Wind powered generator

[Allan]

I have just been given a wind powered generator. It has a white cast ally body, black plastic "nose cone" and red plastic blades. There are no electronics just a wire which comes down a chromed steel tube. How do I check if it's working and waht do I need to use it. I would like to use it to keep my 65amp/hr battery charged while I'm not aboard.
Thanks in advance.
Allan

 

[philip_stevens]

Sounds like an Aero2gen made by LVM-Ltd. I would suggest looking at their site, and maybe wiring it into a small regulator that they sell.

I've got a Rutland 503 with a regulator.

 

[mainmarine]

Do you have a picture? sounds like a Wasp windgen [does the nose cone clip on?]. the Wasp produces about 1amp, bit slow to start up but should keep your battery topped up, if plenty of wind.

 

[Allan]

Yes the nosecone does clip on, There is a slot in the back of the head for a vane. Do you know what size and shape this needs to be? Is there some way to check for an output before buying a regulater?
Allan

 

[mainmarine]

I used to have one on my last boat, the nose cone hides some stainless steel allen screws to fix the blades at a set angle, the unit has an in built regulator, the aluminium tail fin was around 300mm long and 300mm high at the rear edge tapering from the top down to the rear of the body, it was fixed by two stainless steel bolts. If this dosen't make sense, let me have your e-mail address I will do you a sketch
malc@mainmarine.co.uk

 

[William_H]

If it only produces 1 amp then don't worry about the regulator. The battery should be able to absorb that much without overcharging.
Get an ampmeter or multimeter with amp scale connect the meter+ in series with the + ve wire to th meter -ve goes to the battery +. Presumably it has 2 wires?
The other wire hopefully is negative.
If you get current in the wrong direction when the gen spins then reverse the gen wires.
If you get no current then you have a problem. It may need an external rectifier or it may be dud. If you connect your multimeter on volts AC across the output leads and you get like 15 to 20 volts AC but no indication on DC range then it needs a rectifier. These can be bought cheaply PMme for details.
Good luck olewill