How To: Build Your Own 1000 Watt Wind Turbine

What a load of nonsense. I think it is fun and educational to build your own generator but the title "How to build your own 1000 watt..." is misleading. This thing will never, ever produce 1000 watt of power for the simple fact that the coils and air gap simply won't be precise enough. A rubbish article of which far too many start to appear on TreeHugger. If there is nothing to say... say nonthing.

Dinther, are you saying that their implementation of this design is too poor to reach 100 watts, or that this style of generator can't make that much power? This design is very common with DIY wind power, and many mills have been built just like this that make 1kw or even quite a bit more. Checkout otherpower.com

Dinther:

I disagree with your assumptions, you should visit Otherpower to see what is possible with such low tech solutions.

http://otherpower.com/otherpower_experiments.html

If you don't have anything positive to say, say nothing!

A kilowatt isn't a whole lot of power Dinther. You might be interested to know that your average HO vehicle alternator puts out a kilowatt of power, and the cap between rotor and stator is large enough to jam a screwdriver down into. And even if he falls a few hundred watts short, it'll be a powerful learning experience for anyone with a decent supply of wind.

What I found interesting is how small a 1 kW windmill is. After reading this article I took a look at commercial 1kW systems. They're compact and pretty cheap, even with the support poles needed to get them over the treeline.

I imagine most suburban homeowners could put one of these up and have a significant reduction in their electric bill with little front-end cost. They're small enough that I doubt most neighbors would care.

Even if I am charitable enough to grant that Dinther is right in this case, I get really annoyed when technically minded people apply some abstract theory that they know about how something *should work* to a given example and then present their deduction as if its gospel.

it would be far more constructive to pose such concern as a critical question, such as "I wonder how it is that the windmill can generate so much electricity when there is such a gap between the coils?" This way, you'll generate a discussion rather than a verbal sparring match that, as with this very post, has little to do with the content you might actually be able to contribute profitably.

I wonder how it is that the windmill can generate so much electricity when there is such a gap between the coils?

Hello all. I was wondering where to get a copy of this plan so I may try and build this generator. This will be My first big project since building a radio kit about 2 years ago.
Thanks
David

Hi, this message is for David, I turned up this site in a search for wind turbines. You can find plans freely available for wind turbines on the internet. www.otherpower.com is a site for enthusiates. Specifically, the site hosts have a link with all kinds of information on it here:

http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html

Check out the "our latest way of doing things" link off of that page.

Hugh Piggot, a world renowned designer of low tech small wind turbines has a site at http://www.scoraigwind.com/
He has published many books of which I have read several, detailing how to build wind turbines of this size range with minimal materials and tools. I recommend them as they explain a lot of the theory, and have proven plans that have probably been built thousands of times by now.

Ed Lenz, a creative machine builder, has some information on his site WWW.windstuffnow.com detailing blade and alternator construction as well. Hope this helps.

I was wondering if anyone had plans for an electric generator that produces ac or dc current and spins at about 650 rpm, or perhaps a generator that produces 110 Volts and 15 amps in that RPM range? If so could you please let me know. Also, I was wondering if there is a way to measure the resistance given by the generator while spinning at max rpm.

Thanks

The design, while not perfect, could be made to produce well in excess of 1kw if tweaked properly. For example, one could use a "soft mix" of plaster as a jig for manufacturing the coils and their mounting rig to a much tighter tolerance. (A soft mix is one that is firm, yet would crumble easily with a few gentle taps of a mallet, making it easy to remove once the construction is completed.) This would allow you to wrap in a truncated triangle shape that would leave less wasted space and allow you to control the gap size efficiently.
Just a thought...

i watched a show called 'invention nation' and the guys on the show were shown how to make one of these. i don't know the minimum windspeed for the claimed kw production. but imagine mounting these on the roof of the last camero with the turbine body flush with the roof and using those bowl shaped cups the weather service uses for wind speed to turn it instead of generic fan blades and driving down the freeway at 75 and the turbine spinning 75. more than enough to have a self charging electric car, and if no traffic guess what ENDLESS miles drivability rather than the 40 or so for the new chevy electric proto-type or the 2-3 hundred anticipated for the tesla roadster.

I'm a full time rv'r. I travel the southwest fulltime and hunt/fish/golf/etc.
I'm next to a large motor home that has a home built wind generator that is no bigger than 2 feet across.

This guy has a dc motor with what looks like a 24 inch oscillating fan 5 blade unit hooked up to it.

It's turning like a demon!

He says it charges the batteries with little effort, he has 8 Optima 12 volt batteries all wired togther.

I looked suspicous so he put a meter on the wires coming off the fan as it ran and lo and behold it's putting out a current.

Is this really a no kidding thing he did or is this some smoke and mirrors thing?

