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| Wind power | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 13 2011, 10:50 AM (238 Views) | |
| Grizzly | Jun 13 2011, 10:50 AM Post #1 |
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Well for some odd reason I got this wind generator plan stuck in my head. Been reading everything I can find on it and have learned quite a bit of new ideas and ways of doing it. For one thing, like everthing else nowdays, there is almost no way the average person can afford to buy a ready made setup. It has to be a home made set up and with almost tons of info on the internet it really doesn't sound too hard to do. Of coarse there are those certain few that make it sound like you need to build a space ship and fly to the moon and back or it won't be right but I tend to totally blow those type off and stick to simple is better or the "kiss" methed (keep it simple stupid). My first plan is to build a coil winding and a permanent magnet stator. With this device what ever you use to drive it, you will get power. So I'm on the hunt for rare earth magnets and I'm guessing ebay is probably the best route to locating them. They really don't cost much at all so it will be more time invested than money. I'll keep everyone informed on this as it goes. |
| Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns | |
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| Mommacat | Jun 13 2011, 08:13 PM Post #2 |
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It's too bad a person couldn't have had the foresight to get a wind system in place years ago when it was cheap and more of a novelty than anything. But, I would agree it would be a good thing to have. Some of the new systems run into the $75 -$100,000.00 range, so not "do-able" for most. |
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| HandFarming | Jul 30 2011, 09:54 PM Post #3 |
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We had a little Air405 wind generator bought after the St Peter tornadoes as a backup unit to run small necessities like lights. It paid for itself in 7 years, which sucked. Once we got serious about power, we realized, we could make more power than most because we have a creek and can make power using any old motor in a barrel (search for hydro-electric barrel). The HEB hydro-electric barrel is an easy thing to make. A barrel, motor, bearings and metal pipe to anchor. I really like the design because the barrel can be taken out of water and anchored to the ground and a egg beater wind catcher can be mounted to it for simple wind power. The height of the beater and the amount of wind are the biggest factor for power. I prefer in any situation using alternative power to not have to use batteries since that was the biggest expense in alt power use. Motors are anything from vacuum cleaner motors, car alternators to fan motors. The bearings being the most expensive part as they need some sealed qualities from weather but in the simple hydro electric barrel design, the barrel should sit high enough the water to only be effected by rain. What I do not like about the HEB design is that they use 2 motors which means to get power out of both one of the motors needs to be geared to match the output of the other side. For most people who have access to flowing water, more cheap barrels would be a lot less complicated and less problems. And, of course, no barrel is really needed in turning a motor to wind power, just a beater and anchor system. So that Air unit we got was hit by an unfortunate bird and this would be the second time we would be replacing the blades and it's just not worth it. |
| You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think. | |
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| Mommacat | Aug 17 2011, 01:03 AM Post #4 |
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Grizzly, you mentioned in a recent post that you wondered about your area having enough breeze to power a wind turbine. If you go to this site: http://www.ecowerc.com/wind.html they have a US Map of average wind speeds for each state. It also tells what the minimum requirement is. Your area looks like it would easily meet and exceed the speed needed. Anyway, this site has lots of information about wind power and is pretty specific when you go into the plans for the various versions they offer. They don't get into the cost/price though. Anyhoo, just passin' it on. |
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| HandFarming | Aug 17 2011, 09:33 PM Post #5 |
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Yeap - in southern MN and northern Iowa - there's wind farms all over the place. I see the lights running in 2 directions but I've been by Jasper and they are west of here too. Beautiful to see with their big blades spinning and cows grazing below. |
| You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think. | |
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| Grizzly | Feb 8 2012, 12:24 AM Post #6 |
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I seen an article on a new type of wind powered generator. It's a vertical, spinning type, which I've been looking at anyway, but this is a little different than most. The site is called "vbine.com" and of course they only want to sell this, not show you how it's made. It's about half price compared to a normal prop type but still way out of reach for most. I'm doing some planning to try to build one similar to this one and a smaller scale just to try it out. Most of the construction is what I've checked out in the past but the only part I've not clearly come up with is the automatic braking system for high winds. The site mentioned something about electric braking which got my mind on electric trailer brakes that are 12 volt any way, just not sure if they could withstand the heat buildup in a high wind situation. If anybody has any ideas on this cause it is something that has plagued me with any type of wind power. Kind of the main reason I never went any farther with it. |
| Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns | |
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| HandFarming | Feb 8 2012, 09:26 PM Post #7 |
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On vertical generators, I thought they tilted it to reduce wind damage. I could be wrong but I think you are on to using trailer braking. As of late, we have dinking around with 3phase motors. I can't find a tool to pull out some pins but I know they make them....might have to rig something up. Edited by HandFarming, Feb 8 2012, 09:28 PM.
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| You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think. | |
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