SX Series 5kW Wind Turbine Hybrid MPPT Controller

A rated 5kW is a peak, not what your site makes.

You are trying to size an off-grid system and every turbine on the market is sold on one number. 5kW. 3000W. 800W. That number is a peak — what the maker says it produces at the wind speed they chose to rate it at. It is not what your block makes on an ordinary Tuesday, and it is not something you can size a battery bank off.

So here is what is actually measurable on this one, and where it stops adding up. The supplier's own dimension drawing gives the rotor as 620 mm across and 900 mm tall. That is the entire area the wind passes through — a bit over half a square metre. Their power curve, printed on the same listing, shows output starting around 2 m/s, reaching 5000W at roughly 11.5 m/s, then tapering back to about 4600W from 12 m/s up.

Those two things do not reconcile, and we are not going to pretend they do. The energy in wind rises with the swept area and with the cube of the wind speed, and no rotor of any design can take more than about 59% of what passes through it — that is the Betz limit, and it is physics, not an opinion. A rotor 620 mm by 900 mm sitting in an 11.5 m/s breeze does not have anything like 5000W going through it in the first place. A separate supplier panel claims 15kWh a day, which would need that same rotor turning out more than 600 watts continuously, around the clock. And there is a simpler check we can now make. The company that makes this rotor, SMARAAD, sells it on its own website as the SX5 and rates it 2000W — not 5000W. Same 0.62 by 0.9 metre rotor, same three-phase permanent magnet generator, same 12V, 24V and 48V range on the maker's own page. We stock the 12V and 48V versions only.

So BushLine publishes no expected output for this turbine. Not a daily figure, not an hourly one, not a percentage. Real output depends on your site, your mast height and what sits upwind of you — a shed, a tree line, a hill. We have given you the supplier's rotor dimensions and told you exactly where their numbers came from. Judge it yourself, and if the numbers matter to your build, measure your wind before you spend the money.

What you are buying is a three-blade H-Type helical vertical axis turbine with a 3-phase permanent magnet generator, in 12V or 48V, on its own or with a hybrid MPPT controller that runs wind and solar through one box. Straight up: this is an assist, not a replacement. Wind covers what solar cannot — night, cloud, rain, winter — and solar covers the still days. Run them together and the year smooths out. One turbine will not carry a house on its own.

What It Solves

• Stop the evening genny run: wind blows overnight, when the panels are doing nothing. Every hour the diesel stays off is fuel you have not carted in and a service you have not done.
• Charges when solar cannot: heavy cloud, a week of rain, short winter days — that is when wind tends to pick up. The two cover each other's gaps, which is the whole argument for running both.
• Nothing to point into the wind: a vertical rotor takes air from a full 360°, so there is no tail vane and no yaw gear to seize up on a far paddock nobody visits for a fortnight.
• One box, not two: the hybrid MPPT option puts the turbine and your solar through a single unit with one display — less wiring, and one place to look when something is off.
• Measure first, buy second: put a wind anemometer up for a few weeks and you will know what your site actually does, instead of trusting anybody's power curve. Including ours.

Key Features

• Rotor size published: 620 mm across and 900 mm tall on the supplier's dimension drawing, on a DN40 mast fitting. Most listings will not give you this. Work your own numbers from it.
• Three helical blades: the maker calls this an H-Type, and the blades are twisted through their length rather than straight. No tail vane, nothing that has to swing round to face the breeze.
• 12V and 48V only: two of the supplier's images show 12V/24V/48V. We do not stock 24V — the options on this page are the ones you can buy.
• Turbine alone or with the controller: take the hybrid unit if you want wind and solar on one box, skip it if you already run a controller you are happy with.
• Resistor dump load supplied with the controller, along with the LCD display and battery leads.
• Labelled terminal strip: D+ B+ B- S+ S- U V W L+ L- D-. U, V and W are the three-phase turbine input, D is the dump load, B the battery, S the solar and L the load.
• Connection order is printed on the box: dump load and load first, then battery, solar panel and wind turbine. Read the safety note in the Q & A before you wire anything.
• 3-phase permanent magnet generator with a double bearing rather than a single.
• Cast aluminium body, stainless steel shaft and ABS nylon fibre blades.
• White only: one supplier image shows a green-bladed unit. That is not a colour you can order here.

What Else You'll Need

A turbine on a pole is only half a system. This is the gear that goes between it and your batteries, and why it matters.

• 3-pin Anderson plug: wire one in between the turbine and the controller and you can unplug the whole turbine — drop it for maintenance, swap it out, or take it off the van before you travel. Five minutes' work and you will thank yourself later.
• Bus bars: where everything lands before it reaches the battery. Properly rated 48V bus bars are genuinely hard to find — most of what is sold online is light-duty gear. There is also a 500A marine version.
• Breakers and isolators: every input and output wants a breaker or isolator on it, so you can shut down and isolate the turbine before you touch anything. That protects you, and it stops a surge damaging the turbine or the rest of your system. Also a DIN-rail mini breaker and a 100A to 300A rotary isolator.
• Cable and lugs: flexible copper cable, shielded 2 and 3 core, and a lug crimper if you are making up your own runs.

