Make it yourself wind generator

Anything goes, as long as it falls under the general forum protocol and rules.
Post Reply
JonnyBoats
Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
Posts: 372
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:54 pm
Location: Wiscasset, ME
Contact:

Make it yourself wind generator

Post by JonnyBoats »

Public television has a new show called Make TV http://makezine.tv showcasing people who make stuff.

One of the segments they did was on a do it yourself wind power generator http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/0 ... rator.html

Basically they used an old treadmill motor as the "generator" and made the blades from a piece of PVC pipe. Really rather basic and no special tools required.

Given the high cost of new wind generators for sailboats, this seems rather intriguing.
John Tarbox
S/V Altair, a LeComte NorthEast 38
http://www.boatmaine.us
Hirilondë
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 1317
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:50 am
Boat Name: Hirilondë
Boat Type: 1967 Pearson Renegade
Location: Charlestown, RI

Post by Hirilondë »

Wind generators on boats can be very dangerous. Just be careful if you try making your own, might be more than you bargained for.
Dave Finnegan
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gresham’s Law of information: Bad information drives out good. No matter how long ago a correction for a particular error may have appeared in print or online, it never seems to catch up with the ever-widening distribution of the error.
User avatar
rshowarth
Skilled Systems Installer
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:39 am
Location: Los Angeles

Post by rshowarth »

Hirilondë wrote:Wind generators on boats can be very dangerous. Just be careful if you try making your own, might be more than you bargained for.
Why can they be dangerous?
Read

Catalina 27
O'Day Rhodes 19 Custodian
User avatar
Rachel
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 3044
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:59 pm

Post by Rachel »

I wonder if Dave is thinking of the whirling blades (?). The boat I cruised on came from the previous owners with a hoistable (or towable) Red Wing wind generator. We never used it (decided it was too large and heavy to lug along and we'd make do with solar panels), but it had quite a "wingspan" and looked like a formidable thing to handle/hoist in the rigging.

This photo doesn't quite convey the size and heft:

Image

I have sailed with an Ampair (commercially made) wind generator; it was permanently mounted and high enough up that you couldn't get tangled in the blades (at least if you were on deck). Still, something to watch.

Rachel
Quetzalsailor
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 1100
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:53 am
Boat Name: Quetzal
Boat Type: LeComte North East 38
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Post by Quetzalsailor »

I think I'd second the dangerous judgement. A wind generator in your back yard, or on your roof, is not subject to the horsing around that a boat-mounted piece of equipment is. I did not check out the website but blades homemade from PVC pipe sound prone to all sorts of manufacturing anomalies and that plastic is not so light, stiff or strong at best. Ditto for keeping the salt atmosphere out of the important parts.

I think the dangers are primarily the whirling bits coming off in bad and unpredictable directions due to failure in bearings, shafts or blades.
Hirilondë
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 1317
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:50 am
Boat Name: Hirilondë
Boat Type: 1967 Pearson Renegade
Location: Charlestown, RI

Post by Hirilondë »

Quetzalsailor wrote:
I think the dangers are primarily the whirling bits coming off in bad and unpredictable directions due to failure in bearings, shafts or blades.
That is what came to mind and prompted my comment.
Dave Finnegan
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gresham’s Law of information: Bad information drives out good. No matter how long ago a correction for a particular error may have appeared in print or online, it never seems to catch up with the ever-widening distribution of the error.
Zach
Boat Obsession Medal Finalist
Posts: 684
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:28 pm
Location: Beaufort, North Carolina
Contact:

Post by Zach »

I did some research on building something cheap... There are a few manufacturers that sell hubs and blades through ebay for folks wanting to hack the rest together.

Less than a hundred bucks and you get the dangerous half fixed proper. Grin.

I lost interest after trying to figure a low cost generator head that charges at slow speeds, has a decent amp output all the way to maximum... and somewhat corrosion resistant.

(I did my normal of drawing up a rube goldberg contraption... pinion and ring gear mounted way up in the air, shaft in a tube running down below deck through seals to a permanent magnet alternator... etc. Grin.)

Zach
1961 Pearson Triton
http://pylasteki.blogspot.com/
1942 Coast Guard Cutter - Rebuild
http://83footernoel.blogspot.com/
Post Reply