[RE-wrenches] AC coupling induction generators (was Solar and pumped hydro)

[Hugh]

>Jay mentions a topic that I've had a question about.  Has anybody 
>AC-coupled an induction generator (wind or hydro) with a 
>conventional battery based inverter?

Yes I have.

>  On the surface it seems that it would work fine as long as there 
>were appropriate means included in the design to avoid over-charging 
>the battery.

Yes the inverter takes care of that.  I used a Trace PS inverter at 
each house and fed them all from one hydro.  It was necessary to 
juggle the gen size setting in each house to meet the turbine flow 
setting at that time.  It worked much better than I expected to be 
honest.  The efficiency of direct use is excellent and the ability to 
suck power out of the battery at peak times made the small turbine 
much more effective for a large group of users.

>Maybe one of you off-grid hydro Wrenches has done this.  Thanks for 
>any insights...

It's very important to have a voltage regulator on the hydro.  There 
is also plenty of dump power to be allocated.

I got my controller from  "Nigel Smith" <nigel at sustainablecontrol.com>.

-- 
Hugh Piggott

Scoraig Wind Electric
Scotland
http://www.scoraigwind.co.uk