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This video is all about the six main parts of the full featured renewable
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off-grid energy system that I'm going to teach you how to build here. First of all
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there's something to collect energy from the wind, there's something to collect
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energy from the Sun, there's a charge controller, batteries, an inverter, and an
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optional generator as well. On the wind side of things you've got a wind
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turbine. It'll have a propeller, it might sit on a tower or on the top of a
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building and it swivels around automatically to face the wind. In this
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project here you're probably looking at a unit that puts out 1,000 to 2,000 watts
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of power. Another part of the system is photovoltaic panels. These convert
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sunlight directly into electricity with no moving parts and the panels for this
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project would have a similar output to the wind turbine maybe 1,000 to 2,000
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watts of power. The charge controller is a kind of low-key and hidden part of the
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system but it's very important. It regulates the amount of energy delivered
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to the batteries so that they're as charged as they can be without being overcharged. It takes power from the wind turbine and the photovoltaic panels and
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the backup generator if you've got one and directs it all to the battery
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Batteries are typically the heaviest and often the most expensive part of the
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system. I recommend either lead acid or absorbed glass mat. One very important
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thing is the need to size your bank of batteries so they don't get discharged
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too much. The less you discharge batteries over the course of years the
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longer they will last. All batteries produce what they call direct current
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voltage, DC voltage, and that's not suitable for plug-in items so this is
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where something called an inverter comes in. Typical output of inverters would be
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120 volts AC although you can get inverters that produce 240 volts AC as
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well. Whenever possible you will want to use direct current directly to save
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inverter capacity. An optional part of the system is a fuel burning backup
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generator to provide power if the wind and Sun side of the system can't keep up
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In a setup like this the generator would feed power back into the charge
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controller where it would direct power to the charging of the batteries
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appropriately. The 120 or 240 volt AC output of the generator could also be
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used directly for powering things. So you put these parts together and it lets you
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convert wind and Sun to the most sustainable and renewable source of
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power there is. I think it's a pretty good deal
