Hi all, I need some ideas on lighting a single garage and thought of making a small wind turbine on the locost side if possible. I have found some permenant magnet motors on ebay for cheap and was hoping to use this as a starting point.
Basically the wind turbine would charge a couple of big heavy duty 12v or 24v batteries and then an inverter would be used to power a couple of strip lights and possibly something else. Does anyone have any advice on this subject? am i wasting my time here?
I cant use a genny because of noise issues.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Rob

Google is your friend

Stick to DC. Your inverter will have losses, and they can be blown up if you have a short circuit in a damp garage.

If you stayed 12V, then you can go for LED lights, which wont use hardly any juice, but you'll need a charging unit, as plugging the DC motor directly into the battery will turn the generator into a fan! - Im sure you already know this though.

Never really thought about doing this before, so these are just the things from the top of my head. I havent looked, but check Google as above.

I was thinking of using one of those pavement signs that used to have half a message on one side and the other half on the second side. They were banned because of the high speeds they got to in good wind. One of those with a comercial (HGV) 24V DC alternator on top would be a good starting point.

Just cant find where to buy one

RD

I use an inverter from a big 12v battery to run a 5ft strip light as the main lighting backed up by a 12v strip light and a rechargable hand lamp . It's worth painting the walls with white emulsion or masonary paint . Have been looking at some 12 v downlighters as well

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Originally posted by rallyingden
I was thinking of using one of those pavement signs....

Just cant find where to buy one

RD

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http://www.instructables.com/id/55-Gallon-Drum-Turbine/

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Originally posted by Gav
Google is your friend

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would a car alternator not do the trick instead of the motors used in that link? Might need a belt drive to gear the rpm up suitably...

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Originally posted by JoelP
would a car alternator not do the trick instead of the motors used in that link? Might need a belt drive to gear the rpm up suitably...

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car alternator is good.

there is some info. on an offroading site to show how to convert it to produce high voltage AC - can't recall where article is but had something to do with welding in the field.

If you used a standard alternator, how would you energise the coils (simulate the dashboard 'ignition light'

Just wire it in normally and risk discharge if the wind doesn't blow for a few days?

The leading expert on home built Wind turbines in the UK is a guy who lives off grid in Scotland called Hugh Piggott, try googling him.

I have a done a workshop on Wind turbine building with him and there is nothing he doesn't know about them.

The only thing I would say about your build is that before you do anything you should see if where you are putting it is suitable, you could have the most efficient wind turbine ever built but if the site is poor then the yield will be very low and probably not worth doing in the first place. Turbulence has a serious impact on the yield, so if you live in a urban area then it probably is not suitable (that is why you very rarely see domestic wind turbines in built up areas). The best thing to do is a wind survey to see if your average wind speed is above about 5 m/s, anything less than this is a waste of time as most turbines don't start generating anything meaningless until above this speed. You can pick up cheap anemometers on E-bay very easily and then do a survey for about 6 months to see.

[Edited on 11/10/09 by grafter]

Hey guys thanks for all your help and enthusiastic advice. I am interested in the high output ac method. however i have recieved an email from someone who has read this thread and he has sent me an attachment which he claims to have a way to build a wind turbine. i am a bit reluctant to open it because of possible spam and virus' etc. so if it is anyone on here then please let me know.
Thanks again guys

Rob