DIY wind generator

one must ask... why... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
I am one to have a go at building or modifying most things.. but must confess, would draw the line at a wind gen for a boat.
to use an alternator, one needs to FULLY waterproof it, mount it, make blades, balance them carefully.... the blades are going to be spinning at around 20 revs a second if you use a standard alternator !!!!!!!
So, use dynamo ?, same issues, but far lower rpm--
have an alternator rewound, or custom made ?, expensive..
look for a second hand one, I am sure the time involved is not worth the effort involved.
You say you can earn 100 a day for 5 hours, 2 people, if the works there, then do five days work and buy one...
/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

been there, thought that lol....

you sound to have so much to do on the old puffin that the time is better spent on other areas.

it would be fun, yes admittedly.. but not worth the effort me thinks.

Joe
 
ahh, now Joe - you have now set me a challenge. I thought it unlikely that I could do this myself but now I will have to at least try.

If I could earn 100 euros a day, I may possibly consider shelling out for one (aren't they v expensive?) but work is a hard thing to come by at this time of year in these parts (haven' t looked that hard I have to admit) so I'm pretty much skint and have no heating for the winter so that has to take priority.

And you never know, I might end up building the mother of all wind turbines and everyone will want me to build them one too...............

Or I might just take your advice.
 
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Ok, I love it, a euro to you Sir if you do it !!!!! lol...
More power to yer elbow.....

pointers then you mad fool you. !!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

go for a dynamo, build up a piece of ss sheet into a 5" tube, end cap on one end, add hd rubber mount from small inboard (Yanmar 1gm etc) to the end of the dynamo via an adapter plate, this bolts through rear of the tube you made and is the main support for the dynamo at the rear, most dms have a removable front cover, so remove it... lol, make up a piece of ss plate (1mm for the case, 2mm for the rear) in 3mm for the front cover, this fits to a flange on the tube you made earlier, just like bluepeter lol... the front bearing of the dynamo fits into a piece of ss tube welded inside the front plate, on the outside, another welded piece of tube houses an oil / dust / water seal, a lipped seal) - might as well buy it from ampair as they know the ones they sell work !!... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
the front covewr now has the dm bearing on the inside, a hole for the shaft, the oilseal on the outside, a couple of locators to mount to the dynamo case, and a few holes to bolt to a small flange you welded to the case, the lot is waterproofed by the o-ring from a truck oil filter...
You weld a 2" diametre 6" stub pipe to the tube case, slip the dynamo into the case so the engine mount on the rear of the DM is affixed to the rear of the tube... and bobs yer aunties husband..

for a fan, dont even try to consider to contemplate to make it...

check out websites for hovercraft fans, the sell hubs and blades cheap, attach this to the front, then arrange a way of regulating it all and protecting your head.. stick it on a pole and run....

How do I know this ????

I would have to kill you, as it nearly did me.. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif


And, like Blue Peter, dont even think about calling it "Cookie"

SOme folks never learn.. they just never learn..... they are always...... THWACK.....
 
I am thinking of starting a new thread, ..............

In praise of the secondhand Ampair 100 wind genny and additional aquair towed genny sourced from the payout of the medical insurance......... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif


re.... "Heating for the winter", well, bed is no probs, wife and 2 dogs should do it...
during the times out of bed.... plenty of good wool jumpers in greece... good socks too.. you wont be cold with the work you have to do.. dont use the cabin lights (We HAVE done this lol)... just get up when its light, bed when its dark.... dogs and swmbo solve the second, works solves the 1st... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now, there IS a theory of heat exchange I have been working on relating to the thermo retentive properties of fresh water in clear plastic pipes laid along the deck, around 100 mtrs should do it, 50 inside the boat and 50 out, with a shut off valve or two... it works on the thermal syphon principle of fluid movement... you let it warm during the day (With bacofoil under the pipes to reflect heat of course) and as the temp drops you valve off the outside.
the differential is dissipated to the inside at night..

Mooohahahahhahahahaha
 
2 comments
The cheapest boat heater for cool conditions is a tilly lamp (about 600w + light) but being parafin liberates 1l water foe each l fuel used so crack a hatch.

Best way of making a wind geny is to attach a standard small car alternator via a large dia pully to the prop shaft and go sailing - several hundre sq feet of sail beats a 2ft turbine every time!
 
Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

The one in your car runs through a force 12 rainstorm every time you drive it down the motorway in any sort of rain. The journey from here to London is about 100miles and we do it regularly in all sorts of cars. We've even driven back from Verona in Italy with torrential rain all the way. An alternator up a pole on the stern of a yacht will never suffer such conditions. The waterprooof output connections sould be fufficient to aviod electrolysis. A car type alternator would probably need some sort of gearing up box to get sufficient speed. This too will remove efficiency not to mention increasing constructional difficulties.

The American "Four Winds" wind generator looks like a Heath-Robinson home made effort and I'm surprised that it gives as much output as some claim.

It is the turbine that will be your problem and that will be in getting an efficient blade shape and the pitch right. Balance although fiddly should be achieded reasonably easily though.

As to blade shape, the people at Aerogen (LVM) will tell you that they continuously get enquiries from new owners questioning the shape and pitch of their generator blades. The most eficient charging is obtained on those machines with the blade a curved aerofoil shape. What is surprising is that the pitch starts out on the leading edge of each blade being around 45 degrees but that it curves away and actually runs out on the trailing edge to zero, That is no pitch at all!

