SmarketBuy Wind Turbine 1200W DC 12V Wind Turbine Generator with 5 Blades Wind Turbine Kit for Homes Energy Supplementation

I'd been waiting for a good price on wind turbines, and this one was about $100 less than all the competition so I figured that was worth the gamble. It's been an education in wind power! It says it has a low start up speed of about 6 mph. I've found that to be true for the most part, with a margin of error 1 mph, it usually starts around 7 or so mph. The power kicks on around 9 or 10 mph, tested got 14.7V which is a good standard charging level for 12V batteries. Thing is, 6 or 7 mph is fairly breezy conditions, so we don't have 'em that often :D Also, the charge controller initiates a 'brake' if the turbine spins fast for about 10 seconds, as online videos indicate this is to keep the turbine from going wild and self-destructing. So you get this pulsing 14.7V for ten seconds, then 0V for 5 seconds, then the brake comes off and it spins again. I'd much prefer if there was a governor instead of a brake, to maintain a steady limited top spin speed, rather than stop and go. It Should Be Noted: I have not tested this with a LOAD yet, and perhaps the controller WILL maintain a steady top speed with a load connected. I will update this review if/when I try that. One more thing to mention, the instruction sheet I got was for a slightly different model, and the sheet states that models will vary, but there was basically enough information to do the assembly. You WILL need to engineer a way to attach this to a standing structure/mount. They give you a mounting plate, but what you mount that on is up to you... this seems to apply to most turbine systems, so it's not unique to this one. All in all, the product seems to do all that it advertised, at a pretty good value.

Unless you live in a windy country that has 50 mile an hour wind steady this turbine uses more electricity than it puts out. It drains my battery down more than charge it rendering it useless! I give it two thumbs down 👎👎

Some practical feedback: 1. The unit does generated power. On winds of 8-10 knots you get 3-4 Amps at 12V = 48W. I tested it at 20-25 knots and got 8-10 Amps at 12V = 120W. This is no where near the max 1200W advertised and I expect the unit would self destruct if you ever had sufficient wind to get close to that rating. 2. The blades are made of plastic and not fiberglass or carbon fiber so the shape of each blade is not consistent. This causes some vibration and a whistling sound making it a very noisy unit. At 20-25 knots it sounds like a chopper is about to land. 3. The assembly instructions are for another unit and provide a few pictures sufficient to assemble the head. There are no wiring or safety or mounting instructions. 4. The leads from the head are very short 6 inches. (Not the long lead as per the instructions) You either need to extend them or mount the controller supplied just under the head which I did. 5. The head mounting bolts supplied look like stainless steel but start to rust after two weeks. 6. There is an internal rattling sound from the head that I initially attributed to me not tightening the hub tight enough onto the shaft, but once I purchased the correct size hex Allen key (10mm) required and tightened it the internal rattle remains. Summary: I did not expect the wattage advertised from the unit and the power wind ratio is consistent at the lower end with a graph I got for another more expensive brand. I think my biggest disappointment is the whistling and rattling noise as well as the poor quality of the bland shape. The video is at 8 knots of wind generating about 1.5A at 12V.

Works great for the price it is

It says 12 V 1200 W. The 1200 W might be for 24 V. But it’s barely 600 for 12 V. I have it up about 30 foot in the open the wind speeds range from 10 to 40 miles an hour. Obviously at lower wind speeds you don’t get as much power but 40 miles an hour. It should push out its max. That being said it does work.