Wind Turbine FAQs

- Start with two questions: how much wind your site actually gets, and how much room you have.
- Vertical turbines (the X-300, H1000 and H2000) start turning at 2 to 2.5 m/s and take wind from any direction, so they keep working where the wind swirls and shifts — around buildings, trees and rooflines. They run from 300 W up to 2000 W.
- Horizontal turbines (M-400, M-600, M-800, and the L1, L2 and G series) want cleaner, steadier wind and a clear run at it. In clean, steady wind a horizontal of the same rating is usually the better harvester, and they scale further — 400 W up to 5000 W.
- Match the turbine to your battery bank, not to the biggest number. 12 V suits a camper, 4WD or tinnie; 24 V a van, cabin or boat; 48 V a shed or remote block.
1. The largest models run at mains voltage, and the L2-3000, G-3000 and G-5000 are ground-mount only — they need a 10–15 m mast and are not rooftop units.
2. Rated power is measured at 10–14 m/s, depending on the model. What you get at your place depends on your wind, your mast height and the season — not on a number on our website.
1. No. Wind turbines generate "wild" 3-phase AC power that changes voltage constantly with the wind speed.
2. Connecting it directly to a battery or a standard solar inverter will destroy your equipment.
- You must wire the turbine into a dedicated wind charge controller (pure-wind or wind-solar hybrid) with a dump-load resistor.
- The controller converts the power to stable DC to charge your batteries safely.
Match the turbine and its controller to the voltage of your existing battery bank:
- 12 V: compact mobile setups — caravans, 4WDs and camper trailers.
- 24 V: medium setups — off-grid sheds, cabins and motorhomes.
- 48 V: most of this range, and the sensible choice for a full off-grid system. Higher voltage means less current in the cable, so less loss over a long run and lighter cable.
- When your battery bank is fully charged it stops accepting power.
1. If a storm hits at night with the batteries full, a turbine with nowhere to send its power will free-spin out of control and can physically fly apart.
- The controller prevents that by diverting the excess into the dump load resistor, which burns it off safely as heat and acts as an electronic brake to slow the turbine down.
- Yes, you need one.
- Usually quieter, but not silent — no turbine is.
- Why a Horizontal is Louder: its blade tips travel several times faster than the wind, and blade noise climbs steeply with tip speed. The whoosh rises and falls as each blade comes round — a rhythmic swish that carries through wind noise more than a steady hiss does.
- Why a Vertical is Usually Quieter: its blades turn more slowly, so there is less of that whoosh.
1. What we won't Tell you: that it's silent. Every turbine gets louder as the wind picks up. The wind often covers much of it in a strong blow, but a close neighbour can still hear one in light to moderate wind.
2. The manufacturer publishes no noise figure for the turbines themselves (the "65 dB or less" on some Specs tabs is the controller's), so we don't quote one.
- On a building, use vibration isolators — a turbine bolted to a structure carries its sound into the rooms — and check your council's rules on noise, height and placement before you order a mast.
- It will turn, but turning is not charging. The blades start turning at 2 to 2.5 m/s (about 7 to 9 km/h) — a light breeze.
- Charging starts at the cut-in speed: 3 m/s (about 11 km/h) on every model except the X-300, which starts and charges from 2 m/s. Output then climbs steeply with wind speed.
1. The rated figure is measured much higher — 10 to 14 m/s depending on the model, a 36 to 50 km/h wind, not a normal afternoon. Each product page's spec table gives that model's own numbers.
- A gentle breeze keeps the turbine ticking over; it takes real wind to push real power into your batteries. Every horizontal model has its measured power curve published on its product page — work from that, not from the number in the product name.
- No — small turbines are built to spin fast. The smaller the rotor, the faster it has to turn to keep its blade tips up with the wind: the M-400's 1.35 m rotor runs at about 800 rpm, the M-600 and M-800 at about 500, the big G-series at 300.
- In the manufacturer's words, the high rpm is a design necessity, not a defect. A slower generator would need a bigger stator and more magnets and copper — heavier and dearer.
- They start turning at 2 to 2.5 m/s and make power right across the wind range — just less when the wind is light. What you get depends on your site and how high you mount it.
- Yes — connect the turbine to a battery bank first, through a dedicated charge controller.
