windpower

I'd say a couple of good looking Dutch females with any easy going disposition and something to look forward to...

Ask again when they don't turn up!

Hello Guest Len,

If you actually register on the CR4 Forum, you will be able to receive email notices of any replies.

Meanwhile because nobody knows your location, weather conditions etc. (There are many variables), we really cannot start to answer your question at this time.

Call back here, with.....

"A little feed back Please"....

OK...._{I like the Sparkly bits} ....

There is lots of info on the net on this subject

also check local codes regarding installing the tower required

consider safety issues and irate neighbors etc.

good luck

Lots of wind and some money. Plus the patience of Job since everybody wil have their own pet vesion of "the bestest wind mill in the world" <grin>

Coudl I interest you in an away-from-home windmill?

I might add lots of money and some wind instead. The best payback can only be when the cost of running a utility line to the residence is so much higher than the capital expended on alternative energy sources. I'd rather prefer some low-tech energy solutions such as thermal collectors for domestic hot water and maybe even radiant floor heating. Much less hassle to install and more importantly the long term maintenance of a wind powered dynamo.

Len: Preferably plans and specifications to go by. You will need a tower to support it off the ground a windmill blade, a set of bearings for the blade and supporting shaft to run in, a wind vane to keep the mill turned into the wind. If you want to generate electricity add a generator, batteries, controls, etc.

I'd start with lots of liability insurance, remember the higher it starts falling from the more damage it can do over a larger area. Marine All-Risk Policies and Extra Liability Coverage ...

There are many commercial built windmills of various sizes from sailboat mast models and larger, which will get you to making power sooner. Beter to start with a design that works and try to understand why it works and then try to make it better.

My Grandfather built one in the 1950's for a cottage.

He used a car dynamo (they were not alternators back then). A little google search on home built windmill turns up sites to show you how.

It depends on what you need, but this is the cheapest way to go if you have the abilities in mechanics and electricity, the tools, and the time to spare.

Comercial units can be bought for under $1K for 400W.

You can probably get an old generator from a vintage car salvage yard. What power that will put out is questionable, but you get the idea.

The hard part is building a set of efficient rotor vanes. Sort of a "home build canoe" project. Wood veneer and epoxy will probably work ok. How handy are you?

The tower will have to be purchased or built from tube. The foundations have to be pretty dang big to keep the whole thing from falling over.

Bergey makes a 10kW unit that I've heard is pretty good. Unfortunately the payback for one for my house is close to 20 years...

Maybe a home build project is the more practical way to go.

Are you looking for electricity or are you going old-school? I hope you live in a windy place and far enough away from others that they can't tell you they don't like your windmill. Sounds like a fun project, good luck.

Type "windpower" in google, find the store nearest you, and go buy a windmill. This turbine can be sued to drive a grain mill, pump water from a well, drive a generator, or even to run a saw mill. Take your pick.

Look into the verticle cylinder designs of Terra Moya Aqua. They make smaller wind energy systems that are supposedly more efficient depending on how much wind you have.

OK, this looks easier than I thought...

http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html

google is highly useful. I might even try this myself...

Terra Moya Aqua is at:-

http://www.tmawind.com/

You will need a generator , your wattage needs, your voltage needs (normally we would presume 120volts ac @ 60hz which is normal household type in USA, its 50Hz in europe). Also some type of tower, and some kind of driveshaft attached to the driveshaft of the generator. There are tons of different types of windmills , some are vertical , some horizontal, many of them have freeplans ,.. just google it and see how many come up .

I'd still like to see an easy solution for taking a simple ceiling fan and making some kind of rude generator out of it.

Triple Battery life wrote: I'd still like to see an easy solution for taking a simple ceiling fan and making some kind of rude generator out of it.

REPLY: Easy to do but not terribly efficient. And the blade assembly is somewhat fragile compared to most working windmills. It was never designed to stand up to typical and normal wind speeds.

Hello TRIPLEBATTERYLIFE,

"I'd still like to see an easy solution for taking a simple ceiling fan and making some kind of rude generator out of it."

Ceiling fan motors are almost universally multipole squirrel-cage motors, especially designed for quiet running at low speeds.

Thus there is no practical way they can ever be used in a Generating capacity.

Try as much as you might, it will never happen that you can make a Generator out of a squirrel-cage motor.

Kind Regards....

Actually, there are people doing it with standard squirrel cage motors but most ceiling fans are actually Shaded Pole motors so technically this wouldn't apply to them. They use old washing machine motors by machining the rotors and adding permanent magnets into them for excitation. Still not something easily done by the average Joe however.

Thanks for that idea.

Digressing to old backyard technologies.. wouldn't be nice if automakers never build into cars a way to charge the battery by hand > like running a very small generator so that after 15 minutes you could "most of the time" get started again. Or even a hand crank that you could just turn by hand perhaps.

Maybe some bright and enterprising engineers could design a home windmilll kit that would use a standard alternator of a car and provide perhaps 300 watts of power? BYOB (bring your own battery ) and you are off to a small start in the alternative energy struggle).