Car alternator wind mill generator?

[Trygve Lillefosse]

The problem it that car alternators do not have magnets.

Shows that I dont know mutch about car alternators...

But then again, if they get hold of old, broken down TV sets, I belive
they have a pretty powerful magnet inside

 

[Trygve Lillefosse]

you may find this interesting
http://www.stanford.edu/~hydrobay/lookat/pmg.html

Seemed interesting, but quite long and complex at first look. Will
store it for a rainy day. (The season is closing in at a fast rate.)

 

[gearhead]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are > windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator

Run don't walk to www.fieldlines.com

 

[clare at snyder.on.ca]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

Maybe I'm a little dense here but is you have a dead genny or two why don't
you just rig a windmill to turn the power head off of the dead genny?

I suspect because the dead genny is an AC unit and would need a
constant 3600 RPM -----

 

[Mauried]

Run don't walk to www.fieldlines.com

You also need to think about how you are going to get the power from
the generator to the load.
The windmill needs to be able to turn thru 360 degrees so you just
cant run wires from the alternator down to the ground.
Most wind turbines have internal slip rings to feed the power from the

turbine to the load regardless of the direction of the windmill.
Not the easiest thing to make.

Maybe you might like to look at a simple VAWT.

 

[Anthony Matonak]

You also need to think about how you are going to get the power from
the generator to the load.
The windmill needs to be able to turn thru 360 degrees so you just
cant run wires from the alternator down to the ground.

Why not? Lots of people do just that. On average, the turbine is
as likely to spin one direction as the other so the wire doesn't
get wound up much. You just need to have a way to look at it
once or twice a year and unwind it.

The big utility turbines use a counter that counts how many turns
it's gone left and right and when there is no wind they turn the
thing around to zero it out.

Anthony

 

[Frithiof Andreas Jensen]

Small wind generators have been discussed on SED in some considerable
engineering detail that pointed out the terribly low efficiency of
such a device... see Don Lancaster's comments.

What kind of "efficiency" would that be - all *I* personally care about is
Watt-Hour/USD!?

I.e: Is is economically viable?

 

[Frithiof Andreas Jensen]

I was just agreeing with American dumbfucks in general. There are some
very
smart people in the USA and a lot of them in this NG. However, whenever I
go to get something repaired I more often than not discover that I know
more
about it than they do which usually is not saying much. The same thing
happens when I go to buy auto parts etc.--the people behind the counter
don't know anything about what they are selling.

Minimum wage implies minimum skills - what would motivate that guy/gal
behind the counter to take an interest in a McJob? There is no future to be
had in the nether regions of a chain-store business. Everybody knows it and
acts rationally.

Then you have the
government.

....screwing everyone over....that's what *they do* ;-)

Recently Congress passed a law requiring minimum credit card
payments to double from 2% to 4% of the balance. The result is an
enormous
increase in credit card deliquencies, foreclosures, bankrupcies, and
mortgage companies going out of business. How dumb is that?

That's a good thing: Assets have been overinflated for the last 15 years or
so due to cheap credit; if a few of the businesses that make money out of
selling slave chains to the feeble go tits up as well, Fine & Just. If
(when, actually) interest rates soar and bond holders gets stuck with the
shit bag: Brilliant!!

 

[MooseFET]

"Jim Thompson" <[email protected]> skrev i en
meddelelse



What kind of "efficiency" would that be - all *I* personally care about is
Watt-Hour/USD!?

I.e: Is is economically viable?

Make that "useful Watt-hour/USD". One of the problems with the very
efficient wind generators is that they only really work in a strongish
but not too strong of wind. They make a whole lot of power when the
wind is right but you have to find a way to store for when it isn't.

Large low tech designs can often make useful power over a wider range
of wind speeds.

 

[MooseFET]

You also need to think about how you are going to get the power from
the generator to the load.
The windmill needs to be able to turn thru 360 degrees so you just
cant run wires from the alternator down to the ground.
Most wind turbines have internal slip rings to feed the power from the

If you use any of the turbine types that have a vertical shaft, all of
the problems with wind direction are or can be solved without slip
rings.

The OP was after something for making local power that had to be low
cost. I suspect that if he had to manually point it into the wind it
would be just fine for him.

