Thinking of adding a small wind turbine alongside my solar — anyone done this on a cabin?

I've got a 400W solar setup on my cabin roof (2x 200W panels, Victron MPPT 75/15, 200Ah AGM bank) and it does the job well enough from April through September. But the winters up here in the Scottish Borders are grim for solar — we're talking days on end with barely 0.5kWh coming in, and I'm burning through the bank fast just running lights, a 12V fridge, and charging laptops.

I've been looking at small wind turbines as a way to plug that gap, since we do get decent wind from October through March — regularly gusting 20-30mph and occasionally a lot more. The ones I keep coming back to are the Eclectic Energy D400 and the Rutland 1200, both of which seem popular for small off-grid installs. The D400 is rated at 400W but I know real-world figures are a lot more modest. Has anyone actually measured their output over a winter month with one of these?

The main things I'm trying to work out are: how high does the mast realistically need to be to get clean air away from turbulence off the cabin and surrounding trees, and can these turbines dump charge into the same AGM bank via a separate controller without causing any headaches with the Victron? Any gotchas I should know about before I start spending money?

LouiseJames | 847 posts

@EdStewart Scotland is honestly one of the best places in the UK to add a small wind turbine — you've got the resource for it! The real beauty of wind/solar hybrid is that they genuinely complement each other seasonally. When your panels are struggling in December, that's exactly when you're getting those Atlantic storms rolling through.

A few practical things worth thinking about though — your Victron MPPT won't handle wind input directly. You'll need a separate wind charge controller, and make sure whatever turbine you go for has a proper dump load/diversion system built in. Never leave a turbine unloaded.

What's your mounting situation like? Freestanding mast is preferable to any structure-mounted option for vibration reasons. What's the cabin construction?

Foggy | 1,203 posts

@EdStewart Great timing on this — wind really does complement solar brilliantly in Scotland, particularly because your worst solar months tend to coincide with your windiest. Worth noting though that small turbines (sub-1kW) are often oversold on their output figures. Manufacturers quote peak ratings in ideal conditions, so a "400W" turbine might realistically average far less. Check the power curve carefully and look at actual wind speed data for your specific location — the Met Office has decent historical data, and some folk use an anemometer for a season before committing. Also factor in the noise and vibration if the cabin's nearby; mounting matters enormously. What's your average monthly consumption looking like over winter? That'll help work out whether turbine output would actually make a meaningful dent. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