1. Never straight to an inverter. Connecting a wind turbine directly to a standard inverter will damage the equipment or cause the system to fail.
The Correct Order:
- 1. Wind Turbine — generates wild, fluctuating 3-phase AC as the wind changes.
- 2. Hybrid or Wind Charge Controller — converts it to steady DC, and protects the turbine from over-speeding with an electronic brake.
- 3. Battery Bank (12 V, 24 V or 48 V) — absorbs the gusts and provides a steady source of energy.
- 4. Off-Grid Inverter — connects to the battery, converting stored DC into AC for your appliances.
Why you Cannot Skip the Battery:
1. Unstable Voltage: wind changes second by second. Without a battery to smooth it out, a direct-connected inverter would constantly cut out.
2. Turbine Damage: when a battery is full or disconnected, the turbine loses its load. Without that resistance the blades can spin out of control in high wind and destroy the unit. The controller uses the battery connection to dump excess power and slow it down.
1. This turbine generates 3-phase AC power and cannot be connected directly to a battery, a solar controller or a home inverter.
- It must run through a dedicated wind charge controller (pure-wind or wind-solar hybrid) with a dump-load resistor. The dump load stops the turbine over-speeding and destroying itself in high winds once your batteries are full.
- Installation and commissioning must be carried out by a suitably qualified and licensed electrician.
- Cable, breakers, isolators and all protective devices are selected to suit your site and are the electrician's call, not ours.
It is almost always one of three installation issues. Check them in order.
Quick Checks — Tick as You Go
- Is the Meter Set to AC Volts (V~)?
- Does it Spin Freely Once Disconnected from the Controller?
- Is the Cable from the Mast Heavy Enough for the Run?
1. The Multimeter is Set to DC — The Most Common Mistake.
1. Measuring the three turbine wires with the meter set to DC volts gives a false reading near zero.
- Wind turbines generate 3-phase AC directly from the stator. Switch the meter to AC volts (V~).
2. The Turbine is Stalling Because of a Short.
1. The blades turn heavily and slowly, or lock up: if any of the three AC output wires touch each other, or the controller's braking diodes have short-circuited, it acts as a magnetic brake — the turbine can never spin fast enough to build voltage.
- Disconnect the turbine from the controller. If it frees up and spins much faster, the problem is a short in the wiring or a faulty controller.
3. Voltage Drop from Thin Cable.
1. Thin solar or automotive cable over 20 metres or more loses the power as heat before it reaches the controller.
- Use heavy cable between the mast and the controller on long runs — minimum 8 AWG, ideally 6 AWG. Final sizing is your electrician's call.
- The number in the name is a peak rating, not a promise.
- A turbine's rated output is measured at a specific wind speed — 10 to 14 m/s depending on the model, which is about 36 to 50 km/h — and most sites see far less than that most of the time.
- Your display shows what the wind is delivering right now, so it will sit well below the rated figure and move second by second as the wind changes. That is physics, not a fault.
- As an example, the L2-2500 is rated 2,500 W at 11 m/s. On a decent steady coastal breeze of 7 m/s the manufacturer's own curve gives about 813 W. That is why we publish the full power curve on every horizontal turbine's product page.
- Where these machines earn their keep is time: they keep charging through the night and through the weather that shuts solar down.
1. If the display shows 0 W while the blades are spinning, that is a different problem — see the 0 W question.
- Not necessarily — this is one of the most common questions we get, and it is rarely a faulty unit.
- It is usually a quick settings check, or (on a first-time install) how the wiring and start-up sequence were done.
- See our full Wind Turbine 0W Troubleshooting Guide for the complete walkthrough, or the Set-Up Guide — or contact us and we will help you sort it out.
- Wire your bus bar and breakers before and after the controller, then power up in the right order. Getting the sequence right prevents almost all wiring issues, including the common "spinning but 0 W" problem.
- Fit a breaker before the controller (turbine/solar side) and after it (battery side), landing on a DC bus bar.
- Keep the turbine-to-controller cable run to 2–10 metres to limit voltage drop.
- Power up in this order: battery breaker first, then solar, then wind turbine last.
- See our full How to Install & Start Up guide for the complete step-by-step walkthrough and wiring diagram.