I doubt that an amateur could obtain a blade profile to give a sufficiently efficient turbine to make the project feasible.

Steve Cronin
 
Re: Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

[ QUOTE ]
The one in your car runs through a force 12 rainstorm every time you drive it down the motorway in any sort of rain

[/ QUOTE ]
errr, no it doesnt...
do you think the manufacturer designs water flow through your engine bay as a feature ?? nope, the do their darndest to duct water away from the engine and ancilliaries, air flow is good, not water flow.

go and leave a standard car alternator out in the rain for a few weeks, then let me know how well it works.. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

Standard car alternator won't work, the need several 000RPM. Small wind gennies are permanent magnet alternators which are both costly and grievously inefficient, which is why they're usually a waste of time.

A hovercraft fan ain't going to work well as a turbine I'm afraid, nor is anything else that is not designed in a wind tunnel for the specific application in mind.
 
Re: Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

You don't know what you're talking about.

I DO. I've run fleets for over 40 years right from dynamos and the introduction of alternators with seperate controllers to the modern all (well not as well as you think actually) enclosed in fibreboard, offerings.

It is only in recent years that cars' engine bays have been "enclosed"

Take a look at a 1980 Mini for example. The alternator lives right behind the "radiator" grill, fully open to driving rain and puddle splash. Then all the rear wheel drive Escorts and Cortinas. Our fleet had 32 Fiestas in all which again were fully open. We never had a weather problem in any alternator.

Your "leaving it out in the rain" suggestion might result in the slip rings corroding slightly more than one that is kept turning but that is all.

No, sorry, your comment is simply, wrong. E O S.

Addendum: Furthermore, any attempt to "seal" an alternator is more likely to result in keeping moisture INSIDE the housing which will ensure that the machine never dries out. THEN, you can expect trouble due to rusted bearings and insulation breakdown.

Steve cronin
 
Re: Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

the mini, for example, was not subject to spray on the alternator, or indeed the dizzy, mounted in a worse place, the deflection of the grill was upwards and away.. a min would often quit due to dizzy dampness at slow speeds. the alt WAS protected from the elements as much as possible.

the fiesta was not fully open either, you seem to have a vision of a water pathway, nope, an air pathway, not water, the designers spent a fortune in time and effort to avoid such a thing.

It is soooo strange that marine air gen manufacturers do not follow your phylosophy.. take an ampair for example....

and as I said before, and someone else rightly commented, a car alternator ungeared would NOT work.

Steve, you may end up having to agree to disagree on this. leave it to others research and common sense. I worked for several years building rally cars, late 70,s early 80's, the mini was our speciality .. minisport in lancs. I rallied an escort mk2 with a pinto unit transplanted insteas of the 711m series, then a group 4 lotus Chevette. there were no issues with water entering the engine bay in vast quanitites apart from the odd "white" road with pulles, big puddles in, the sumpguard usually sorted that, and the minis were fitting with a simple shield in production, not by us, the shield faced UP ie, open at the top, because that is the deflection pathway.. so, I do know what I am talking about.. and what you are saying is, err, how do I put this , err, pure bollox !!!


/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Re: Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

[ QUOTE ]
I worked for several years building rally cars, late 70,s early 80's, the mini was our speciality .. minisport in lancs. I rallied an escort mk2 with a pinto unit transplanted insteas of the 711m series, then a group 4 lotus Chevette. there were no issues with water entering the engine bay in vast quanitites apart from the odd "white" road with pulles, big puddles in, the sumpguard usually sorted that, and the minis were fitting with a simple shield in production, not by us, the shield faced UP ie, open at the top, because that is the deflection pathway.. so, I do know what I am talking about.. ... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Surprised that we didn't bump into each other then. in my case the EMAMC, the LCMC and a Mexico. The amount of water that a car of that era got onto it's alternator both through the radiator and from below, even with the protectiion of a Maguard, in normal or even rally use is IMO, at least comparable with what it would receive mounted, in way of the elements on a boat.

I have already agreed that a car alternator simply won't work in this respect for my reasons stated earlier. I was picking up you suggestion that the alternator needed weatherproofing. Since it is not likely to experience anything like road usage, or even that of farm machinery when mounted on a pole, it would in my mind survive for a long time. But since we agree that it would be an unsuitable device for this application for other reasons, that point is purely academic. The mulit-pole permanent magnet dynamo as used in my old Aerogen is the "least unsuitable" device for a wind generator.

Steve cronin
 
Re: Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

Hi...cars get fresh water thrown at them...rain or surface water....on a boat...even on a pole....the water will be saline or 'salty'....much more detrimental to the alternator...or dynamo's ...life span in the long term...not 'sweet water' !!!
 
Re: Why do you need to waterproof an alternator?

Hello Steve, for me it was CDMC, last car i bought was a G4 Chevette from Ken Skidmore ? maybe you know him ?
Won the illuninations once.. but a lonnnnnnnnnnng tine ago....

Preston Regardless was a good one, when Pendle hill and widdup was in use, had a couple of years pior to the ban, not as driver then unfortunately but as a baby nav.. then went through ex works minis, Mk2 escorts and the Shove-it... happy days !.

Anyways back to the alternator, weather et al..

me think s thee is wrong, but aint it great that we CAN disagree ????? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif


me thinks the thing would just die after a month or two... but adding simple protection is both prudent and logical...

Agreed, the multipole dynamo approach is best..
look dood /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif, you make the dynamo from hell, I will waterproof it lol...


enough info here for others to google and play....

Joe /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
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