The first link gives the interview and includes the output. There is no controller. It states the charge is too low to damage the batteries. Here are the quotes on that:
"TCM: The Windwalker 150 generates 5 amps with 6.5 to 35 mph wind. The Windwalker 250 generates 8.5 amps with 8 to 30 mph wind. How do you monitor the charge?"
"Jack: The Windwalkers are designed to be wired directly to your batteries, like a trickle charger. You could connect the leads from the wind generator to a tester to see the charge. I use a weather station mounted on the wind generator mast that tells me the wind speed."
And now for Holly's two cents worth. I absolutely LOVE alternate energy solutions, however, mounting a wind generator to a building or camper causes all the vibration and noise to be channeled right through the unit. I've spoken with a guy that makes his living doing these things and he said he would NEVER attach a wind generator to his home again or even have it within 30 feet of the house due to noise. Contrary to the statements in the article, wind at 14-15 feet is NOT clean and undisturbed. It is swirling around the hills, the trees, the camping units. These wind generators have very specific wind speeds for "optimal" output so if you are not getting STEADY wind at those speeds, you will see little energy gain. The article states that the units have to be pulled down if wind or gusts go over 35 mph or your motor is toast so there is no built-in break-away to protect the unit like they have on big wind generators. And last but not least, the argument that these work better than solar panels because they pull in power day and night; unless there is a storm, night is the quiet time for wind. Once the air has settled after the sun goes down, there is little wind movement, certainly not enough to steadily power a wind generator. Besides reading this in many books, I have experienced it while sweltering in hot tents at night.
I'm not saying you won't get some power. I'm just saying there are a lot of drawbacks to consider. Personally, I'm planning on solar with proper controllers for when we return to the road. We'll just deal with the added weight by ditching more stuff we thought we'd use - but don't. You ALL know what I'm talking about there.
For those interested in alternate energy, I recommend hitting the Solar Decathlon if you have the chance. We were regular attendees up until they yanked it out of DC and moved it to California and other venues with actual sun... go figure. The 2017 decathlon is in Denver
http://www.solardecathlon.gov/ next October.
If we get free of this area in time we might have to hit the PC Rally in Oregon in September then slide on down to Denver for the decathlon in October. Just to clarify, the decathlon is a competition where ten college teams build energy efficient houses, not RV's but you can see all kinds of creative ways to live small and be energy efficient and some of those can transfer over to an RV. Besides, I love this stuff. When we finally quit the road our plan is to buy or build the most energy efficient house we can come up with so that our money is used for playtime and is not sucked down the black hole of utility bills. If Dan Chiras could live comfortably at 8,000 ft up in the Colorado Rockies with total utility bills of under $50/month (with half of that the delivery fee for propane), so can I. I just need an extra carport or shed for the PC.
