nollaigoc wrote:

One switch will connect the wind gen to the batteries, while the other
will be connected accross the wind gen output terminals and the single
key will safely do the switching

Depending on the type of wind generator, you likely don't want to do
this. When you open the circuit to the batteries, you've just
disconnected the load from an inductive circuit with current flowing in
it (assuming the wind generator is spinning, which is why you want to
stop it in the first place). If the wg is a generator-type (has brushes
and a commutator) you'll get a voltage spike, maybe a burned switch or
other damage. If its an alternator-type, you run the risk of blowing
the recifying diodes as well. Same issue as disconnecting the batteries
from the alternator on your engine when the engine's running.

I don't have any practical experience with this, just some theory.
A generator-type wg must have some way of isolating the batteries when
the wind's not blowing so there must be a diode or some sort of
regulator in there already. In the alternator-type, the rectifiers
which convert the AC to DC also serve to isolate the batteries, so
there's not likely to be anything else.

Assuming you get by the battery isolation problem, shorting the wind
generator may damage it, depending on the construction of the windings
and in the case of the alternator-type the current rating of the diodes,
along with how fast it's turning when you hit the switch. You're basicly
using the resistance of the windings as the full load on the wind
generator when you do this. Some may be designed to take this for the
time it takes to shut down, I don't know the specifics.

I'm going to be playing around with this a couple of weeks from now, in
connection with building a shunt regulator for the wg, which is the same
sort of problem as the stop switch. I'm thinking a Schottky (sp?)
barrier diode (lower voltage drop) to isolate the batteries, and some
sort of progressive load increasing to short for shutdown to stay within
the max current ratings of my alternator-type wind generator.