PV Solar Photovoltaic Disconnect Switch Isolator

$79.00 AUD

Configuration

Isolator Switch 1PV 2PV

Delivering Outside Australia or New Zealand? Delivery is free. Import duty, customs charges and any tax on arrival are set by your country and are payable by you — we can’t collect them for you.

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Solar does Not Stop Just Because you Want it to.

A panel in daylight is live. There is no off switch on it, and you cannot safely break a DC circuit with an ordinary AC switch — DC arcs and keeps arcing, where AC self-extinguishes a hundred times a second. That is the whole reason a dedicated DC isolator exists, and why an underrated switch in a solar string is a fire waiting for a sunny day.

This is a proper DC isolator: the DIY GO DGDS-32, 32A and four pole. The 1PV and 2PV options come in an IP66 box with MC4 connectors fitted; the Isolator Switch option is the bare switch for a DIN rail inside your own enclosure. Turn the knob and the string is broken, so you can work on a controller, an inverter or a junction box without the array still feeding it.

It is a switch, not a fuse. An isolator disconnects on purpose, when you turn it. It does not trip on overcurrent, so it does not replace fusing or breakers — it sits alongside them.

What it Solves

Work on the Controller Without the Array Live: break the string at the isolator first, and what you are holding is dead instead of carrying a few hundred volts.
Shut Down Fast in an Emergency: one knob, and the solar side is isolated. A visible, obvious switch is what you want when something is smoking.
Stop Using the Wrong Switch: an AC-rated switch in a DC string will arc across the contacts and weld or burn. This one is a DC switch, and the maker lists it to IEC 60947-3, the standard for switch disconnectors.
Leave it Outside & Forget it: The boxed options are IP66, and the maker lists −40°C to +85°C, so it copes with a WA summer on a north wall or a winter on a boat.
Isolate the RV or the Boat at the Panel: wall mounted, so it goes where you can reach it rather than buried behind the batteries.

Key Features

Voltage — Read This: the maker’s own figures do not agree. The listing titles say 1200V DC, the parameter table prints a maximum of 1500V DC, and one listing gives 750V. The nameplate rates it differently for each way the poles are wired. Size your string to 750V or less unless your electrician confirms more from the nameplate on the unit you receive.
32A Rated Current: suits typical residential and small commercial PV strings.
Four Pole: on the 1PV box all four poles work on one string, two in series on each conductor, which is how DC switching capacity is built up. The 2PV box splits the four poles between two strings.
IP66 Housing: on the 1PV and 2PV boxes, marked on the front: dust tight and rated against powerful water jets. The DIN-rail Isolator Switch has no box and no IP rating of its own.
Brass & Silver Contacts: as the maker shows them in its own close-up of the switch body.
Lock it Off: push the handle and a hole shows for a padlock, so nobody turns the array back on while you work.
IEC 60947-3: the standard for a switch disconnector, as the maker lists it and prints it on the box lid. We hold no certificate for it ourselves.
−40°C to +85°C: alpine cold through to a tin roof in February.
Delivery: Free Standard Delivery, 5 to 10 working days from the day you order. Allow 1–2 days for fulfilment. Regional and remote addresses can take longer.

Where This Fits

The isolator goes on the solar side, between the array and whatever it feeds. Here is the whole picture:

Off-grid wiring layout showing a vertical axis wind turbine and solar panel into a hybrid MPPT controller, with dump load, main battery circuit breaker, DC bus bar, 48V battery bank and inverter

Hybrid MPPT Controllers: the isolator lets you disconnect the solar input before you touch a controller. Check the controller's maximum PV input voltage before you size a string.
Breakers, Bus Bars, Cable & Lugs: an isolator switches, it does not protect. You still need fusing and breakers on the circuit.
Wind Turbines: if solar alone is not covering you, a turbine charges overnight and through weather when panels cannot.

