Showing posts with label wind power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wind power. Show all posts

Monday, October 20, 2014

Testing Out Wind Turbine Made from Recycled Parts
Unknown2:44 PM

Great news! The wind turbine I was messing around with back in 2012, is working! (no load)
Now, I know that sounds really odd, but it has been on the back burner for quite sometime. I had a special location picked out and was planning to use it with another set of deep cycle batteries.

This particular wind turbine project started back in October 2012. My good neighbour, traded the wind turbine generator for a portable boom box. He mentioned that it wasn't working after an accidental shorting out of some wires. (He was extension cord style of wire ($69.00) than (2) 100' of 6 gauge welding cable ($140.00). Click on the links below below for more information.
drilling a hole into the tower and the drill bit struck one of the wires). So I took it home and messed around with the factory rectifier. Once it was removed, it was modified to a three wire AC system which would then be rectified closer to the battery box. To handle a 20 amp load, its much cheaper to run 100 feet of 12 gauge, AC, 3 prong,

Made a series of YouTube videos:
Part 1- Recycled Mount for Wind Turbine  
Part 2- Recycled Wind Turbine Mount- Stronger standoffs and a fancy cowling 
Part 3- Recycled Wind Turbine Upgrades 
Part 4- Homemade Wind Turbine Project v1.0 
Part 4- Buck Rogers Upgrade to Wind Turbine Project 2.0 
Part 5- Fancy Tail Fin for Wind Turbine Project 

So, with the completion of the new side deck, it was an
ideal spot for the big wind turbine. The plan was to erect the tower on top of the deck, next to the cabin and use the roof line as a support. Ended up moving the location 3 times before I found an ideal spot where it could be raised and lowered easily. Finally,  a good location was found at the corner of the cabin. Once it was in place, my next concern was the sound of the blades spinning and vibration.  But the next day, (the last day) there was no wind and I couldn't complete the test, bummer!
So, I let it sit for 3 weeks and see how it does. On October 17th, 2014, came up to the cabin to do some work on the insulation and check on the wind turbine. It was still there is one piece. Nice! Plus, it was a windy day and I heard it working. Boy, did it make a racket. Sounds just like a working power drill being pushed into a some wood with no drill bit. Quite loud and annoying!

So, the next plan of attack is move the wind turbine tower to a different location, but close to the cabin, with good wind and eliminate some of the noise. Below is a video of it working.


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Build Three of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) from Cedar Wood Siding
Unknown11:47 AM

This is the third version of the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) made from cedar siding lumber. It’s very close to the Lenz style of VAWTs. These type of wind turbines are fun to build. Lots of room for improvements and coming up with new ideas.
For example:
- the hubs with bearings, came from my portable generator. Had a handy grease spout that could easily be greased with a grease gun
- the struts for the scoop (Lenz style) of blades were extended to clear the garage door style generator
- Used boiled linseed oil to seal the wood parts. The stain lasts forever and works great against the sun
- Did a quick test on top of our house, but, nothing really happened. (The motor garage door motor was not hooked up) The wind is quite poor in our residential area. Plus, without the aid of mirrors or a surveillance system, it’s difficult to see it spin when it’s right on top of your house
- The VAWT was designed to be mounted on top of a tree a off-the-grid cabin
- At the moment, the garage door motor on it, but, it does not turn well with the belt-pulley system. The wind really needs to be blowing. I thinking about going the magnet and coil route
- Had to take it down after 5 days of testing. A certain neighbours started to ask questions and I didn't want the bylaw officer give me a ticket for having a structure on the roof.