S-400W Horizontal Wind Turbine 12/24/48V

Keeps the battery topped up while you sleep. Solar owns the daylight. Then the sun drops, the fridge keeps pulling, the lights go on, and the battery bank spends all night going backwards. By morning you are watching the voltage and wondering whether to start the generator before breakfast. The S4-400 is our smallest horizontal-axis turbine — 7.5 kg, a 1.35 m rotor, three blades. It starts turning in a 2 m/s breath of wind and begins charging at 3 m/s. It works the hours and the weather that panels cannot: night, winter, and the grey windy fronts that flatten solar output for days at a stretch. Straight up about the numbers: the 400 W rating is measured at 14 m/s — a 50 km/h blow, not a normal afternoon. On a decent coastal breeze you will see a fraction of that, working around the clock. Think of it as a trickle-charge assist for your solar, not a replacement for it. What It Actually Makes Wind speed Feels like Output 4 m/s (14 km/h) Light breeze 25 W 5 m/s (18 km/h) Flags start to lift 48 W 6 m/s (22 km/h) Steady inland breeze 72 W 7 m/s (25 km/h) Decent coastal day 98 W 8 m/s (29 km/h) Good working breeze 128 W 10 m/s (36 km/h) Windy 218 W 11 m/s (40 km/h) Very windy 270 W 12 m/s (43 km/h) Very windy 330 W 14 m/s (50 km/h) Rated wind speed 410 W That is the manufacturer's own measured curve, and we would rather you saw it before you bought. At a good steady 7 m/s this turbine makes about 98 W — not 400 W. What It Solves The overnight drain: the van fridge pulls amps all night while the panels do nothing. A breeze feeds the bank the whole time you are asleep. The grey winter week: the fronts that kill your solar for days are exactly the weather this thing works hardest in. The boat on the mooring: keeps the house bank floated between visits, so the bilge pump never meets a flat battery. The gear nobody visits: gate cameras, yard lighting, a repeater on a back block — small loads a long way from a powerpoint. Less generator time: every hour of breeze is fuel you have not hauled and a service you have not done. Key Features Lightest in the range: 7.5 kg net — one person, one ladder, one afternoon. Starts early: turning at 2 m/s, charging from 3 m/s (11 km/h). 12V, 24V or 48V: matches the battery bank you already run. Built to survive 45 m/s: that is 162 km/h. If your site sees worse than that, this is the wrong machine for it and we would rather say so. Three-blade rotor, 1.35 m: reinforced nylon-fibre blades on a die-cast aluminium body, IP54 generator. Permanent magnet generator: 3-phase AC synchronous with NdFeB magnets — no brushes to wear, no exciter current to waste. Two layers of protection: electromagnetic brake for overspeed, controller over-current protection plus dump load for overload. Two controller choices: the HECR wind-solar hybrid (runs panels too) or the pure-wind WCMD MPPT — pick either as a kit, or take the turbine only. Kit, Or Turbine Only The kit pairs the turbine with the manufacturer's matched hybrid controller for your voltage — LHECR0512 on 12V, LHECR0824 on 24V, LHECR1248 on 48V — plus the dump-load resistor. The hybrid part matters: wind charges through MPPT, and the same box takes a solar array on a PWM input (up to 600 W of PV on the 12V unit, 1000 W on the 24V, 1200 W on the 48V). One controller runs both, which is how most people end up wiring these anyway. Never going to run solar? Pick With Pure-Wind Controller and the kit ships the manufacturer's pure-wind MPPT unit instead — LWCMD400W-12V on 12V, LWCMD800W-24V on 24V, LWCMD1000W-48V on 48V. Wind only, no PV input at all — full details in the Specs tab. Already have a controller rated for this turbine? Pick Turbine only. What Else You'll Need A turbine on a pole is half a system. The other half is a mast in clean air, cable sized for the run, breakers and an isolator, a dump load (included with the kit controller) and a battery bank to feed. Cable sizing depends on run length, voltage and current — that is your electrician's call, not a line on a product page. Browse bus bars, breakers and wiring in the Electrical Supplies collection, and the full controller range here. Representative photos: the manufacturer supplies one set of photographs per turbine family, not per model. The S4-400 you receive is this design, at the sizes in the spec table. Q & A Will it really make 400 watts? At 14 m/s — a 50 km/h blow — yes, and the manufacturer's curve shows it. On a typical usable breeze of 5 to 8 m/s you will see roughly 50 to 130 W, all day and all night. Size your expectations off the output table above, not the number in the title. Does the kit controller take solar panels? Yes. The HECR series is a wind-solar hybrid: the turbine charges through MPPT and a solar array