Regulator wiring diagram

[Anthony McLeod]

Howdy one an' all,

Can anyone help me with some wiring information regarding a regulator bought from a friend who bought it from ebay a year or so ago. It is Chinese made and came without any instructions. Given that I personally need instructions for anything electric I need help! I have found it on the www but no wiring instructions. It is a WIND & SOLAR HYBRID CHARGE CONTROLLER, model VWG2008 which on the website has V2 after the 2008. The problem is that all the terminals are colour coded  red + and black - ,except the 3 wind generator terminals which are all red and mafked with an ~ . The wind gennie (also bought off ebay, 3 bladed and no makers name on it or instructions) has 3 wires, red black and green and my question is which goes where? Also on the outlet side of the box there is a + and - for the battery and a + and - marked 'output'. Any idea what that is for? Any help would be appreciated.

Anthony McLeod

[Galway Bay]

Some help but not the whole answer - I am fitting a reg. at present so this is from mine but I expect applies to all - CAUTION connect battery BEFORE connecting any other. So two terminals filled [ +/+ and -/-]. The "output" is the power for the boat so this goes to your switch panel. The solar connects red/red and black/black. For the wind however I confess I have no solution I could stand over. Hopefully someone else who KNOWS what he is doing will help.

[Robert]

Hi Anthony, I am not familiar with the specific regulator and generator you have got, but if there are three wires marked with ~ then they are probably AC wires which would run from the output of the generator to the input of the regulator in any order.  

If it is possible to connect a multimeter to the output of the generator, check if you are getting an AC voltage between any two output terminals and no DC voltage on the same terminals - obviously the generator needs to be turning for any voltage to come out.  You could also measure the resistance between the wires on the generator while it is not turning, they should all be similarly low between any 2 points and not change if you reverse the probes.  

If you report your findings, I can help interpret them.

R

[Galway Bay]

Yeah this was my guess too but I cannot go posting guesses as facts.....I have found a You Tube clip but am having trouble posting link - Basically it makes no difference how you connect the three wires becaus it is non-rectified A/C . I would still be sure to connect a battery FIRST lots of car regulators are burnt-out by people removing the battery while the engine [and alternator] is still running.

[Anthony McLeod]

Thanks for the help you guys, As a freezing cold NE gale is blowing with snow flurries, I have abandoned any work outside in favour of a good book and some warmth below decks. As soon as I have some results to report then I shall. Tony

[andy solywoda]

Ahoy Anthony,

     I was reluctant to post due to the excellent replies.  The charger website doesn't show the "Airmaax" wiring, but there should be a logo on the wind vane part of it.  If not, it may be a DC wind turbine of another manufacturer.  Most are DC and have the rectifier diodes built in.  This one seems to put out AC which is rectified in the charge controller.  You can turn it with a drill and put a meter on the output wiring and see if it's AC or DC.

     Sorry about the cabin fever this time of year, went to your blog site and saw the excellent photos.  Looks good.

Think Spring!

[Galway Bay]

Had a chance to sleep on this -

Non-rectified A/C charger would probably have all 3 wires the same colour. This is not like house wiring there are no univeral standards.  Investigate - does this charger have rectifier built-in ? Does it have a metal body ? Check the green wire - is it simply an earth ? If you trace this wire back it may be simply bolted to the body [esp. if this is metal] which would make it an earth. Also it may be a heavier wire suggesting the same thing. If in fact this charger has rectifier built in then the rectifier in the charge controller is redundant and the black/red will simply be connected the same as the solar panels.

Sorry to possibly muddy the water.

A local auto mechanic should be able to answer your questions. The fact that the charge controller has a built in rectifier suggested to me that the charger was non-rectified but reading again you bought them separately ? So this does not follow. For peace of mind I would ask that mechanic if unsure yourself.

[Robert Sheridan]

Our regulator has 2 output pins which are for allowing something to be powered directly from the wind generator/solar panels rather than via the battery (e.g. a light).  Our solar panels and windgenerator both have DC output so can not help further as there are just 2 pins for input and 2 pins for output to the battery.

[Anthony McLeod]

Well, after several weeks of serious winds which found the gennie lashed to it's support pole and the fisherman nowhere to be seen, I connected the regulator to the batteries and it promptly lit up like a Xmas tree. I simply connected the 3 wires from the gennie at random to the regulator and it all works!  So far nothing has got hot, nothing has exploded, nothing fell overboard and the batteries stay charged. Provided the gennie turns round and round. Which it only does when there is a gale blowing! I suspect that this is due to the 3 bladed prop. And it wobbles when it really gets going, due possibly to slighly different blade weights. But the brake on the regulator works fine. Further fiddling over time will no doubt sort out any problems. Thanks for all the suggestions folk. Appreciate it all.  And summer is close!!!!!

[Galway Bay]

Hey- Great to hear you are near ready to go. So much building on this site and so little voyaging - or perhaps the voyagers are too busy to post here !! Seems some wind gens. need a w/speed of 16kn. to "trip" the reg. before they charge but I hasten to add this is only info. from 'net forums not experience. Bon Voyage !! Go n-Eiri an Bothar Leat !!