Wind powered battery charger?

[Tim240Z]

I have a battery in my enclosed trailer (small trailer for towing Karts). I use the battery to power a car stereo/CD changer and some lights (cheap HF rectangular driving lights) that are mounted at the rear for loading the trailer when dark.

Anyways, I was thinking that it would be great to be able to have the battery charging during the hour + long drive to the track, and was thinking of attaching a propeller to an alternator and mounting on the front of the trailer in the airstream. The spinning alternator would then charge the battery.
Is this possible?, or do I have my head where the 'sun don't shine'?
I have the battery isolated completely from the trailer chassis and therefore from the tow vehicle and I don't want to use the tow vehicle to charge the trailer.....I want to keep it completely isolated.
I have considered the solar panels, but getting one that is even close to efficient/powerful enough is quite pricey, but maybe that is a better idea?

Tim

 

[benjacobs]

Sounds like a cool idea. I'm not sure how much you'd actually be gaining compared to the battery charging method you're already using. The propeller would have at least some amount of drag, but I have no idea how significant it would be on your gas bill. Being it's the year 2007, it seems like there'd be better solar products out there for doing things like you're talking about. If you come up with something, do tell. It'd be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

[Tim240Z]

I found this website which has some good info, but some of the parts need to 'upgraded' for my application.....
http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html

 

[ImportTuner]

This really sounds intriging; please keep us posted on your progress ..

 

[Steve_S]

Why don't you just charge it off the tow vehicle's charging system? It would be far more efficient than a fan-powered unit.

 

[Tim240Z]

Why don't you just charge it off the tow vehicle's charging system? It would be far more efficient than a fan-powered unit.

Just because that is too easy and wouldn't involve any cool fabrication and noggin work....
Seriously though, I want to keep the vehicle and trailer batteries completely isolated.

 

[PAToyota]

Probably be easier to drive the alternator off the axle... I knew someone who had one of those ghetto-fab trailers built out of a pickup box, cap, and truck frame. Used the rear axle from the pickup and rigged an alternator off the pinion to charge up his "trailer" battery.

 

[trovato]

Keep in mind that solar will charge the battery whenever it's in the sun, not just for the one hour trip. Therefore, the solar charger can be smaller. My father-in-law has a solar panel that charges the battery that runs his boat lift. I can guarantee you that big bucks were not involved in this setup.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I'll take "bad idea" on this one.

1. The energy to turn the fan isn't free. It comes from the tow vehicle so what's the advantage?

2. Weight and drag.

3. Will look "humorous", at best. Like **** at worst.

My ideas? Any of these would work fine.

1. Charge it before you go.

2. Charge it off the tow vehicle.

3. Solar panel wasn't a bad idea.

4. Roll start it when you get there.

Phil

 

[gahi]

Think that the turbine would have to be on top, further away from the tow vehicle to avoid the turbulence. Youd have to get the ratios right so that the alt would spin in the correct range. The alt woud have to be in an enclosed area, out of the weather, so this would involve either a gearbox and driveshaft or belts passing through some small slots. I think if you figure in all your time, plus alt and turbine cost, youd be better off going with solar.