Homemade Wind Turbine Tutorial - Looks good?

Hi all,

Has anyone had a try of building a wind turbine using a car alternator as per this one:

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-I-built-an-electricity-producing-wind-turbine/

Looks like it would be good, but was hoping someone's who's got some experience can verify that it looks functional, or perhaps suggest a plan that they've used before.

Any help would be great

Hi Russell;  Interesting read, thanks for sharing!
He is not using a car alternator though. A 30 volt permanent magnet motor instead.
He never mentions how many amps / volts his setup produces at the battery ,but its still way cool.
I suspect that his tower may need improvement if it becomes a permanent installation, but as a portable camping setup its outstanding!
For a few hundred bucks its a standalone power system !
I Like It !

treadmills are supposed to be a good source for DC motors. 90 volts I think.

If you watch the video to the end you will notice he is using a solar panel to also charge his batteries. That encapsulates well what happened to all the small wind applications. His 30-50 watt solar panel will outproduce that wind turbine probably to the tune of 300-500 percent in 90 percent of locations. meaning in that setup the solar panel with no moving parts does 60-80 percent of the work... At the very end of the video you see the unit spinning. based on experience I can tell you his production there is about 10-30 watts per hour based on blade speed and blade diameter. So you have to evaluate your site carefully. If you have a steady strong wind without obstructions and can get the turbine 20 ft above said obstructions then small wind might be for you. from the looks of it he is using a repurposed electric motor functioning as a PMA. As mentioned above treadmills are the best source of them. the unit will usually top out at about 100 watts in a gail forced wind though unless you use an expensive charge controller for it. So 100 watts of solar for less then $200 on the ground, guaranteed to give you 2-6 hours a day of production everyday or a turbine in the air harvesting an unknown quantity needing maintenance... Wind is very much site and user specific.
Best regards,  David

That thing likely blew apart in the first storm because there is no mechanism for governing the speed that they spin at. Many designs include a mechanism that changes the blade angle based on the centrifugal force so the faster it spins, the less turning force the blades create.

Nick Kitchener wrote:That thing likely blew apart in the first storm because there is no mechanism for governing the speed that they spin at. Many designs include a mechanism that changes the blade angle based on the centrifugal force so the faster it spins, the less turning force the blades create.

He has actually been using it for a number of years now.  On his site he talks about a storm with 50 mph winds that broke some of the fins, and the mods he created to fix it.  The last update was 2012 I believe, and that is at least 5 years after he built it.  I believe he built it for $140. Not bad I thought.

That simple turbine sounds perfect for his use in that windy site. He does not need a lot of power and can take it down when done with it. So it won’t get damaged by being left unattended. Or stolen. I want one for my travels to remote places. And a hydro turbine lol.

I've always liked this video.


The PDF for it can be found here.
Wind Turbine PDF

Solar PV panels have left homemade wind turbines behind, and even very efficient manufactured wind turbines don't come close.  The days of the Savonious Rotor are long past, you can get used solar panels that are being replaced with more efficient solar panels, and spend your time and energy on something that takes no maintenance and will last for.... Well the first ones are still working,  so no one really knows how long they could last.  Check out the Midwest Renewable Energy Association for more information on both Wind and Solar.  

Except where I live there is little sun and lots of wind...

Even if solar is better than wind, the wind turbine works great for charging 12 volt batteries, I would have love to have this on the farm in 1970.
Tractors,farm trucks all needed a fresh charge in the Spring.Drive to the store to get feed or supplies & charge a few batteries without wasting more fuel.
If we teach the young folk the simple stuff, they may make it better.