# Wind generators!



## james dilley (Mar 21, 2004)

Has anyone ever built there own from Scratch? I have a 135 Amp Alt. from A semi. That I was thinking might work. If I could build A wheel to drive it in the wind, Around here A tower Only would need to be 20" or so up as theres Alway A decent breeze! This was just a thought.


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## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

I don't have any experience, but I'm interested in learning. We had enough wind here last night to have powered New York City with that alternator.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

You really need a PM (permanent magnet) type alternator with heavy duty bearings for a wind genny. 
A auto or diesel type alternator require very high rpm and torque . a typical auto type will require input of 5-15 hp at 18-36 hundred rpm . In addition they are not designed for constant 24/7 all weather service. 
If you want to produce small amounts of power you'd be better off starting with an Amtek 30-60 volt PM DC motor look for one with the lowest RMP out put you can find as it will cut in and start producing power in lower wind speeds.
In my personal opinion building the pm alternator or converting a DC motor is the easy part compared to carving blades to the right pitch or building the correct charging circuits and and voltage dump. 
Keep in mind a wind turbine will run when ever the wind blows even when you batteries are fully charged and over charging batteries is worse for them than allowing them to run down .


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Also, make it where when the wind gets too high it will start free wheeling.

(Had a wind gen in the late 70's early 80's in Denver area).

Ours was purchased and it was neat and worked nicely. 

Angie


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

I asume that 20 inches is a typo. I hate to inform you but you are uninformed about height. Do some research.
And that alt is no good for a *home built*

Sorry to be so blunt


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

I saw some guys who made them of wood,including making their own generator section.

They did have them running FWIW,have no idea if they put out much or lasted.But they were resourceful characters anyhow.


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## dragonchick (Oct 10, 2007)

Here's a cheap home built model to play with. My son and I built this " just to see if we could " for a science project. It really does work to power small things but is not economical or meant for powering high power items. You might be able to modify it but we never tried. It was just a fun and informative project for us. The magnets are very hard to find now since they no longer make them. I was given a boat load of old computers with HD's intact. We used the magnets from the small 1 gig and less ones.

http://www.angelfire.com/ak5/energy21/magnetitecoregenerator.htm


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Dragon,is that site actually your windmill? That was one of the ones I had seen!


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## mike3367 (Dec 15, 2004)

http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html look here for building your own


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## dragonchick (Oct 10, 2007)

mightybooboo said:


> Dragon,is that site actually your windmill? That was one of the ones I had seen!



I am not nearly talented enough to come up with that on my own. The site does not belong to me. My son and I built it just to see if it was possible and if it indeed did work. Not everything found online actually works as it says it does and we were curious. He got an Honorable Mention as the idea was not actually his. We only built it to see if it was true.


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

Over the past 30+ years I have seen quite a few folks who have built or attempted to build a wind generator large enough to produce usable amounts of power. None of them have proven to be reliable. People generally underestimate the power in the wind, the height above ground necessary to get above turbulence, and the long term damage and wear that turbulence causes. Building your own system from scratch is not an easy task. In general, alternators from vehicles require much too high a speed to generate power to be useful in a wind power system. 

Some general, basic wind generator info:
http://awea.org/smallwind/

The best homebuilt system that I have seen:
http://www.scoraigwind.com/


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

Thanks Jim . . . .for posting the links.

Folks Hugh Piggott IS one of the guru's of wind.
If your serious about *building your own* . .then get his book and read his web site top to bottom.
Had to laugh when I saw that "Whats wrong with this picture" on his web page . . . . . .reminded me of someone wanting to put up a windy thing on a 20 foot pole.

Some while back I really wanted to attend one of his workshops (where they did build a turbine starting with a truck brake drum)
But the trip to Washington St. coast area and workshop fee was gonna be more spendy than I could justify. 

Also the -awea- site if you dig aways will help keep you on the right path and away from junk ideas that don't work.


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## crafty2002 (Aug 23, 2006)

There are some good sites on here. Thanks guys. I am bumping it to make sure I can find it again. I get lost without a map, LOL.


