using a dc to dc volt booster

[Morere Morere]

Hi, I am relatively new to this so excuse my ignorance. I bought a hydrid wind solar system as a back up power supply/experiment for my life style property. A 800w 3 phase 3 blade wind turbine, 4 100w solar panels, controller, 1000w inverter and 580 amh12v gel battery. I am happy with the solar, it generally provides enough power to keep my household water pump going and some lighting for my garage. My place is not ideal for wind generation but the turbine regularly spins and generates electricity but the the voltage is usually to low to allow the controller to push the energy through to the battery. I was wondering if would be possible to insert a DC to DC voltage booster between the wind turbine and the controller to boost the voltage and lower the amps thereby allowing the controller to trickle charge the battery?

[Dave Lahar]

MM,

I don't believe this will work as you are thinking. A DC converter (step-up in this case) could increase the voltage, but you would see a commensurate reduction in amperage, and you would be adding losses thru the converter, so the net result would actually be a loss.

The expression, "there's no such thing as a free lunch" definitely holds true here. The only ways to get more power form a wind turbine are to 1) increase the available wind, or 2) increase the rotor diameter.

Raising the tower height might help a little, particularly if there are obstructions, but if your site is less than ideal, you might just consider putting more money into the ever falling price of more panels (and batteries).

Good luck.