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Forum Index : Windmills : Noob takin a shot at wind power
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daggit Newbie  Joined: 19/07/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 12 |
Hello all. Prowled this forum for a bit, learned a few things. I learn easiest the hard way if that makes sense. I'm gonna jump right in assembling a home-brew wind turbine this week. Salvaged a couple "free on the curb" treadmills came up with 3 motors, one AC, one tiny AC, and one DC. Right or wrong the 1hp, 3000rpm, 115vdc motor will be my first windmill, gonna make some PVC blades. I salvaged 4 L16P Trojan 6v deep cell batteries that tested good on a battery tester 4 $60! sweet. Ordered a charge controller yesterday. I have a heavy duty 3 post tv antenna that will service as my tower (I live in a very small town) Only thing I'm undecided on is blade size and pulley size. going to run a pulley from the windmill shaft to the motor shaft. Anybody like to make it easy on me and tell what size to go with?  shooting at the dark |
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| davef Guru  Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
The post might get more exposure in the Wind section of the forum. |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5119 |
Moved the post to the Wind section. Hi Daggit I would try direct drive first. Pulleys suck power, so avoid them if you can. What size PVC pipe can you get your hands on? If you have a good cheap supply, I would make a few different turbine diameters and see how they go. Try a 4, 5, 6 foot diameter and see how it goes. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| daggit Newbie Joined: 19/07/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 12 |
Sorry bout posting wrong place started one post then changed my mind, haha Direct drive eh?. I was thinking of using a pulley with a tensioner rigged up to the little 1/4 hp ac motor that controlled the incline on the treadmill. I was goin to use a governor from an RC helicopter to automatically tighten the belt in windy conditions, maybe. Is there an easier way? shooting at the dark |
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| birdhouse Regular Member  Joined: 27/01/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 63 |
daggit- good to see you're jumping in. i jumped in too, but have been slow moving on mine. your 3000 rpm 115vdc motor... i learned to get a rough cut in you tenth the numbers. ie 300rpm would yield 11.5 volts. so a 12 volt cut in would be slightly above 300rpm. pulleys and belts can be a hassle. noisy, req maint, and rob power. your motor won't produce a ton of power so robbing some in the tranny will yield even less. however, if you struggle to get say 350rpm without gearing, it may be your only option. that said, larger diameter blades give more swept are and more power, but rpms drop as you go bigger. so you may want to go really big to compensate for gearing losses, or smaller and try direct drive. the only downside to going too small is you may not have enough tourqe to get up to speed. i hope this makes sense. i by no means know it all so feel free to correct any wrong info here. good luck  i pee more than once before flushing, and don't have to flush at all up at the ranch! |
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| daggit Newbie Joined: 19/07/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 12 |
Thanks birdhouse, I've been pondering blade size, at first bigger sounded better but 300rpms is a pretty good clip and I cant imagine a 7ft blade span moving that fast very often so I thought I'd try something a bit smaller at first and see what happens shooting at the dark |
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