Contents
General
Information
| Glossary of Terms |
A list of common terms and abbreviations.
Click Here |
Some general info on components and
basic laws we use in the electrical/ mechanical side
of windmills.
 Electrical
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Mechanical
|
Windmill
projects and information
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Mini
Mill Battery Charger
Based on a stepper motor from an old
floppy disk drive, and takes about 30 minutes to make.
The Mini Mill will generate about 1-2 watts and charge
a couple of Nicad batteries in a couple of hours.
Click Here
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Fisher
& Paykel Windmill
Using a F&P Smart Drive motor, this
windmill is capable of producing up to 300 watts. This
new design replaces the windmill kit I sold.
Click Here |
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Fisher
& Paykel Mill kit
No longer supplied, I've left the instructions
here as a reference for kit owners.
Click Here |
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Induction
Motor Conversion
This was a little project to convert
a small induction motor to a permanent magnet windmill.
Click Here |
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Oatley
DC Motor Windmill
Based on a 300watt 24v
DC motor, this little windmill would work well if I
could boost the output voltage.
Click
Here |
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AC Servo Motor
Windmill
A windmill built around a 3 phase servo
motor from an old welding robot.
Click Here |
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Making a set
of propeller blades
Some information on windmill blades,
materials and options.
Click
Here |
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Improving those
cheap Chinese Windmills.
The cheap import Chinese windmills
are popping up everywhere, and you can buy the blades
separately. But they are very noisy. There are two parts
to this article, firstly how I modified the blades to
give more power and make less noise, and secondly, how
a forum member, Kevin, modified the windmills to improve
tracking and reliability.
Click
Here
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Turbine Balancing.
A very accurate way of balancing your
windmill turbine. Balancing is important to avoid tower
wobble, bearing wear and blade failures in high winds.
The method described here was contributed by a couple
of forum members, Gill and Klaus.
Click
Here |
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Furling explained.
Furling is used to protect the windmill
in high winds, but how does the furling system on small
windmills work, and some calculations to work out the
furling speed, tail lengths, etc.
Click Here |
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Pumping Windmills
.
A personal favourite, some info and
links for Southern Cross and Comet windmills
Click
Here |
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What
F&P is that?
How to identify the
different F&P types.
Click
Here |
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How to pull apart
a
F&P washing machine.
Instructions on removal
of the F&P motor from a dead washing machine
Click
Here |
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Decogging the
F&P smartdrive
Cogging can affect the low wind performance
of a iron core alternator based windmill, like the F&P. So what is cogging and
how can we fix it.
Click
Here |
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Rewiring the
F&P stator
How to reconfigure the F&P stator
for charging 12v batteries.
Click Here |
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The new cogless
F&P
Using a magnet hub from a late model
F&P washing machine, and a old stator, its now possible
to make a cogless 7 phase alternator. This is the future
of conversions and will replace the old 3 phase rewire
above.
Click
Here |
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Picaxe
projects and information
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PixAxe
Chips
What are they and how
do you get started.
Click
Here |
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Pump
Controller
A little PICAXE project.
Reliably controls my water pump for the header tank.
Click
Here |
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Windmill
Controller/Charger
A work in progress.
Based on a PICAXE chip and features menu driven setup
and serial output.
Click
Here |
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PicLog.
Windmill logger
Yet another PicAxe project.
This unit logs windmill data, and works as a simple
shunt regulator.
Click
Here |
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Gill's Anemometer logger
Gill has put together a clever anemometer ( wind speed ) logger using a PicAxe chip and EEPROM's for data storage. The logger has low power consumption and can record weeks of data ( depending on the sample rate ).
Click
Here |
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Other
Projects
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Pedal Power
Building your own pedal powered generator.
Click
Here |
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Car
Alternator Rectifiers
How to use a rectifier out of a car
alternator.
Click
Here |
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12V
sensor light
Converting a mains powered
sensor light to 12v operation.
Click
Here |
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LCD
Panel Meter
How to make a volt and
amp meter for your battery bank.
Click
Here |
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CNC
Router
Now this was an interesting
project.
Click
Here |
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