windpower elect generator

[JohnEd]

I was at a shop in Eugene and saw a guy with a Buffalo of some sort with a wind generator.  The thing was very simple and I suspect cost effective.  It used what looked like a auto alternator but I was told that the alternator was modified and actually had permanent magnets inside.  It used a three bladed fan that was injection molded from what looked like PVC and it was 4 feet across and had 3 blades that seemed narrow and thin to me.  The wires that fed the current down to the bottom of the 20 foot mast did not go thru any sort of slipring arrangement but simply "wound up" inside the pipe mast and were periodically "unwound" every couple weeks or when you took it down to break camp.  It didn't seem to generate all that much power but it was a lot cheaper than solar and made 80 or 100 watts as I dimly recall.  I have read internet data till I am blue and I can find nothing like this thing advertised or mentioned even. The guy is gone and I have no name or address or location.  Any help out there?  I can easily see where many might want info so it isn't only me.  I hear that wind stuff is really popular in Quartz Site and Burning Man.

thanks,

John

[bigjohnkub]

There used to be one advertised in th Northern Hydraulics book. I thought about the same thing since we primarily dry camp..
  Big John

[cody]

Nick is using one and I'm looking into them, the one nick has I believe is 450 watts,  http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category_6970_770399       http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200             http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200355692_200355692

[cody]

The one that didn't show lol     http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200320201_200320201

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Guy's,

Here is the thread I started last year when I installed my turbine.

http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=10110.0

Nick-

[cody]

Nick did you see the RV mount that northern tool is selling for the turbines? compresses to about 5ft and goes up 20 ft, I posted a link to it.

[JohnEd]

Cody,

All great info.  That is what I would choose if....  The one I am referring to uses that blade but is a bare bones auto alternator "on a stick" sorta affair.  I am sure it was not all that expensive but it has none of the sophistication that Nick's unit has.  Doesn't even have slip rings to get the dc down to the ground.  Only good for a week or so dry camp and then the wires need checked.  At 20 foot they can twist an awful lot and the owner said that he had had it up for two weeks at the desert and the wires were fine. ??
There is also the issue of the DC overcharge and Nick's unit, the one you referenced, has a charge controller that won't overcharge and it shuts down the blades(with a brake?) and also stops the blades if the wind speed gets too high.  I just talked myself into this....it is now officially on the list.  Thanks Cody!

Nick,

I didn't have the word turbine in my search....."wind generator" was what I used and a couple other variations.  I didn't read all 4 pages of that popular post but I will.  Must have worked out really well for you.  Thanks for the reference to your topic.

John

[cody]

John, I think nick added the 6 blade upgrade kit to his, but that and solar is really a nice way to go, costly but when you figure it out over the long term it's not that bad.  I heard that The Mother Earth News has some plans for home built wind turbines, that might be what you saw.  My long range plans are to take both the Anti-KOA and my daughters house completely off the grid.  Energy costs are not going to come down anytime soon if at all and I'm trying to think of how to keep the costs down, my dad used to tell me that to raise my standard of living, the first thing I needed to do is cut the cost of living, I'm not having much luck with the one meal a day idea with libby so I went on to plan B and the electrical costs lol.

[cody]

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1983-11-01/Marshall-Prices-Basement-Built-Wind-Generator.aspx    is this it john? the mother earth news DIY section has a bunch of these all a little different, google mother earth news DIY and the list of projects seem to be endless lol

[JohnEd]

Cody and all others,

Thank you all so very much for helping.  I had looked at this subject with only an eye to finding the simple turbine I had seen a couple years ago.  All of this and a close look at that Air X has straightened me out and I will go with that item.  I had never read anything about auto speed shutdown, smart charging  or shutdown after bats charged or at least it didn't sink in. All are must have features for me.

Cody,

Thank you for all your very helpful efforts.  No, that's not it my friend.  Picture a alternator that is bolted to a mast and has three blades like Nick's and a standard tail on a rod.  Really basic looking or maybe crude is the more appropriate word.  BUT, it works and is cheap,  The voltage controller and smart charger are yours to invent and I would guess that after you get this Puppy finally put together you will have very close to the Air X invested and not have the braking system. But then the older Air X models had no smart charger and relied on the size of the bat bank to absorb everything the turbine put out.

Thank you all,

John

[Lin]

Hey John,

There seems to be a lot on Ebay.  The first two links are for plans.  The last is for a 350 watt unit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/How-to-Build-Wind-Generator-Mill-WindMill-Turbine-Power_W0QQitemZ250549179463QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a55e51447

http://cgi.ebay.com/WINDMILL-GENERATOR-BUILD-IT-FROM-YOUR-JUNK-LEARN-HOW_W0QQitemZ350221037977QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_2?hash=item518accf199

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wind-turbine-350-watts-USA-Wind-Generator_W0QQitemZ180445166943QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2a035ebd5f

[JohnEd]

Lin,

Thank you for forwarding those.  They would be great for a project for the house and if I had a house that had good wind conditions I would try those.  Looks like fun.

John