Personal windmill, again

[redtom]

I may have brought this up before, my memory isn't that good. I've been sitting here in this brutal cold weather, by the wood stove, watching the wind blow pretty much every day and most nights. I can't help but wonder if or why can't I buy or build a do it yourself small windmill. It could be happily spinning away day and night creating a little juice to supplement my electric. My brief internet search led to units that cost about $5000 and would take about 10 years to get any return. At that rate, I'd be better off to use the 5k to supplement my electric bill. But if a cheaper unit could be had....anyone here using such a setup?

 

[olddavid]

You might look at wind chargers. Amazon (of course) has a 12V 400 watt wind generator for around $124. Using that to charge batteries (more $$) would allow you to power 12Vdc lighting. One problem, you would have to run new lighting or disconnect your current lighting from the panel and replace with 12Vdc bulbs. You could use a 12Vdc to 120Vac inverter and drive existing lights, but you would still need to disconnect them from the electrical panel somehow. It probably isn't worth it, but it might be kind of fun to do it.

 

[Loosehandle]

I may have brought this up before, my memory isn't that good. I've been sitting here in this brutal cold weather, by the wood stove, watching the wind blow pretty much every day and most nights. I can't help but wonder if or why can't I buy or build a do it yourself small windmill. It could be happily spinning away day and night creating a little juice to supplement my electric. My brief internet search led to units that cost about $5000 and would take about 10 years to get any return. At that rate, I'd be better off to use the 5k to supplement my electric bill. But if a cheaper unit could be had....anyone here using such a setup?

I have a small wind generator made from a alternator purchased from Missouri wind and solar. It has homemade blades from 8 or 10" pvc pipe, about 6' with 3 blades. You can make it semi self governing by making the tail able to move to the side in a big wind, it's on a 35' tower and except for replacing the bearings once has worked for 6-7 years.

 

[Frankmn]

You might look at wind chargers. Amazon (of course) has a 12V 400 watt wind generator for around $124. Using that to charge batteries (more $$) would allow you to power 12Vdc lighting. One problem, you would have to run new lighting or disconnect your current lighting from the panel and replace with 12Vdc bulbs. You could use a 12Vdc to 120Vac inverter and drive existing lights, but you would still need to disconnect them from the electrical panel somehow. It probably isn't worth it, but it might be kind of fun to do it.

I see people at campsites that have windmills rigged to car alternators. Guess I saw more of those before solar panels became common.

 

[Non-farmer]

purchased from Missouri wind and solar.

I wouldn't send my worst enemy to that company. They victimized me by sending something that wasn't even close to being as described, were hostile when I tried to deal with them about it, and I ended up having to pay a ridiculous "restocking fee" - and, of course, the return shipping for a product that wasn't what they claimed it to be. I then discovered that I was far from alone in my experience. I wish I had found that out before I paid them.

 

[Hemmjo]

Look into marine systems. Sailors use them a lot. Good quality and reliable. but $$$$$

 

[trackrat]

You might look at wind chargers. Amazon (of course) has a 12V 400 watt wind generator for around $124. Using that to charge batteries (more $$) would allow you to power 12Vdc lighting. One problem, you would have to run new lighting or disconnect your current lighting from the panel and replace with 12Vdc bulbs. You could use a 12Vdc to 120Vac inverter and drive existing lights, but you would still need to disconnect them from the electrical panel somehow. It probably isn't worth it, but it might be kind of fun to do it.

get an inverter to convert 12 volts to 110 they work very well

 

[rrlund]

I just did a quick Google search, came up with one on eBay, 10000W, 10KW, 120V 220V for $2374,99.

 

[Hemmjo]

Try This

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

I may have brought this up before, my memory isn't that good. I've been sitting here in this brutal cold weather, by the wood stove, watching the wind blow pretty much every day and most nights. I can't help but wonder if or why can't I buy or build a do it yourself small windmill. It could be happily spinning away day and night creating a little juice to supplement my electric. My brief internet search led to units that cost about $5000 and would take about 10 years to get any return. At that rate, I'd be better off to use the 5k to supplement my electric bill. But if a cheaper unit could be had....anyone here using such a setup?

