dump load resistance
Dump Load and Diversion Loads for Wind Energy Systems Article March 16, 2024 at 11:23 am 2024-03-16T11:23:23-04:00
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Dump Load

Dump and Diversion Loads

wind energy iconA Dump Load, also known as a diversion load or dummy load, is commonly used in wind and small or microhydro systems to “divert” (hence its name) excess power when the batteries are full in an off-grid system as any excess electrical power generated has no other place to go.

The function of any solar charge controller is to regulate and control the charging of a battery, or batteries, in order to prevent them from overcharging and becoming damaged. The charge controller should disconnect the charging current flow coming from a solar, wind, or hydro power generating device and divert any excess energy to an externally connected secondary connected load, such as a resistance or water heating element. Then basically, a dump load is where the extra unwanted power is sent.

Why is a Dump Load Necessary

Well, with a photovoltaic solar system, when the storage batteries are fully charged, the charge controller can simply disconnect the PV panels preventing any further charging current from damaging the batteries. Another reason to take note of a photovoltaic panels open-circuit voltage, VOC value.

dump load resistance
Dump Load Resistance

However, wind turbine generators (WTG), either vertical or horizontal, are designed to operate under certain load conditions. So for a stand-alone off-grid wind generator (or a hydro generator), there needs to be some method of controlling the speed of the electrical machine if the batteries are full and the wind continues to blow. As an electrically connected load keeps the wind turbine generator within its designed operating range.

If a wind turbine generator, (WTG) is allowed to rotate in the wind with the batteries disconnected, it will start spinning at very high speeds because it is operating without any connected load to act as an electrical brake. This overspeed condition can cause mechanical damage to the turbine as it could potentially self destruct.

Also, if the charge controller then decides to reconnect the wind turbine to the batteries once again while it is rotating at high speed, a mechanical shock to the wind turbine can occur due to the sudden decrease in rotational speed. Thus wind turbines are designed to operate under load conditions.

There are three common methods for controlling the rotational speed of a wind turbine generator. (1), mechanically spilling wind from the blades by changing their pitch angle. (2), use a mechanical brake to stop the turbines rotation at high speeds. Or (3), use some kind of electrical load in the form of a dump load to act as an electrical brake. Clearly, No3 is the cheaper option.

For a small off-grid stand-alone generating system, the generated power is subject to the availability of the source, either wind or water. Thus, any variation in power demand by the user or batteries must be controlled by the charge controller using a resistive load. Then a dump load or diversion load is nothing more than an electrical resistive element that is correctly sized to handle the full generating capacity of a wind (or hydro) energy system.

How Does A Dump Load Work

As stated previously, in a wind energy system, turbine generators are commonly used to charge batteries or feed the electrical energy back into the utility grid. A dump load charge controller is basically a solid-state voltage sensing device which constantly monitors the terminal voltage of a battery or connected battery bank to determine its state of charge level.

For a single 12.7 volt deep cycle battery, when its terminal voltage reaches approximately 14.4 volts, it is considered “fully charged” so the charge controller senses this voltage level and disconnects the wind turbine preventing overcharging and damage. At the same time, the charge controller switches the wind turbine’s output power to the dump load connected to it which keeps the wind turbine generator rotating at a constant rotational speed.

Now once the battery bank’s voltage drops a below 12 volts (about 50% capacity), the charge controller senses this also and reconnects the output supply from the wind turbine generator back to charging the battery. This connecting, disconnecting cycle of both the battery and dump load is repeated as required preventing the battery from overcharging and maintaining the turbine generator is always operating under load.

Note that batteryless grid-tied systems (wind or hydro) will use the connected grid as their dump load, sending all the excess energy back into the utility’s grid. For off-grid hydro or micro-hydro turbines, they will still require the means to dump excess energy when the batteries are full or the household loads are reduced.

Calculating The Resistive Value

Now that we know that a resistive dump or diversion load is used to convert excess electrical energy into a more useful form of energy, commonly heat. Let’s now look at calculating the resistive value required for a dump load resistance, or an equivalent water heating element.

Let’s assume for our simple example that we are interested in buying the YeaMarine Wind Turbine Generator from Amazon to charge a number of batteries connected together to create a 12 volt battery bank. What value dump load will we need for this turbine.

Ohm’s Law tells us that electrical power is equal to voltage times amperage. That is: P = V x I. The specifications of the selected wind turbine from YeaMarine tells us that it has a 12 volt, 400 watt generator. So this would be ideal to charge our 12 volt connected battery bank at 14.4 volts.

The dump load must be capable of dumping the maximum power available from the wind turbine. The maximum voltage of our battery bank is roughly the voltage of a fully charged 12 volt battery which is 14.4 volts. The amps is the electric current produced by the YeaMarine Turbine at full speed which is:

Amps = Power/Volts = P/V = 400/14.4 = 27.8 Amperes

Then the resistive dump load needs to be large enough to carry the full output current of 27.8 amperes from the turbine, but not so large as to exceed the current carrying capacity of the turbine generator or charge controller.