Every input and output wants a breaker or isolator on it, so you can safely shut down and isolate before you touch anything. Solar work in particular needs a licensed electrician in Australia — and keep the invoice, because our warranty on electrical items asks for proof of professional installation.

Q & A

Can I Use a Normal AC Isolator Instead?
No, and this is the important one. DC does not cross zero volts the way AC does, so an arc drawn across opening contacts keeps burning instead of self-extinguishing. An AC-rated switch in a DC string can weld shut or catch fire. Use a switch made for DC. This one is listed by its maker to IEC 60947-3.

Why Four Poles for Two Wires?
On the 1PV box, because DC switching capacity comes from putting poles in series: two poles per conductor stretch and break the arc over a longer gap. On the 2PV box the four poles are shared between two strings, one pole per conductor.

Does it Protect Against Overcurrent?
No. An isolator is a switch you operate deliberately. It does not trip on a fault. You still need fuses or breakers sized to the string.

What Voltage can it Take?
We can’t promise 1200V: the maker gives 750V, 1200V and 1500V in different places, so plan on 750V or less unless your electrician reads a higher rating off the nameplate for the way it is wired. Remember that panel open-circuit voltage rises as temperature falls, so size against the coldest morning you get, not the average. Add your panels' Voc, apply the temperature coefficient, and stay well inside the rating.

Can I Mount it Outside?
The 1PV and 2PV boxes, yes: they are marked IP66, which is dust tight and rated against powerful water jets, and the maker lists −40°C to +85°C. The DIN-rail Isolator Switch must go inside an enclosure. Mount it where you can reach it in a hurry — the point of an isolator is being able to get to it.

What are the Three Options?
Isolator Switch is the bare 4 pole switch with screw terminals, for a DIN rail inside a box you supply. 1PV is a switch in an IP66 box for one string: one MC4 pair in on top, one out underneath. 2PV is the box for two strings, with two inputs and two outputs on the sides.

Can I Install it Myself?
Solar installation work in Australia requires a licensed electrician. Beyond the legal position, this is a part whose job is to make things safe — fitted wrong it gives false confidence. Get a sparky, and keep the invoice for warranty.

Specs

Product Type	DC Switch Disconnector (PV Isolator), Model DGDS-32
Brand	DIY GO
Rated Current	32A
Rated Voltage	Not Settled by the Maker: 1200V DC in the listing titles, max 1500V DC in its parameter table, 750V in one listing — plan on 750V or less
Poles	4P
Standard	IEC 60947-3, as listed by the maker; the 1PV and 2PV box lids also print AS60947.3 and DC-PV2
Ingress Protection	IP66 on the 1PV and 2PV boxes; none stated for the bare DIN-rail switch
Housing Material	Not Specified by Supplier
Conductor Material	Brass & silver contacts, as the maker shows them
Operating Temperature	−40°C to +85°C
Installation	1PV and 2PV: wall mounted box. Isolator Switch: DIN rail
Options	Isolator Switch, 1PV, 2PV
Overcurrent Protection	None — this is a switch, not a fuse or breaker
Dimensions	1PV and 2PV box: 158 × 105 × 110 mm (maker’s drawing). DIN-rail switch: 94.9 × 60.2 mm face, 84.5 mm deep
Weight	Not Specified by Supplier

Watch Me

No video on this one. If you are wiring an off-grid system, these two guides cover the sequence and the hazards:

How to install and start up a wind turbine — the correct order of connection, and the two shock hazards to know first.
Wind turbine spinning but showing 0W — nearly always wiring or setup rather than faulty gear.

