car ’dynamo’ ???

[Frog Lips]

Just trawled back 7 pages to see if this has bean done, and I cant see it!

Soooo can I use a 12 volt car ’dynamo’ and regulator as part of a home made wind turbine?

[Martin]

erm, in a word, you CAN, but it really isn't a good place to start! I'd suggest having a gander at Hugh Pigott's website - the guru of windpower, who helps people run up some really nifty home-brewed turbines! http://www.scoraigwind.com/
You'll find that the characteristics of car alternators are "all wrong" for the natural speed of rotation of a turbine the right size to drive it........you can do it with gearing, but the losses go through the roof!

[Frog Lips]

erm, in a word, you CAN, but it really isn't a good place to start! I'd suggest having a gander at Hugh Pigott's website - the guru of windpower, who helps people run up some really nifty home-brewed turbines! http://www.scoraigwind.com/
You'll find that the characteristics of car alternators are "all wrong" for the natural speed of rotation of a turbine the right size to drive it........you can do it with gearing, but the losses go through the roof!

Humph!

Ok scrub that idea! Thanks for your input, I bow to your superior knowledge.

I have had a look at the link, its all a bit to complicated for me I think. so I will probably just buy a readymade job!

[bogit & legit]

you could make 1 of these??
http://www.scienceshareware.com/bike_gen.htm

cheers

[Smooth Hound]

if you contact someone at the alternative technology centre in macynlleth then they might have a plan for building a windmill from a dynamo, regulator , using a bike wheel and hub as the blades, you cut plastic to fit in at the same angle as the spokes, they had the plans 20 yrs ago, things have moved on since, if you can afford it i would recommend a rutland, a reasonable one of a size worth doing stars at around 400 pounds, all you need for that is a regulator which they sell to go with it at around 30 pounds, and a battery or 2.

[Frog Lips]

Thanks for the advice on the Rutland! This one looks promising

Rutland 913 Windcharger 12V *
Price: £484.95

Any comments ?

The bike idea will have to wait until I can find myself a big strong woman who wants to lose a few pounds!

[Martin]

we do 'em at £469
They're an extremely good, well-proven design that works well, and will go on forever..........
BUT, if cost is of importance, we are awaiting delivery of some really nice little Chinese turbines with 1.5m diameter rotor (getting on for twice the output of the Rutland) that have all the regulating circuits built-in to the turbine (no need to have controllers, dump loads etc) - should be retailing around £350...

[Smooth Hound]

sounds good, my only concern on the new ones would be , are they as longliving, as you say the rutland lasts forever, but as you say twice as much out put and a conciderable difference in price.

[Martin]

Rutlands have been about for ages - something like 40 years, so they've got a good reputation behind them!
On the other hand, don't underestimate the Chinese - they're smart cookies, and a lot of turbines are used in China. The ones we're waiting for are beautifully made (die-cast aluminium), very quiet, and the electronics are up there with the best - only time will tell, but I reckon they've got a good chance of lasting well!
I'm chomping at the bit waiting for my "trial" model at the moment - as soon as I've got it, it's going up on my test site (the back garden) - I'll give it a good thrashing, see if I can break it, and bung the results on the net.....

[Smooth Hound]

yes it will be interesting to see,

[Martin]

it's one of the fun things about being in this business - you get to play with all sorts of wonderful things!
I've actually seen one in the flesh at the BGG this year, and have high hopes!

[Martin]

ps, doubt they'll give me one of these for test, but I'm hoping!...........


electric cars - early in the new year..............(charge using wind turbine?)

[baldowrie]

frog lips

The bike idea will have to wait until I can find myself a big strong woman who wants to lose a few pounds!

Well I am neither, so that counts me out

[Frog Lips]

frog lips

The bike idea will have to wait until I can find myself a big strong woman who wants to lose a few pounds!

Well I am neither, so that counts me out

And I thought I was confused before!

[Frog Lips]

Rutlands have been about for ages - something like 40 years, so they've got a good reputation behind them!
On the other hand, don't underestimate the Chinese - they're smart cookies, and a lot of turbines are used in China. The ones we're waiting for are beautifully made (die-cast aluminium), very quiet, and the electronics are up there with the best - only time will tell, but I reckon they've got a good chance of lasting well!
I'm chomping at the bit waiting for my "trial" model at the moment - as soon as I've got it, it's going up on my test site (the back garden) - I'll give it a good thrashing, see if I can break it, and bung the results on the net.....

Martin help me.

I need to run a laptop, a twelve volt water pump (the kind of thing that you find in a motor home) and a 12volt florescent or two!

How much for everything in a box with instructions sent to Brittany France?

Excluding batteries. And I have an inverter already, as I’m running my setup on a generator now!