Sparky question

I am not trying to speak for Fish, But...
"You mentioned a schematic for controlling the voltage coming from the batteries to the dump load".
The voltage from the batteries to the dump load is the same as the battery voltage.
Size the dump load to accept the max battery voltage.

Relays are always bad. Except in cars. Sometimes they are OK in cars.

Grid Tie is not good on this scale.
It is a waste of money and frustration better used for other areas of the system.
That ebay dohickie is not legal to connect to the grid. If you get caught with it, they can shut your grid off. Forever if they want to.
If your house burns down because a coworker threw 100G of gas on it, and the insurance company sees a non-UL GT inverter, they can (and will) refuse to pay. You violated the contract before it burned, just the same as if you burned it down on purpose.
If you believe an insurance company is 'nice' or 'understanding', you never dealt with one from that end of the stick. The adjuster's job is to find reasons to pay less, or not pay at all.

That motor can be expected to make maybe 200W without melting, even in a hurricane.
That would save me $0.02 per hour, during a hurricane. 50 cents a day.
The electric company may charge $20 a month extra to read the grid feed meter, so I already lost money unless I had hurricane force wind for 21 straight days out of 30.
Many companies pay wholesale (1/2 to 1/3rd retail?) for the RE the buy, so you could need 63 days of hurricane per month to break even.

The point being it is hard enough to keep the batteries charged.
Start with that and work up.
The first step up is generally a larger battery bank.
G-

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread...

Thanks for the input ghurd...I've actually been looking at your website...I have a couple of questions, but I think I'll email you because the forum may not be the place to ask? Anyway...back to topic...your right...I think I should have asked fish4fun for the schematic for the LVD?

Regarding the GTI: Your are 100% correct. That thing will "disappear" under certain circumstances. Got it pretty well fused up, using a GFCI outlet, and it's in a location not attached to the main house. Regardless, you bring up good points that all should consider before using one of the small plug-and-play GTIs. As for the cost benefit analysis, you are again correct. But I'm not in this to save money...it's a hobby and I like to see my meter slow down if not slowly creep backwards. That said, I have read people responding to RE questions by saying 'start with conserving electricity first, then look into RE systems'...which I agree is a great idea. But there also is the factor of once you produce your own electricity, you have a better appreciation for it...at least that's how it has impacted me. As for the batteries, I only have one small deep cycle that I picked up to clamp down the voltage coming from the wind generator...and maybe power some 12V LEDs...not trying to get off the grid...maybe down the road...but for now it's a hobby.

Thanks again for your reply ghurd!