connects to the same unit on a PWM input — up to 600 W of PV on the 12V model, 1000 W on the 24V, 1200 W on the 48V. Never running panels? The pure-wind WCMD controllers are on this page too — pick With Pure-Wind Controller; they have no PV input at all. Why don't you publish a charging current in amps? Because the supplier has not published one, and we will not calculate one by dividing watts by volts — that is how people end up sizing breakers off a guess. Do not size cable or breakers from the wattage in any product title. When the manufacturer gives us the amp figure, it goes in the table. Is the cable from the turbine AC or DC? AC. The turbine generates 3-phase AC, and the rectifier inside the controller converts it to DC to charge the battery. A generator is not a battery: the voltage on that cable rises with rotor speed, which is exactly why the matched controller is built to take far more than the nominal battery voltage on its input. Cable selection and protection are your electrician's job. Can I mount it on the roof? Yes — 3 to 6 m above the roofline, or 6 to 10 m on a ground mast. Height is output: turbulence near buildings eats the wind before the blades see it, so the extra metres of clean air pay for themselves. What happens to it in a storm? The electromagnetic brake and the controller's overspeed protection wind it back, and the machine is built to survive 45 m/s (162 km/h). If your site regularly sees more than that, do not put this turbine on it. What is the warranty position? Twelve months. Professional installation by a licensed electrician is a condition of it — keep the electrician's invoice with your paperwork. Be aware the manufacturer treats blade damage from consistently extreme wind, and motor burnout after prolonged high-speed running, as case-by-case assessments rather than automatic cover. How long until it arrives? Built to order — allow 6 to 8 weeks. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand. The kit arrives as two boxes: the turbine, and the controller with its dump load. Specs Specification Detail Rated power 400 W at 14 m/s (50.4 km/h) Maximum power output 411 W Rated voltage 12 V / 24 V / 48 V Maximum voltage output 13.2 / 26.4 / 52.8 V Start-up wind speed 2 m/s (7.2 km/h) Cut-in wind speed 3 m/s (10.8 km/h) Rated wind speed 14 m/s (50.4 km/h) Survival / safe wind speed Up to 45 m/s (162 km/h) Rotor diameter 1.35 m (1350 mm) Blade length 650 mm Number of blades 3 Blade material Reinforced nylon fibre Body material Reinforced die-cast aluminium Magnet material NdFeB Generator type 3-phase AC permanent magnet synchronous generator Over-speed protection Electromagnetic brake Overload protection Controller over-current protection + dump load Wind direction adjustment Auto yaw Generator protection grade IP54 Working temperature -20°C to +50°C Working humidity 0-90% RH (non-condensing) Mount height Ground: 6-10 m; rooftop: 3-6 m above the roofline Design life 20+ years Warranty 1 year Colour White Net weight 7.5 kg Gross weight 9.5 kg Packing size 670 × 280 × 210 mm The Kit Controller Specification LHECR0512 (12V kit) LHECR0824 (24V kit) LHECR1248 (48V kit) Controller type Wind-solar hybrid (wind MPPT + PV PWM) Rated wind power Up to 500 W Up to 800 W Up to 800 W Rated PV power Up to 600 W total system Up to 1000 W total system Up to 1200 W total system Battery voltage 12 V 24 V 48 V Max wind input voltage 80 V Max PV input voltage 55 V 55 V 95 V Maximum battery charging current Not specified by supplier — do not size cable or breakers from the wattage in the product title Wind protection Reverse-current, over-voltage, over-current, over-speed and manual dump Display LCD Communications Bluetooth built in Installation Wall-mounted, natural cooling Controller size 162 × 145 × 61.8 mm Net weight 1.9 kg Wire the system this way — follow this diagram, not the drawing in the supplier datasheet: The Pure-Wind Controller Option Specification LWCMD400W-12V (12V kit) LWCMD800W-24V (24V kit) LWCMD1000W-48V (48V kit) Controller type Pure-wind MPPT (no PV input at all) Battery voltage 12 V 24 V 48 V Max wind power 400 W 800 W 1000 W Max wind input voltage 80 V 80 V 180 V Wind charging method Boost / buck / boost-buck MPPT Unloading External unloading — dump-load resistor included with the controller; an enclosed resistance box is available as an optional extra Load output None Protection Over-voltage, over-current, reverse connection, over-speed and dump-load protection Display Built-in LCD Working temperature -20°C to +55°C Static loss 1.8 W or less Warranty 1 year Maximum battery charging current Not specified by supplier — do not size cable or breakers from the wattage in the product title The pure-wind kit wires this way — wind only, no solar input: Watch Me