Straight up on cable sizing: it depends on your run length, your system voltage and your current, and every setup is a bit different. What we stock covers 48V systems and shorter runs well. If you are building 12V or 24V, check the sizing against your own run and talk to your sparky — we would rather you fitted the right cable than the one we happen to have on the shelf.

See the full electrical range

Q & A

Will it really make 5kW?

The supplier's power curve says 5000W at about 11.5 m/s, which is roughly a 41 km/h wind. We cannot make that agree with a rotor 620 mm across and 900 mm tall, and we have set out why at the top of this page. Treat the 5kW figure the way you would treat a model name — it tells you which unit you are looking at, not what it will put into your batteries.

Then what will it make?

We do not publish a figure, and we would not trust one that anybody else published either. Output depends on your average wind speed, how high the rotor sits, and what is upwind blocking or churning the air. Two identical turbines 500 metres apart will not make the same power. Get an anemometer up first if the number matters to your build.

Why tell me this at all? It is not a great sales pitch.

Because someone sizing a battery bank off a rated wattage ends up short of power on the night they needed it, and then it is our problem as well as theirs. We would rather sell you a turbine you understand than one you are disappointed by.

Which voltage do I pick?

Match your existing battery bank — 12V or 48V. Two of the supplier's images list 12V/24V/48V, but 24V is not one of the options on this page and we do not stock it. Go by the dropdown, not by the picture.

What order do I connect it in?

The controller's own faceplate says it, word for word: "Please connect the dumpload and load first, then the battery, solar panel and wind turbine. No Short Circuit!" Do it in that order. A turbine with no load on it and nowhere to dump can free-run, and shorting the three-phase output to stop it is not a braking method, it is a way to cook a stator.

Which terminal is which?

The strip reads D+ B+ B- S+ S- U V W L+ L- D-. U, V and W take the three-phase turbine output, D+ and D- are the dump load, B+ and B- the battery, S+ and S- the solar panel, and L+ and L- the load.

Do I need the hybrid controller?

You need a controller of some kind — you cannot wire a turbine straight to a battery. The hybrid one puts wind and solar on a single unit with one display and comes with the dump load. If you already run a solar controller you are happy with, buy the turbine on its own and add a wind controller to suit it.

Can I run it alongside my solar panels?

Yes, and you should. Solar carries summer and daylight, wind carries winter and overnight. Neither one covers the year on its own.

Will one of these run my house?

Almost certainly not, and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. For most people this is battery charging, lighting, pumps, a shed or a van — genuine loads, but not a whole property.

How high should it go?

Higher is better — wind speed climbs and turbulence drops the further you get above roofs, sheds and tree lines. The supplier does not state a maximum mast height for this unit, so we are not going to invent one. The flange takes a DN40 fitting; the mast or pole is not included and the pole engineering is on you or your installer.

Is it noisy?

No sound figure is specified by the supplier. Vertical-axis rotors run at a lower tip speed than horizontal ones and generally do not make the same mechanical roar, but we have no measured number for this turbine and will not quote one.

Is the output AC or DC?

Both, at different stages. The shaft drives a generator producing unregulated three-phase AC. That goes through the rectifier in the charge controller and comes out as DC, which can run DC appliances directly, charge a bank, or feed an inverter for 240V. If it is charging a battery, the voltage has to match the bank.

Do I need an electrician?

Yes. Wind turbines and charge controllers must be installed by a qualified specialist. Damage from DIY installation or improper wiring is not covered — see our Return Policy.

What is in the box?

The turbine assembly — hub, blade support arms, blades, generator and hood, with the bolts and screws — plus the mast flange, and the hybrid controller, dump load and battery leads if you have chosen that option. The mast or pole is not included.

How long does delivery take?

Delivery is 10 to 14 days from the day you order, and we ask you to allow up to 3 weeks. Large turbines can take up to 5 weeks, and regional or remote addresses longer again. Shipping is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs

Read this before the table. Every performance figure below is the supplier's own claim, taken from their power curve and their listing images, and is labelled as such. BushLine publishes no output figure for this turbine. Where a specification is not stated on the supplier material we hold, the row says so rather than carrying a guess.

The Supplier's Power Curve

This is the chart the 5000W figure comes from. It is reproduced here so you can see it rather than take our word for it — and so you can compare it against the rotor dimensions in the drawing below.

Rotor Dimensions

Typical Off-Grid Wiring Layout

Turbine Spinning But Showing 0W?

It is almost never a faulty turbine or controller. Read the 0W troubleshooting and correct installation guide before you assume something is broken.

Watch Me

Third-party footage on vertical-axis turbines generally. It is not this unit and it is not our filming — it is here because it shows how a vertical rotor behaves, not as a claim about what this one produces.