Need to know total per hr amp draw! (24 hr AVG amp draw per hr also needed) Why a special controller? Why wind? Early indicator is; you will be wasting lots of money! ONLY a 100 ah battery? I hope you havn't bought anything yet, as you need lots of help. Chief
The wattage is described using the figures given (and again below), I don't think I'm looking for a comprehensive breakdown of energy draw, just interested in a qualitative survey of brands and models others have used and for what loads.
Let me shift gears then by writing what I do know as of today. But for the record, my daily minimum is fridge: 1.25ah, electronics: 6ah, fuel pump: 1ah = 8.25ah. I could easily bump to 200ah batteries if necessary. The fridge running out of juice is not acceptable and a combination wind+solar setup seems like the way to go, especially since there is never a cloudy day without wind here.
Non-flexible solar panels appear to be a less complicated decision than wind, as their seems to be less variance in there durability and efficiency than wind turbines. Monocrystalline cells look like the ideal choice over polycrystalline for efficiency, and a charge controller with MPPT instead of PWM is a must for overall efficiency of the circuit. The only challenge is finding the right aspect to mount them for maximum sun exposure considering booms create shadows and boats rotate on the hook. Bimini or dodger mounting appears the best, but I don't have a bimini and my soon-coming
Iversons dodger is going to be far too pretty to ruin (i'm open for others to change my mind there). My current strategy is to mount one horizontally on each side of the cockpit, straight to the stern rail.
A hybrid wind/solar controller looks like it offers the benefit of synchronized charging load for the solar and wind circuit. You can run a solar and a wind controller side by side on the same battery bank, but you have to make sure you can set one or the other float voltage to match the other. Must-have features are an ammeter to monitor power output and a wind brake switch. A "good" controller like the BlueSky e20 @ emarine.com appears to cost at least $600. Another well-reviews but expensive series is the Tristar 30. There are many, many, many miscellaneous brands out there but it is difficult to get info on which are worth their cost.
The wind turbines themselves are expensive and offer a range of variables to choose from. Noise V.S. output appears to be the most important variables. Both automatic and manual brakes are a must have. West Marine sells a NaturePower "400W" turbine for $450 but it has so-so reviews and no indication of how noisy it is. The Air X + blue 'quiet' carbon blades ($1,135.00 + $350 @ emarine) looks like a good solution for (12+kts, probably applicable to SF bay) and the Air Breeze + blue 'quiet' blades ($1,139.00 + $360 @ emarine) offering higher output at lower average wind speeds (8+its) and also regulates itself which apparently means it won't run if it doesn't need to. The Rutland 914i ($1075 @ emarine) seems to be a tried-and-tested relatively quiet turbine for lower wind speeds but is only sold with a PWM controller and doesn't output much more than 100W.
Here is a wonderful quantitative breakdown of various turbines and their power VS noise output.
And then you have to get a tower pole and hardware kit for $550. And wiring, fuses, etc. There are some very nice looking solar+wind kits organized around the e20 controller and polycrystalline with all mounting hardware for $2500-$3000 emarine. That's a lot of dough.
So there is a ton of variables in the hardware alone, and multiplied by your individual power needs it is a bit of a rats nest. I would love to hear about others' setups and experiences regardless of their power needs, and especially noise, maintenance, what you think about the quality of the brands that you chose.
Cheers.