Has anyone made a wind generator at home?

Friend of mine did.

When the enormous stresses these things need to cope with got too much and it shook itself to pieces, one of the vanes was embedded so firmly into the ground that he needed to use the tractor to pull it out. Good job it was the ground and not someone's head.
 
Made one from a dynahub from a bike, trickle charge did what I wanted, took hours to construct and lasted about 10 years, salt air spelt its demise as the bearing face is machined on the spindle. ideally you want a 6 volt dc motor that will be driven about twice its 6v rated speed then it will work. Used to be a flood of ex-wd stuff around but impossible to find now. If you want a challenge go ahead, for the full Monty buy one.
or sit down and design one, basic skills required are good knowledge of generator theory ability to codge and make it look presentable,take no offense or the queer looks one will get and keep out of marinas or you will spend all of you time answering daft questions from boat owners who would not have that thing on my boat if you gave it to them . /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Can you make me one as well ? I dont mind what it looks like......................................

As long as it works /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Best to use a dynamo - alternators require a high speed before charging begins - dynamos will charge at lower revs. It is important to get the rotors exactly balanced and do your sums first so that the rotors match the required speed of the dynamo - gearing is usually needed. I built one at my smallholding in the Welsh hills - lasted years until a storm got it and sent the whole thing flying across a field.
 
On a car, a dynamo normally has a larger pulley than an alternator. I think that a dynamo can't cope with spinning at very high revs and has a lower ratio to cope when the car is going full speed.
 
It's been a long while since I built mine - but I thought I remembered in all the stuff I read on building these things, that an alternator needed a certain amount of speed to induce current in the field coils before any useful power was generated - or have I completely lost the plot /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
dyno hub designed to opperate at low revolutions with multiple pole pairs designed to produce 6v ac at rpm of a bicycle wheel all that is needed is a whole phase rectifier ( 4 diods in a bridge configuration) and a voltage doubler available from maplins and as not required to run at high speeds (not as likely to shake itself apart due to inbalance) and why not mount the vanes vertically eliminates the need to have it self aligning to the wind hence less moving parts to fail. that is my plan.


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It's been a long while since I built mine - but I thought I remembered in all the stuff I read on building these things, that an alternator needed a certain amount of speed to induce current in the field coils before any useful power was generated - or have I completely lost the plot /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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That's certainly true of car alternators - below about 2000 rpm (which equates to c. 1000 rpm engine speed) their output is virtually zero. Try charging your car battery on tickover ....
 
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its the other way round, dynamos need revs, alternators do it on tick over
Stu

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I can't quote actual speeds, but the reason why alternators charge better at low engine revs is because they can cope with much higher drive belt ratios. A dynamo drive has to limit speed at max engine revs otherwise the rotor windings will burst. An alternator has the main windings in the stator, and is much better able to withstand high rpm
 
Get an old alternator and take out the regulator. Fit a rheostat between field and gnd contact vacated by regulator.
Attach to your own-design wind-energy-capture-device.
Allow to spin up in favourite (average) conditions and set rheostat to balance stall/charge conditions. You will still need a battery connected to kick-start the field current, through an ignition light. I would possibly add a little delay circuit so it had time to spin up before trying to harvest the current.
 
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Surely it begins charging at the moment when the ignition light goes out - ie just about at tickover?

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The only trouble is when the light goes out the alternator then wants to put 12-15 amps of output (and that's from one of the older low output types) this is a quarter of a horsepower (.2kw), plus friction (drag) and that will take some considerable driving.
A better way if you really do want to build your own is use a small permanent magnet motor and some form of regulation.
Also this way you do not have to use power to energize the rotor (field) circuit and this will should be adequate to trickle charge a battery and will take a lot less driving.

A dynamo I would say is a no no because of it's characteristics and weight.

IMHO the best way is to bite the bullet and get yourself a manufactured unit.
 
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