this case, a battery bank is not necessary), then you need a grid-tie inverter. You can also choose a stackable inverter that will allow you to connect additional inverters in parallel to your system when you expand your power output later by adding more wind turbines or solar PV panels to your existing system. You can also have a multi-mode inverter, that will allow you to go off-grid and on-grid with a battery bank. In this case, once your battery bank is charged fully, the inverter will automatically switch the power output to the grid to make your meter run backward. The advantage of on-grid and off-grid inverter is to allow you to charge your battery bank first, then go to the utility grid, so you will have power at the time of power outage or be completely self-sufficient when your local utilty buy back at a lower rate and sell it to you at a higher rate.
Can any grid-tie inverter work with ARI wind turbine? No. Because the power curve of the wind turbine has to be perfectly configured to match with the voltage curve of the grid-tie inverter.
ARI currently works with Windy Boy (SMA) for grid-tie inverter. The Windy Boy grid-tie inverter will allow ARI wind turbine hook up directly to the meter without battery bank (a great saving). When the turbine generates power, it will feed to the power grid (the meter will run backward). At the end of month, you will get credit from the power company. If your usage equals to what you have sold to the company, then you get a zero electricity bill. If you generate more power than your consumption, then you donor the electricity to the utility company. In some states, such as in Wisconsin, you can sell the extra power generated by your wind turbine to the utility company and actually get paid for.
ARI has chosen Windy Boy, WB 3000, for both ARI-750 and ARI-2500. For ARI-750, you can potentially hook up 3 x ARI-750 to 1 x WB 3000 grid-tie inverter (it is good for those who want to try a small system first with limit initial investment and later add more into the system).
10) Battery Banks?
If you get just the ARI-750 48V wind turbine and run a 48-volt system, you will need 4 x 100Ah 12-volt batteries and connect them in series to make a 48-volt battery bank. Similarly, you will need one 12-volt battery for a 12-volt bank or two 12-volt batteries for a 24-volt bank.
If you have an average wind speed at 9 mph, you will get about 20 Watts. Assuming you have this wind for 24 hours a day, at this wind speed, 480 watt hours will be charged to your battery bank each day. Batteries are purchased fully charged, so as they are discharged, energy from the charge controller will recharge the batteries. The battery bank will not be completely discharged as long as you have sufficient energy from the charge controller.
Assuming we need to have 48 hours of useful battery storage reserve (2 days reserve), the system needs to have, at least, 1.5kW x 48hrs = 72 kWh power reserve. Because watts=amps x volts, if we require 72 kWh in storage, with a 48 volt power system, we need 72 kWh/48V = 1500 amp-hours of useful storage. And because we cannot fully discharge the batteries, we need to install a larger battery bank to get the needed 1500 amp-hours of capacity. Assuming 75%-80% of discharge, therefore, we need 2000 amp-hours (2000Ah) of useful battery storage.
Q: How often should I equalize my MK GEL Batteries? A: MK GEL Batteries never need to be equalized. Here is why: One reason why batteries are equalized is to combat voltage separation from cell to cell within a battery. A 12-volt battery is composed of six 2-volt cells connected in series internally. A 12-volt battery reading 12.6 volts on a voltmeter should equal 2.1 volts per cell. However, when batteries are manufactured in a one -shot process cell, where the plates are activated within the battery, one cell may receive more or less electrolyte than the other five cells of that battery. When this happens a battery�s cells may equal:
2.13v - 2.12v - 2.13v - 2.11v -2.09v - 2.11v. (Sum=12.6 volts)
As a battery is discharged, the cells with the lower voltage will be drained further than the cells at the higher voltage. As the same battery is charged, the cells with the high voltage will be fully charged before the cells with the lower voltage. The more a battery is cycled, the more the cell separation takes place. Equalizing batteries helps to bring all the cells of a battery to the same voltage.
Our batteries are manufactured using tank formation to activate the plates. This process guarantees a fully formed and voltage matched plate. The extra handling of the plates provides an additional inspection step in the process to verify plate quality. Plates from hundreds of batteries are formed in a tank all at once providing not only balance from cell to cell of a battery, but also balance from battery to battery of a batch. .
Q: Don't I have to equalize my batteries to prevent stratification? A: When liquid electrolyte or acid stratifies, the heavier charged ions actually sink to the bottom of the cell, leaving discharged acid at the top. This allows the top of the plates to oxidize and corrode reducing performance and shortening life. The bottoms of the plates also corrode due to the action of the higher strength acid. This can happen in Stationary applications, such as the solar industry, because the battery never moves. Because our electrolyte is a thick-consistency gel, this acid stratification can never happen, so no, it is not necessary to equalize your MK GEL Batteries.
11) Pricing Change?
We are currently below the price of all of our competitors and we have the most advanced technology for a quiet wind turbine with high performance (ARI quiet wind turbine technology is pending patent). The industry standard pricing for wind turbines is $2-4.50/watt. Over several months we have tested the market with different prices and we have done some introductory pricing on our new turbines to quickly get them into the hands of our customers, who can try our wind turbines and testify how quiet and what good performance of our ARI wind turbines are. Our nearest competitor has an inferior wind turbine, known for its noise and without hybrid solar-wind charge controller and meters, which it sells for $1.5/watt. It is our intention to keep our prices down to $1.5/watt and also have the highest technology in the wind turbine market.
12) Do I need to install an arrestor for lightning protection?
Adequate lightning protection is needed. Lightning striking a tower may follow the wiring into the house. We recommend Delta Lightning Arrestor (800-351-1464). The following is the recommendations for a full protection:
Install an AC arrestor (Delta model LA 302-R) on the house main circuit breaker box (this protects the house).
Install a DC (Delta model 302-DC) arrestor on the PV panel side of the charge controller to protect the panels.
Install an AC (Delta model LA 303) for 3-phase on the wind generator side of the charge controller, this protects the wind generator.
The Delta lightning arrestor costs about $40 each.