Stephen

id be interested in a non electric straight thru turbine-to simply run fans-standard house type(with no motor obviously) i liv in suffolk uk +its windy+flat-i want 2 run a fan-dir3ect from wind power
any links etc would b a help

Joey -
Sounds fun, but I have to wonder where the energy comes from to power you car when the car is the source of energy for the wind to turn your fan?

Would be funny to see it drive down the road.

I am a complete novice to this but read on another site that you can generate power using a permanent magnet DC motor. I have a washing machine in my garage and was wondering if I could use this.

Thanks

Dave

I have helped a friend build the same type of turbine when we were in college. It produced 1k when a strong wind was blowing but it did eventually rip itself apart when a storm came through. (We built it for basically free)

The problem we had was getting everything even. It would spin and then hang up when 1 coil got to close. A concern that could also make it unstable when it spins.

I would love to try to build a mini solar chimney(100ft tall or so) and see what it would produce. Very little I expect but it would be fun.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a site where I could buy/or make a windmill without the investment leaving me poorer than I already am? My electric bill is killing me and with so many children I need all the help I can get.

@Nancy - you should look at the Earth4Energy Guide.

Dear All,

Does anyone can help me?

I want build an axial flux stator wich have 12 coil for 3 phase wiring.

Thank you.

It's so unbelievable. Nowadays, so many people want to generate their own electricity.

Yeah, probably windmills are the best way to go.

read 'Make' magazine issue 05

Hey Dinther
If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing! People are here to try to find a better solution. If you have expertise in this field, than offer it. Don't criticize people for not fully understanding. Lighten up and try helping!

thanks for the article.

With energy costs on the rise it is important to look at other ways to create energy for your home. Many people are starting to weigh the costs of wind energy and solar energy. These systems installed by professionals are very expensive, but the good news is a homemade system can be installed for less than $200.

i just had a great idea!
make a couple small windmills (no turbines) hook it up to a gear that spins a chain to another much larger gear )could use bike chain - gears) say if you make like 3 of them attached to 3 larger gears on the same axle which then spins a smaller motor through a turbine, then maybe you could get loads of energy since motor would spin so fast.

if anyone tries then send me an email and let me know. im gonna make it soon and i'll keep you all informed. teh1jonnyj@hotmail.com

have a wee look at my home made mills and i have had 70A plus running through my home built mills system not quite 1000watts but i woud have lost half of my generated power as heat in the coils so if i could double my efficencey to say 80% i would be getting back to my batteries over 1000w so it could be done if the precission was there in the build, but as i build all my machines in a 6 feet by 8 feet garden shed i cant be fussy but it works and i am very happy with my mills

so go build one you know you want one

regards andy fae the west central scotland

Why dc not ac?
I have built a windturbine that powers a 2900 watt pto driven generator head and want to hook it up too my own power grid?

This will work. I have built one myself. Don't knock it till you try it. You can build your own wind turbine for less than your think. Just order parts from online and put it together yourself. freewind4me.com

I have a design that would optimize wind usage in a roof top application, but don't know how to control the fluctuation of power created by varying wind speeds? To tie into the main power grid, wouldn't you need a stead number of cycles? What are you inventors using to keep a steady amount of power flowing?

This is completely possible if you know what your doing and how electricity works. The only problem is that 1000 watts is only equal to 10 amps, and 10 amps is only half the force needed for one circuit in your house not including anything but lighting and recepticles. The average house takes 100 to 150 amps of potential electricity. So for this to be effective you would at least 10 wind generators. You might be able to get away with 10 because your house is never using its full potential of energy.

"One simple way to figure watts to amps is every 100 watts equals about one amp give or take 10 to 20 percent."

Well just wanted to give my imput

OH PS! 3 phase is rarely used in house's most of it is single phase these days.

Though you can produce more potential with 3 phase your panel will most likely only be equip with single phase which is 2 poles...

be careful with 3 phase in a home. It could have what is called a high leg. Which is used to increase voltage for 240 vlt. So don't get hit by a 190 vlt high leg please. IM sure you like your arms, legs, fingers, etc.

what are the max rpms a wind blade will turn

From what I have learned,why isnt anybody using 120vac motors. house curent is usauly 15amp at about 1800watts at your recepticles.I am trying to achieve 3000watts of power with wind&solar for a household.I have been researching varies 120vac motors to withstand high rpms and to produce 15amps like household would have instead of 12vdc and inverters.

Nowadays, when energy prices getting more expensive, it's definitely a good idea to make your own windmill.

To be honest, I thought it's really difficult to build one, but in fact, it's quite easy and affordable too.

Quite useful article. I've been thinking about starting to produce renewable energy for long time, but never actually managed to do anything. Probably I should do something now.

Thanks for great read.