So for this example, we will use an uxcell Fixed Type 100W Watt 2 Ohm 2R Tubular Wire Wound Resistor, again from Amazon as our selected dump load resistor. This fixed value resistor has a power rating of 100 watts and a resistance rating of 2.0 ohms. Using Ohm’s Law again, we can calculate how much current this resistor will safely pass.

Amps = Volts/Resistance = V/R = 14.4/2 = 7.2 Amperes

Therefore, 7.2 amperes will flow through one of these dump load resistors. However, our dump load system needs to be capable of passing 27.8 amperes, so we need to wire or connect these 100 Watt dump load resistors together in parallel so that the dump load current is cumulative.

Then the total current our parallel connected dump load resistors needs to consume is equal to: 27.8/7.2 = 3.9 resistors. Therefore, we need to wire four of these Uxcell 2.0 Ohm wirewound resistors in parallel to give us the required 400 Watts of dump load capacity.

Dump Load Circuit

dump load circuit

Just to confirm, four 2.0 Ohm resistors in parallel will give a combined resistance of: 1/(2-1 + 2-1 + 2-1 + 2-1) = 0.5 Ohms. As electrical power is equal to I2*R, then 27.82 x 0.5 = 386 watts, and within our 400 watt limit. Then the same process of calculating the number of resistive elements required can be used for any wind turbine and battery bank system.

Dump or diversion loads are a convenient way to divert or shunt excess electrical energy that could otherwise damage a renewable energy system once the batteries are full. Then anything that has a resistive element is great as a dump load as they can take a lot of electric power. But as well as large wattage resistances, immersion elements in hot water tanks also make useful dump loads.

Water Heating Element Diversion Load

Resistive dump loads are simple and easy to design but are also somewhat wasteful as they take the excess electricity and convert it into heat which is then dissipated into the surrounding air. Another more useful option is to use the excess electricity to heat water.

Using an ordinary electric water tank, the regular AC powered heating element can be replaced with a special DC (direct current) heating element. Excess power diverted by the charge controller warms the water in the tank, thereby reducing the AC grid power you use.

Water Heating Element

dump load heating element

DC water heating is a relatively new idea as an off-grid way to heat water using hydro or wind power. Insulated water tanks and old electric storage heaters can be used as pre-heating tanks with 12, 24 or 48 volt DC elements as dump loads up to several kilowatts of power.

But any electrical resistance water heater used as a dump load must be electrically sized to handle the full generating capacity of the wind, or microhydro turbine to keep the turbine fully loaded all the time and keep the combined load consistent.

After all, the fewer electrical loads that are turned on in the home, the more the dump load will be switched “ON” as any variation in power demand is controlled by the resistive dump load element dispersing it as heat. After all, who doesn’t need hot water sometimes.

Dump Load Tutorial Summary

We have seen here in this tutorial that dump or diversion loads provide a place for excess electrical power to be dumped or diverted away once the batteries are fully charged in an off-grid system. Dump loads such as power resistances, electric water heaters or hot air heaters dissipate any excess power generated by wind or hydro generators otherwise it has no place to go.

In a batteryless grid connected or grid-tied system, the load is the utility grid so is always connected. But for a battery-based solar system charge controllers are required to regulate the charging of the storage batteries. When a photovoltaic panel or array is disconnected from a battery bank or load, it just sits there in the sun not generating power. However, for wind or microhydro turbines their rotational speed may increase to the point that they self-destruct or create overvoltage conditions.

Dump or diversion loads can prevent a wind or hydro generator from spinning too fast once the batteries are fully charged due to the charge controller disconnecting the electrical generator from the attached load. Dump or diversion load control by the charge controller always keeps the generating turbine electrically loaded, which in turn controls the turbine’s rotational speed.

To learn more about how Dump Loads are used with wind turbine generators or ever wondered how wind turbines work and why they look like they do. Or are you interested in adding wind power to your existing off-grid electric system. Or maybe you just want to explore the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy and wind power and how you could use it to power your home, then Click Here to get your copy of one of the top “Hands-On Guide to Harnessing Wind Power” direct from Amazon today.

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19 Comments already about “Dump Load

  • Can you simply hook a DC hot water heating element into a full bucket of water (like a metal trash can with a lid) to use it as a dump load for wind power? As long as you keep water at all times over the heating element.

    • As explained in the tutorial, dump or diversion loads usually consist of an electrical resistive element used to heat air or water. They are regulated by the charge controllers, to divert or shunt away excess or unwanted electrical energy as a result of variations in power demand. The type of water heating system used by a dump load can be any sized water tank, trough, container, bucket or pail, providing it contains sufficient cold water to heat.

  • Hi,
    Are dump load exposed metallic components somehow dangerous? Burns or electric shock. Does it have to be somehow shielded?

    • Depends on the type of dump load used, and the amount of electrical energy sent to it. They could become hot to touch if an open resistive load is used.