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## tomjones (Dec 22, 2007)

The best design I have seen for a homebuilt can be seen at www.prairieturbines.com

I actually went to this guys home in Kansas and saw there operation. Very solid and farmer engineered imho.

Tom


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

The Breezy 5.5 from www.prairieturbines.com looks interesting, but remember that it is strictly a grid tied system (I admit you could use it off-grid but it would be complicated as it is an induction generator requiring a source of AC power to function). Also. only time will tell if it is going to be reliable. Most of the pictures on the website show woefully inadequate tower hight, too, as far as I can tell. They do have good ideas for a grid-tied unit, but many power companies are going to frown on something that isn't UL listed.


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## tomjones (Dec 22, 2007)

What I like about it is that it is made completely (with the exception of the control electronics) from parts that you can go down to the implement dealer and pick up. One of my concerns about the vestas and bergeys of the world is that they appear to be relativly non field servicable. Also, they commercial units are so concerned about squeezing every watt out of the diameter of the rotor that the enginering is nto very resiliant to damage incidents. The Breezy addresses this by simple brute force engineering. Using components massive enough that even a major overload will only shut the system dow or burn out a replaceable component. I was able to pick up the motor I need to do this project for a hundred bucks!!!!!

In reference to the tower I think you are looking at the demo tower they take to the fair. The machines I looked at were on 70 foot homemade towers and I know some guys have built 80 footers for theres.


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

An 80 foot tower is minimal height for a machine of that size, and some of the pics show the units not only on short towers, but within a few hundred feet, or less, of buildings. The wind closer to the ground is not as powerful and much more turbulent, leading to damage of the machine.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

WisJim said:


> An 80 foot tower is minimal height for a machine of that size, and some of the pics show the units not only on short towers, but within a few hundred feet, or less, of buildings. The wind closer to the ground is not as powerful and much more turbulent, leading to damage of the machine.


Come on you work with what you have 
do you have any idea how many farms used wind gennies and pump mills with towers under 60ft most in the 30-40 ft range. some of those mills have been runnning for nearly 100 years simply because no expert told them it couldnt be done. 
Yes idealy all mills would be on towers a min of 120ft tall and have a 500ft obstruction free area surrounding but guess what very very few have that option.
So we work with what we have. It may not be perfect but as long as it works thats what matters .
now you can build or buy the highest tech most efficient mill in the world but the big question is can you fix it when it breaks down.


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## tomjones (Dec 22, 2007)

Not going toagrue with you, but terrain makes a difference as well. That tower stands right on top of the tree, dirrectly behind the shop they built it in. But, and it is a bug but.... I saw the power output meter readingsboth current, monthly and annual from that machine, and listened to it running in a 30+ mile per horu Flint Hills wind. 

I believe....

Tom


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## artificer (Feb 26, 2007)

PyroDon said:


> Come on you work with what you have
> do you have any idea how many farms used wind gennies and pump mills with towers under 60ft most in the 30-40 ft range. some of those mills have been running for nearly 100 years simply because no expert told them it couldnt be done.


The question to ask is "what is usable power?" To generate electricity in a usable amount, WisJim is probably correct. However, that brings up the 100 years of pumping of water. Using the following site,  as a reference, I did some calculations. Unless I messed them up, their wind driven pump was only putting out .001 hp on average, or 3/4 of a watt. While this is enough energy to pump 18 gallons per minute 13 feet, it isn't terribly useful for electrical needs.

So... everyone is correct. It just depends on what you need to get out of the windmill.

Michael


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## idahodave (Jan 20, 2005)

Using gal=8.33 lbs, and hp=33,000 ft*lb/min=746 watts, it looks like moving 18 gal/min up 13 feet needs about .06 hp or 44 watts. That's 2634 watts/hr.


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## artificer (Feb 26, 2007)

idahodave, 

You're correct. I did the calcs in a hurry, and thought it was low. Should have re checked them.

Still... 44 watts is no where near the 5500 watts that the system mentioned puts out.

Michael


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