Hi,
I am trying to figure out how I can make a regulator for a small wind turbine. The output is to charge 12V lead acid batteries.
The turbine outputs from 0-110V - (usually around 20-30V). The normal approach is to regulate to 13.8V, and dump the excess voltage through a shunt resistor. However this seems very wasteful, and I was wondering if there is a way of converting the excess voltage to current?
A long winded way would be to convert the input to a simple square wave, and pass it through one of set of transformers, which is automaticaly selected based on the input voltage. So T1 could deal with voltages 20-30V, T2 30-50V, T3 50-80V... Then rectify and regulate the output to 13.8V. As I say, long winded! And there has to be a better way!
Ideas?