Learning How To Build A Wind Generator Is Easier Than You Might Think

Life can be tough sometimes and you may be looking for ways to make it easier and less expensive. Since energy, especially electricity is one of your more costly everyday expenses, wouldn’t it be great if you could tap into the renewable energy that is all around you? Wind energy is already benefiting much of the world, so why can’t you take advantage of it, too? All you need is a wind generator. But do you know how to build a wind generator?

Glad you asked. Below are some basic guidelines to get you started:

– First you need to know where you are going to put it. You need an area with at least a 300 to 400 foot radius of open space and a 30 to 40 foot vertical clearance. There are two types of towers you can choose from, a tilt-up or a freestanding design. Tilt-ups are more widely used in residential areas because they are easier to maintain, since you don’t need to climb them to clean them. However, since free standing towers are taller, they help maximize the output of your wind turbine.

– Next up on your list are the materials you are going to use. You can start with a high voltage, low current DC motor that runs at low rpm’s. This is the heart of the unit that will convert the wind into electrical current.

– Now you need to create the blades of your windmill. These can be made of wood, plastic, sheet metal, or better yet, PVC pipe. Keep in mind that the longer the blades, the better. A wider covered area means the more energy it can extract from the wind.

– Next you need to connect the blades to a shaft which, in turn, connects to the motor. This is done with a hub. The hub can be made from a steel disk that you can drill holes into. Attach the blades to the hub, the hub to the shaft, and the shaft to the motor.

– Finally, you need to attach a tail and pivot to your windmill to keep it turned to the wind. You can do this with some square tubing and pipe nipple, a flange for the pivot, and some scrap sheet metal for the tail.

– One last, important step to cover for your wind generator is the battery. The wind doesn’t always blow, so you need a way to store the converted energy. Try to keep the batteries as close to the generator as you can in order to monitor the charging. Try to get batteries that are highly efficient, yet low maintenance.

“Deep cycle” batteries are best used for this type of power system application. They are rated in amp-hours and have indicators of their charge-discharge cycles.

Now that you know how to build a wind generator, there is one more recommended step. You need to place a diode between the battery and the generator to stop the current from being wasted by flowing back into the generator. It would probably be a good idea to add a secondary load as well, to act as a depot for excess produced current.