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Build A Wind Generator

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It seems like yesterday when we decided to take the plunge into off grid living. In fact it's been well over 16 years now. We're a little different from most people who live on renewable energy though in the fact that we did our entire conversion for a very low cost. To start out with we decided that we should probably have a wind generator because it was pretty windy where we lived.

After looking around at some commercially available models our jaws dropped. We couldn't believe that something that has three basic parts could cost us $2500! So we did the first thing that came to our mind... went and searched for plans on the internet. Ugh, what a horrible week that was. We could harldy understand most of the plans we go so we decided to do it on our own and document the process.

It was important to us that our wind generator produce at least 1000 watts of power. This would allow us to power our home and still have leftover power for occasions when the wind wasn't blowing. We started out with the blades as I figured they would be the hardest to build, but was quite shocked when my friend told me that pipe - when cut correctly- has almost the same aerodynamic properties as a regular propeller blade. It's not quite as efficient, but I can always build 10 more for the price it would have taken me to fabricate the blades.

The motor we found on Ebay. It's an ametek motor which produces 24 VDC at 600 RPM's. It's always important that you get a motor that is higher rated than what you actually need because they produce less power when they're turned into a generator.

The tail was built from a piece of plastic and some steel rod I got from the local hardware store.

The tower we got for free... which was a relief as they are VERY pricey. It's actually an old TV tower. Since most people have switched to satellite you can usually ask if you can tote it away and they'll give it to you. We got paid $50 to tote an elderly couples tower away. You should have seen them smile as we removed what they thought was an eyesore.

Putting it all together took the better part of a weekend, and hooking it up to the house took a couple hours. I made a mistake and put a diode in backwards and my battery bank started turning the windmill around. There's a mistake you don't want to make.

In total the wind generator cost me just under $150 to build and needs relatively little maintenance. I oil it up every 4 months and have changed the motor once, but I saved well over $3000 by learning how to build a wind generator.

Build A Wind Generator

That's right I said it. It's not as difficult as you think to build a wind generator. 16 years ago when we decided to make to change to off grid living it was one of the things that was on the top of our to do list. We had seen the $2500 price tag associated with the 1000 watt commercial models and we simply didn't have that much money to invest at the time.

I wasn't the handiest guy around, but after examining a commercial model I was certain that I could figure out a way to duplicate the results with a fraction of the cost. I was right... it really isn't that hard to build a wind generator and it doesn't cost that much!

The hardest part was making the blades and that wasn't even really that hard. It only took about an hour to make four blades (three to use and a spare). The blades are made out of six or eight inch blue or green sewer pipe. I tried other types of pipe like ABS and PVC, but the green or blue sewer pipe is the strongest. The blades are cut according to a template and are about 80% efficient when compared to the commercial models. Make sure to paint two coats of UV protective paint on the blades to protect them from the sun. If you don't paint them they become brittle and can break.

The tower we actually got paid $50 for! While we were over at a friends house I noticed that they were no longer using their television antenna as they had installed a satellite receiver. I asked him if I could have it for my wind generator project. I was told "I'll give you $50 if you tote that thing away for me".

After testing a bunch of motors we found that a company called Ametek makes pretty good ones. We found it on eBay and paid about $64 for it. You will want to find a motor that is rated for 12 - 48 volts at 400 - 600 RPM's. You will always need a motor that is bigger then what you need as motors produce less electricity than they are rated for.

The body was made from a piece of double insulated stove pipe. We attached the tail (which is a piece of steel rod and a triangular piece of plastic) to the body. On the underside of the body we mounted a flange so that the wind generator can spin on top of the tower.

To this day our wind generator still sits atop that old TV tower spinning away. I've had to replace a couple blades over the years, but for $150 I'd say we did pretty good!

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Andrew Oke has sinced written about articles on various topics from Environment, Public Relations and Cars. Andrew Oke is very interested in renewable energy.He has 16 years experience living off the grid, and has completely built his own renewable energy system. Visit his website at. Andrew Oke's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.

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