  • I have two charge controllers for solar and wind. Both came with a load dump in the shape of a cylider with a red and black wire included tough neither load dump is marked for positive or negative. are these things not polarity sensitive?? Do they work either way??

    • Dump loads are generally resistive elements whose job is to convert excess electrical energy into heat. Resistive elements are non-directional, so they can be connected either way around. If your supplied dump loads have a Red (+ve) wire and a Black (-ve) wire, then connect them accordingly to the marked terminals of your charge controllers.

      • Where would be the best mounting point for a resistive dump load unit? Inside or outside and what surface, how hot would it become.
        Thanks

        • Dump loads are resistive elements which dissipate excess electrical energy in the form of heat, due the their I2R rating, either by heating air or water. The mounting point will depend on what type of dump load you have and its construction with regards to ventilation, open or closed. Clearly, since large air type dump loads have the potential to get extremely hot, it would be wise to install them on a non-flammable surface such as a wall rather than on wooden plywood boards.

  • Hi, I have just purchased a i1500 24v turbine with the 24v controller, my batteries are 12v x7 130 ah with a 12v 2000w inverter/240 v. Can I just link up to the 12v batteries? Thank you in advance.

  • Very interesting and informative article.

    After spending the summer successfully meeting all our hot water needs with solar I’m looking for alternatives for the winter.

    My goal is to use a wind turbine to run a water heating dump load. Since there’s no intention to use the elec for anything else I’d like to avoid unnecessary cost like batteries etc but will I still need a charge controller to transform the voltage or will the dump load heater you linked on Amazon be able to handle the different voltages from a wind turbine on it’s own?

    • Stand-alone wind turbine sourced power systems are generally controlled using an electronic controller to keep the output frequency/voltage at a constant level as the turbines shaft speed fluctuates. Wind turbines are designed to be under an electrical load when operating, either a battery bank or utility grid. However, if operated with no load attached in high wind conditions, the turbine can potential self destruct due to uncontrolable rotational speeds.

      Hot air resistive-type elements and/or direct-current water heating elements are commonly used as Dump Loads, whose rating is equal to the rated power output of the turbine. Diversion charge controllers constantly monitor the state of charge of the batteries and/or the grid capacity, diverting excess energy to the dump load. The point here is that the wind turbine is already rotating at the required wind speed when the dump load is connected, and thus the turbine see’s no difference in connected load.

      If as you imply, that you want to connect a resistive element directly to the output of the turbine, then the dump load will have a braking effect (called dynamic braking) on the wind turbine generator. This can cause one of two effects: 1). At low wind speeds the turbine is unable to overcome the braking effect of a low impedance short across its output terminals and does not rotate. 2). Under high wind conditions, the dynamic braking effect can be overcome by the force of the wind sending the generated current through the low impedance dump load and back into itself burning out the stator windings. Then connecting an uncontrolled low value resistive load to the output terminals of a wind turbine generator, may not produce the required result.

  • I am concerned that a full power dump load of 0.96 ohm will act as too big a break on my 600W 24v wind turbine so that it wont begin to turn at low windspeed. Is this a problem? If so is there a way to vary the dump load automatically up or down depending on the power output of the turbine?

    • Your charge controller will determine as and when the dump load is connected to the turbine, which is generally when the battery or batteries are full. Then charging is not required so any excess energy is diverted to the load resistance. Your turbine will “see” the controller as the connected load, not the resistance.

  • Hi All
    Can I converte the dump load AC to 240v dc power to run a hot air gun or water pump ?
    Thank You

    • A dump load is commonly used in lieu of a utility grid connection to divert any excess power output to an electrical resistor, heating element or any other electrical load which is sized exactly to handle the full generating capacity of the turbine. This process can occur on either the DC side or AC side of the installtion depending on the charge controller and system configuration.

  • Today with very sunny skies my inverters all shut down from over-voltage. The dump load light was on the controller so I would like some alternative ideas for loads to dump into instead of wasting the current into resistive banks.

    • You can always use a 120 or 240 VAC electric water heating element as your dump load and they are easily available in various wattages. If for example you had a standard 240 VAC 3000 watt element, the using Ohms Law: P = V2/R, thus R = V2/P. The cold resistive value of your element would therefore be: R = 2402/3000 = 19.2 ohms (approximately)

      For a 24 volt system, this equates to: P = V2/R = 242/19.2 = 30 watts. If you double the DC voltage to 48 volts, the P = 120 watts. 4 times the power. While as a dump load it may not produce very hot water. It can be still be used to pre-heat cold water reducing your normal energy useage.

      • Hello
        I have a wind turbine generator 1000 W 48 V output, and my battery bank os 24 volts, what is the exact value of the resistor in ohm?
        Thank you

        • A dump load needs to be capable of dumping the maximum power your wind turbine generates. You state it is a 1000W machine generating 48 volts. As Ohm’s law states that: Power = Volt2/Ohms = V2/R, then R = 482/1000 = 2.3 Ohms minimum.

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