 

[LVMarc]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

Cheers

-Gaiko

I suggest that you consider the older Volkswagen generators, pre 1972 vw
bug part for the conversion source. I believe that using the automotive
parts, will provide a super low cost parts lists. the vw generator
works a a slower rpm level..Happy designing AND good luck

Marc

marc


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300142128658&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=020

link to actual mixer site

www.fwt.niat.net amazing antennas

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LVMarc
video instructions antenna VOIP adapter

BS benevolent Stuff for engineers

 

[Steve Spence]

I am on very thin ice here. But would it not be possible to descemle a
couple of alternators, and use the magnets and other stuff inside them
to build a windmill?
They might be able to use the fan or the fan hub and put better blades
on.
Or maybee even better, get some wheel bearings and stuff, to make a
low friction windmill hub. Guess they need to be able to weld a litle
bit though.

Just my 2cents, dont bite if I'm totaky off the charts.

There are no magnets in a car alternator

 

[Steve Spence]

Any alternator that has been installed and used on a car will "build
up" if you wire it up and give it a spin. There is enough
magnetization left to overcome the rectifier's forward drop.

Not without the field coils energized. I saw a circuit once for self
energizing the coils. It's still a parasitic load.

 

[Rich Grise]

Shows that I dont know mutch about car alternators...

But then again, if they get hold of old, broken down TV sets, I belive
they have a pretty powerful magnet inside

Well, they have an ion trap magnet about the size of a dime, which might
stick to a refrigerator, but that's about it.

If you want magnets, tear apart an old maggie or disk drive. ;-)

Hope This Helps!
Rich

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

Here's one place you can go for homebrewed systems of all types:
http://www.homepower.com/

Note: Even at a do-it-yourself level, these systems aren't going to be
cheap. If you can't afford a decent Honda generator, this won't be easy.

The propellor design is somewhat critical if you want any sort of
efficiency. Just any old fan won't do.

 

[Arnold Walker]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

Cheers

-Gaiko

I suggest that you consider the older Volkswagen generators, pre 1972 vw
bug part for the conversion source. I believe that using the automotive
parts, will provide a super low cost parts lists. the vw generator works
a a slower rpm level..Happy designing AND good luck

Marc

marc


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300142128658&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=020

link to actual mixer site

www.fwt.niat.net amazing antennas

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LVMarc
video instructions antenna VOIP adapter

BS benevolent Stuff for engineers

Maybe one would have better luck with old elevator motor/generators some
were made to spin as slowly as 150 rpm's.
While at the same time delivering 10Kw......checkout Preston steam website
for units.Also got some 110 volt DC room fans.
if you wanted smaller units.

 

[Steve Young]

Not without the field coils energized. I saw a circuit once for self
energizing the coils. It's still a parasitic load.

Perhaps give the field a split second jolt from a battery, when an rpm sensor
indicates adequate speed. Use a diode, resistor, capacitor to have the output
latch it into operation. The generator would engage and drop out
automatically. Crude functioning circuitry would be cake, with lots of room to
expand sophistication.

 

[BobG]

The propellor design is somewhat critical if you want any sort of
efficiency. Just any old fan won't do.

======================================
The model plane guys have variable pitch props now. Instead of
fretting about the thing blowing apart from centrifigual force in a
big wind, just feather the prop. A $5 microcontroller and a gearhead
motor could modulate the blade pitch to control the torque and speed
under varying wind profiles. Work smarter not harder. Technology.

 

[Rich Grise]

======================================
The model plane guys have variable pitch props now. Instead of
fretting about the thing blowing apart from centrifigual force in a
big wind, just feather the prop. A $5 microcontroller and a gearhead
motor could modulate the blade pitch to control the torque and speed
under varying wind profiles. Work smarter not harder. Technology.

Do it mechanically. Build a centrifugal governor into the nose cap
(or whatever it's called), and have its output feather the blades as
needed.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[MooseFET]

Not without the field coils energized. I saw a circuit once for self
energizing the coils. It's still a parasitic load.

Have you tried it?

You only need enough perm in the magnetic parts to make a couple of
volts to get the thing to build up.