# Is wind turbine a waste of material and time?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [February 5, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691 "2019-02-05T02:07:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![duhuh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/duhuh/32/5686_2.png) [@duhuh](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/duhuh)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/1 "2019-02-05T02:07:45Z")

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I connect an alternator to a bike without wheels. This setup can fully charge a battery in 6 - 8 hours. I spend half of the 6-8 hours to read a book and get my breath back.

I also make another “vehicle” with one wind turbine and one battery. The wind turbine can charge 1% of the battery per day.

What is the point of using wind turbine? Muscle power can get it done much faster.

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**Author:** ![darktoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@darktoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/darktoes)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/2 "2019-02-05T02:50:08Z")

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Sounds like it wasn’t getting any wind. Was it inside? Near a building? Near a forest?

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**Author:** ![Erk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/erk/32/3871_2.png) [@Erk](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Erk)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:56am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/3 "2019-02-05T02:56:50Z")

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I believe wind turbines normally charge a lot faster than that, so something is up with your setup.

That said, your bike setup doesn’t charge unless your survivor is operating it, and it takes food and drink to operate. Not only does the wind turbine not take extra of those things, it leaves you free to spend more time gathering them or other valuable resources.

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**Author:** ![duhuh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/duhuh/32/5686_2.png) [@duhuh](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/duhuh)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/4 "2019-02-05T02:57:35Z")

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After I escape from the lab, I put the wind turbine near the entrance of the lab.  
The yellow T is the wind turbine.

![wind_turbine2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/a/af7c6dfce8096f4a780d78926c401682c58b3e6c.png)

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**Author:** ![darktoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@darktoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/darktoes)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/5 "2019-02-05T02:58:55Z")

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Hmm. Try putting it somewhere else, maybe in the middle of a field.

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**Author:** ![thebunanna](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/thebunanna/32/4469_2.png) [@thebunanna](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/thebunanna)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/6 "2019-02-05T03:01:57Z")

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Since walls now block wind, having a wind turbine near any wall will decrease its effectiveness by a very large amount.

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**Author:** ![Erk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/erk/32/3871_2.png) [@Erk](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Erk)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/7 "2019-02-05T03:13:44Z")

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Yep you built your wind turbine in a sheltered courtyard.

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**Author:** ![kuros](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kuros/32/1788_2.png) [@kuros](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kuros)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/8 "2019-02-05T05:19:05Z")

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I built three wind turbines on a vehicle parked in the street in front of my base (open on all four sides within its “tile” but blocked on two sides by buildings, no idea if that matters). When I’m crafting and it’s raining out, I refill around 1 car battery per day.

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**Author:** ![dpwb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/dpwb/32/2609_2.png) [@dpwb](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/dpwb)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/9 "2019-02-05T17:01:38Z")

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The location does not look to be a problem, it is outside, and not directly next to a wall.  
Are you playing the recent version? I had to up the power of the wind turbine in [https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/27846](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/27846)  
As they were balanced around the previous wind, before I changed the way wind worked.  
It could just be that your going through a wind-less period of time, it happens.  
Changes to the UI comign soon should show a rough idea of wind strength  
Alterntively you could debug in a weather reader item or CBM and check.  
If the wind is above 7 or 8 mph your gonna get a steady flow - around the same as a solar panel.  
As long as a wind turbine is not in a forest, and not DIRECTLY next to a wall, it should still work fine, and being next to a wall will only hinder the turbine if the wind is blowing from the walls direction.

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**Author:** ![kuros](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kuros/32/1788_2.png) [@kuros](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kuros)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/10 "2019-02-05T19:30:20Z")

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When you say directly next to a wall, do you mean the turbine itself, or any part of the vehicle it is attached to?

For example, if you’ve got a 5-tile wide vehicle (like the Security Van), parked adjacent to your base, and there’s a wind turbine on the centermost tile of that vehicle, is that “directly next to a wall?”

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**Author:** ![dpwb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/dpwb/32/2609_2.png) [@dpwb](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/dpwb)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-wind-turbine-a-waste-of-material-and-time/18691/11 "2019-02-05T21:27:10Z")

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You know this stuff got me worrying, so I checked more thoroughly , and I Discovered that the check for location that the turbine does only checks for the vehicles aggregate location ( centre of mass ) not the exact part in question…

therefore if the vehicle was partially indoors or multi-tile it wouldnt calculate correctly.  
I’ve fixed that here.  
It should be now that only the actual part location of the wind turbine is checked if its next to a wall, the rest of the vehicle can be next to a wall, and that wont affect the turbine, anymore.

> <https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/28081>