How I built an electricity producing wind turbine

Step 15 Update 2

Once again I stayed on my remote property during my recent vacation in Arizona. This time I had both my home-built wind turbine and my home-built solar panel with me. Working together, they provided plenty of power for my (admittedly minimal) electricity needs.

The second photo shows the the new charge controller unit. The wires on the left side are coming from the wind turbine and solar panel. The wires on the right side are going to the battery bank and dummy load. I cut up an old heavy-duty 100 ft. extension cord to make cables to connect wind turbine and solar panel to the charge controller. The cable to the wind turbine is about 75 feet long and the cable to the solar panel is about 25 feet long. The battery bank I am currently using consists of 11 sealed lead-acid 12V batteries of 8 Amp-Hour capacity connected in parallel. That gives me 88 Amp-Hours of storage capacity, which is plenty for camping. As long as it is sunny and windy, (nearly every day is sunny and windy on my property), the wind turbine and solar panel keep the batteries well charged.

More details on this project and my other alternative energy projects including my home-built solar panels, and my home-built biomass gasifier can be found on my web site.

Comments

[Da Person who plays paintball.]

Great idea, great project, great description, great everything.

Although, a little idea popped into my head, if you could make turbines with inbuilt solar panels, would that increase the power available.

Her`s a great `ible for DIY scrap solar panels.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Solar-Panel/

[Sciniro]

Great work, compliment. Bravo

[madmaxismartin]

All good and well, I really like the step by step easy instructions, there is though just one thing bothering me, I know the power cable coming from the generator motor goes down the pipe and out again, dont you think there willo be a chance that the turbine goes round and round and round till the cable gets tangled inside the pipe, or did you have something in place to prevent this?

Kind regards
Martin

[dairyfarmer777]

He said his doesn't get tangled because the wind blows from west and south consistently (1/4 of a circle) , and if it does he could just manually untwist it. Although in the future he said he may install slip ring connections, if you think your cord will twist you can try using slip rings.

[jomac_uk]

I have read on many sites that show the construction of small generators like this, most of them just have the cable coming straight down from the generator, either on the inside of the pole, or the outside. By the law of averages, any twists in the cable, around the pole tends to untwist over a period of time. Certainly on my small mill that i had running for about 18 months, i only had to untwist the cable from around the pole about 3 times, and this was only because it annoyed me, rather then necessity.
I put a weatherproof plug and socket at the bottom of the pole to allow this.

[ARJOON]

read instructable well

[quickdrawmatty]

Nice job but I have a question for all of the people who have made one. What happens when the whole blade motor unit keeps turning in the direction of the wind and the wires twist and twist inside the pole? Does it get to a point where the wires might break or bind up enough to cause it not to rotate any more? I really want one bad but can't afford a commercial one and don't have the electrical know how to build one. But I might give it a try. Another project that will piss off the wife.

[BigShotUK]

I just posted this link in a reply to another user, but here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_ring

I think the risk of a twisted wire is a wee bit overstated, especially in this setup where it's taken apart between uses, however unlikely it is that the top will turn in only one direction, it's definitely possible it could happen - especially if it's in place for years. In that case, just a few more 360° turns in one direction than in the other would eventually lead to a knackered wire over time.

I believe the slip ring idea is what slivernight1944 was describing, and that would do the job.

[silverknight1944]

Where your motor and system pivot on the top of the pole you use a circular disc with separate tracks for each wire from the motor/generator. On the motor/generator section you mount spring loaded bolts that will make contact with each track to pass the charging current through and attach the wires from the generator to them. That way you have no wires that can be twisted up and the whole top unit can turn 360 degrees safely and still pass the current thru the bolts and subsequent tracks on the mating panel below or you can invert them and have the panel on the generator side.

[Big Bear]

The possibility of the windmill changing the direction it faces is just as likely in both directions. Meaning, that it could change directions clockwise or counter-clockwise just as easily. This is all determined by the wind. One time it may wind up the cord and the next time it may unwind the cord.

[Evrybodiesbuddy]

Is there an electrical connector that works like a Gyro on a bmx bike?

[BigShotUK]

Yup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_ring

[DeanC993]

Hi that turbine is great, OUTSTANDING you must be very smart i am starting to make one that will power 3 volts not much but ok for me i saw this one on mdpub.com does it power 30 volts? How much did the generator cost? Best Regards, Dean

[gardnerp]

Very cool! Your instructions really seem show that wind power within reach for many of us. Thanks! PS: Also, I appreciate your updates!

[nutjob]

Looks like a lot of work. You use an external automotive voltage regulator, or even a alternator with built in regulator? As far as your tower. You could have gone a larger 10 foot pole and put a reducer and a smaller and shorter length for a more effective stop on your guy wires. Just the same it looks like it does the job well.

[Eeeeeeeeeekz]

AWESOME!! very cool thanks for sharing.