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Wind Turbine FAQs

- Start with two questions: how much wind your site actually gets, and how much room you have.
- Vertical turbines (the X-300, H1000 and H2000) start turning at 2 to 2.5 m/s and take wind from any direction, so they keep working where the wind swirls and shifts — around buildings, trees and rooflines. They run from 300 W up to 2000 W.
- Horizontal turbines (M-400, M-600, M-800, and the L1, L2 and G series) want cleaner, steadier wind and a clear run at it. In clean, steady wind a horizontal of the same rating is usually the better harvester, and they scale further — 400 W up to 5000 W.
- Match the turbine to your battery bank, not to the biggest number. 12 V suits a camper, 4WD or tinnie; 24 V a van, cabin or boat; 48 V a shed or remote block.
1. The largest models run at mains voltage, and the L2-3000, G-3000 and G-5000 are ground-mount only — they need a 10–15 m mast and are not rooftop units.
2. Rated power is measured at 10–14 m/s, depending on the model. What you get at your place depends on your wind, your mast height and the season — not on a number on our website.
1. No. Wind turbines generate "wild" 3-phase AC power that changes voltage constantly with the wind speed.
2. Connecting it directly to a battery or a standard solar inverter will destroy your equipment.
- You must wire the turbine into a dedicated wind charge controller (pure-wind or wind-solar hybrid) with a dump-load resistor.
- The controller converts the power to stable DC to charge your batteries safely.
Match the turbine and its controller to the voltage of your existing battery bank:
- 12 V: compact mobile setups — caravans, 4WDs and camper trailers.
- 24 V: medium setups — off-grid sheds, cabins and motorhomes.
- 48 V: most of this range, and the sensible choice for a full off-grid system. Higher voltage means less current in the cable, so less loss over a long run and lighter cable.
- When your battery bank is fully charged it stops accepting power.
1. If a storm hits at night with the batteries full, a turbine with nowhere to send its power will free-spin out of control and can physically fly apart.
- The controller prevents that by diverting the excess into the dump load resistor, which burns it off safely as heat and acts as an electronic brake to slow the turbine down.
- Yes, you need one.
- Usually quieter, but not silent — no turbine is.
- Why a Horizontal is Louder: its blade tips travel several times faster than the wind, and blade noise climbs steeply with tip speed. The whoosh rises and falls as each blade comes round — a rhythmic swish that carries through wind noise more than a steady hiss does.
- Why a Vertical is Usually Quieter: its blades turn more slowly, so there is less of that whoosh.
1. What we won't Tell you: that it's silent. Every turbine gets louder as the wind picks up. The wind often covers much of it in a strong blow, but a close neighbour can still hear one in light to moderate wind.
2. The manufacturer publishes no noise figure for the turbines themselves (the "65 dB or less" on some Specs tabs is the controller's), so we don't quote one.
- On a building, use vibration isolators — a turbine bolted to a structure carries its sound into the rooms — and check your council's rules on noise, height and placement before you order a mast.
- It will turn, but turning is not charging. The blades start turning at 2 to 2.5 m/s (about 7 to 9 km/h) — a light breeze.
- Charging starts at the cut-in speed: 3 m/s (about 11 km/h) on every model except the X-300, which starts and charges from 2 m/s. Output then climbs steeply with wind speed.
1. The rated figure is measured much higher — 10 to 14 m/s depending on the model, a 36 to 50 km/h wind, not a normal afternoon. Each product page's spec table gives that model's own numbers.
- A gentle breeze keeps the turbine ticking over; it takes real wind to push real power into your batteries. Every horizontal model has its measured power curve published on its product page — work from that, not from the number in the product name.
- No — small turbines are built to spin fast. The smaller the rotor, the faster it has to turn to keep its blade tips up with the wind: the M-400's 1.35 m rotor runs at about 800 rpm, the M-600 and M-800 at about 500, the big G-series at 300.
- In the manufacturer's words, the high rpm is a design necessity, not a defect. A slower generator would need a bigger stator and more magnets and copper — heavier and dearer.
- They start turning at 2 to 2.5 m/s and make power right across the wind range — just less when the wind is light. What you get depends on your site and how high you mount it.
- Yes — connect the turbine to a battery bank first, through a dedicated charge controller.