Because I like my "old" stuff, I've looked into getting a Wincharger in the past. It is either 6v, 12v, or 32v, but that problem could easily be rectified.... though the current would need to be inverted. A-haw! A-haw!

There were bigger units that would give you 110v, but they are not that common.

They made towers up to 100', if I recall right.

There are quite a few left in the world & the collectors that go with them. Here's a site that will give you some insight if interested. It is a cool site to check out, even if that tech is not what you are looking for.

Get blown away with Winpower....

Mike

 

[Pete in Holland MI]

You'll need a pretty sizeable generator to even think about running your house, let alone, a large battery bank. The 12v systems described do create some useable juice, but not as much as you think. Do your homework. In the mean time, work to make your house as energy efficient as you can.

 

[Mule Meat]

Primus Wind Power makes some decent wind turbines in the $1000 - $2000 range.

As you should know. You will need something to store the DC energy it produces and add a way to convert DC to AC power. Which means batteries and a converter or a self contained unit like a Jackery power station. Jackery power units are not cheap but their 3600 Home Power unit claims to be able to run a refrigerator for up to 30 days.

 

[Loosehandle]

I wouldn't send my worst enemy to that company. They victimized me by sending something that wasn't even close to being as described, were hostile when I tried to deal with them about it, and I ended up having to pay a ridiculous "restocking fee" - and, of course, the return shipping for a product that wasn't what they claimed it to be. I then discovered that I was far from alone in my experience. I wish I had found that out before I paid them.

Interesting, what did you order?

 

[Russ from MN]

One of my classmate's family lived off the grid in the 50's and had a wind generator. It must have been 32 volts, because when they moved to civilization, he converted it to a portable welder, using a Wisconsin engine to run it. Then he used the tower for a TV antenna!

 

[Non-farmer]

Interesting, what did you order?

A grid tie inverter. The one they sent was way lower capacity than what I ordered, not to mention 12 volts instead of the 24v unit I needed. My wind generator is 24v, so I have paired solar panels in series to match on my combo controller, and a pair of 12 volt batteries in series as well. Ended up getting one that was what it was described as off of Ebay or Amazon, don't remember which now. And whoever that was (don't remember now) actually provided what I asked for. Imagine that!

The owners of MWS are described badly in online complaints, most of which they describe as fake reviews placed by competitors. I don't believe that for a minute since I experienced the same things - but I don't even think it was one of them (a husband/wife team) - I think it was just an employee who shared the owners' attitude and incompetence.

 

[showcrop]

Have you looked into solar? We had an array put in nearly four years ago. The key to it is our state has net metering which means that the utility pays us retail rate for the excess that we produce so that there is no need for storage. Initially our payback was supposed to be eleven years, but awhile back I calculated out based on what we had produced since going on line and it is now down to a total time of seven years.

 

[Dusty MI]

I read some where that Michigan ranks 47th out of the 48 continual states in available sunshine.

 

[rrlund]

Because I like my "old" stuff, I've looked into getting a Wincharger in the past. It is either 6v, 12v, or 32v, but that problem could easily be rectified.... though the current would need to be inverted. A-haw! A-haw!

There were bigger units that would give you 110v, but they are not that common.

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They made towers up to 100', if I recall right.

There are quite a few left in the world & the collectors that go with them. Here's a site that will give you some insight if interested. It is a cool site to check out, even if that tech is not what you are looking for.

Get blown away with Winpower....

Mike

I've got an old black and white picture in my other computer, of my Uncle standing out in the yard with a horse where my toolshed is now, and you can see the Winpower generator on the roof of the house.

 

[sandcastle1]

check out Mother Earth News, home-built windmills used to be a big thing.