Voltage Regulator

The easiest way I think would be to charge more than one battery in parallel to adsorb the extra current when the wind blows hard. Check the water level in the cells after heavy winds. One could as an alternative, use a voltage regulator off an old car from the days when they were separate from the alternator. However, I think the way these things work is to disconnect the load when the current gets too high. This works as a disadvantage, you may not want the extra speed that could result, as it may tear the blades off. What one needs is a way to dump the load into a resistor when the speed gets too high. I think the cheapest resistor to use is 12 volt light bulbs. We need to think of the easiest way to divert the load to light bulbs when the voltage gets high. This needs to be done such as to not allow battery drain when not charging.

Offered by Mike.

I can use manual methods to regulate the voltage and switch it to various loads, when I really need the thing I will probably have plenty of time to baby sit it. I think I can use one of those wall light dimmer switches with a volt meter and set it to 12.7 volts and put a couple of diodes in line to prevent back running or motoring so as not to drain the battery set when the wind is not enough to generate. The light dimmer is a large rheostat or variable resistor. I would put it in the circuit to vary the output of the generator and view the output with a voltmeter in the circuit and just set the output where I want it when the wind is blowing to produce enough current and voltage to charge a battery.

Offered by Darrell.

You are basically planning to use a light dimmer to trickle charge the battery when the wind is not blowing. Most modern day 120 volt AC light dimmers are based (I believe) on a SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) and are not based on a high powered variable resistor. So I take it you must be talking about a dash board light dimmer out of 12 volt car.

Offered by Mike.