1. Never straight to an inverter. Connecting a wind turbine directly to a standard inverter will damage the equipment or cause the system to fail.
The Correct Order:
- 1. Wind Turbine — generates wild, fluctuating 3-phase AC as the wind changes.
- 2. Hybrid or Wind Charge Controller — converts it to steady DC, and protects the turbine from over-speeding with an electronic brake.
- 3. Battery Bank (12 V, 24 V or 48 V) — absorbs the gusts and provides a steady source of energy.
- 4. Off-Grid Inverter — connects to the battery, converting stored DC into AC for your appliances.
Why you Cannot Skip the Battery:
1. Unstable Voltage: wind changes second by second. Without a battery to smooth it out, a direct-connected inverter would constantly cut out.
2. Turbine Damage: when a battery is full or disconnected, the turbine loses its load. Without that resistance the blades can spin out of control in high wind and destroy the unit. The controller uses the battery connection to dump excess power and slow it down.
1. This turbine generates 3-phase AC power and cannot be connected directly to a battery, a solar controller or a home inverter.
- It must run through a dedicated wind charge controller (pure-wind or wind-solar hybrid) with a dump-load resistor. The dump load stops the turbine over-speeding and destroying itself in high winds once your batteries are full.
- Installation and commissioning must be carried out by a suitably qualified and licensed electrician.
- Cable, breakers, isolators and all protective devices are selected to suit your site and are the electrician's call, not ours.
It is almost always one of three installation issues. Check them in order.
Quick Checks — Tick as You Go
- Is the Meter Set to AC Volts (V~)?
- Does it Spin Freely Once Disconnected from the Controller?
- Is the Cable from the Mast Heavy Enough for the Run?
1. The Multimeter is Set to DC — The Most Common Mistake.
1. Measuring the three turbine wires with the meter set to DC volts gives a false reading near zero.
- Wind turbines generate 3-phase AC directly from the stator. Switch the meter to AC volts (V~).
2. The Turbine is Stalling Because of a Short.
1. The blades turn heavily and slowly, or lock up: if any of the three AC output wires touch each other, or the controller's braking diodes have short-circuited, it acts as a magnetic brake — the turbine can never spin fast enough to build voltage.
- Disconnect the turbine from the controller. If it frees up and spins much faster, the problem is a short in the wiring or a faulty controller.
3. Voltage Drop from Thin Cable.
1. Thin solar or automotive cable over 20 metres or more loses the power as heat before it reaches the controller.
- Use heavy cable between the mast and the controller on long runs — minimum 8 AWG, ideally 6 AWG. Final sizing is your electrician's call.
- The number in the name is a peak rating, not a promise.
- A turbine's rated output is measured at a specific wind speed — 10 to 14 m/s depending on the model, which is about 36 to 50 km/h — and most sites see far less than that most of the time.
- Your display shows what the wind is delivering right now, so it will sit well below the rated figure and move second by second as the wind changes. That is physics, not a fault.
- As an example, the L2-2500 is rated 2,500 W at 11 m/s. On a decent steady coastal breeze of 7 m/s the manufacturer's own curve gives about 813 W. That is why we publish the full power curve on every horizontal turbine's product page.
- Where these machines earn their keep is time: they keep charging through the night and through the weather that shuts solar down.
1. If the display shows 0 W while the blades are spinning, that is a different problem — see the 0 W question.
- Not necessarily — this is one of the most common questions we get, and it is rarely a faulty unit.
- It is usually a quick settings check, or (on a first-time install) how the wiring and start-up sequence were done.
- See our full Wind Turbine 0W Troubleshooting Guide for the complete walkthrough, or the Set-Up Guide — or contact us and we will help you sort it out.
- Wire your bus bar and breakers before and after the controller, then power up in the right order. Getting the sequence right prevents almost all wiring issues, including the common "spinning but 0 W" problem.
- Fit a breaker before the controller (turbine/solar side) and after it (battery side), landing on a DC bus bar.
- Keep the turbine-to-controller cable run to 2–10 metres to limit voltage drop.
- Power up in this order: battery breaker first, then solar, then wind turbine last.
- See our full How to Install & Start Up guide for the complete step-by-step walkthrough and wiring diagram.