Homemade Wind Power-Part I

Building a small wind generator for a backup system need not be difficult or expensive. The one I will describe here is fairly easy to build and because of my penchant for keeping stuff around the place, was nearly free. I did not bring this one with when I moved, so I will be building a new one soon. The charging power comes from an automobile alternator. Now I know that most books and articles on wind power will tell you that this is not the way to go. The main reason for that is, these books and articles are written by people who expect you to get all of your power from the wind, in other words get off the grid. Some homemade wind generators I have read about cost more to build than my entire backup system. Remember, this system is for running a select few items. An automotive alternator is all that is needed for this system. One thing you will not find on my wind machine is a large two or three bladed propeller. These are too difficult for most of us to fabricate and also expensive. Two 2 1/2 gallon buckets, bolted together with eight vanes attached make up this wind machine. They are attached to a bicycle wheel, which in turn drives the alternator. The size of the bicycle wheel compared to the alternator pulley, give the rpm's needed to produce electricity with less wind than one might expect. The drive is by direct friction with no belts or pulleys. There are some things I will not be able to tell you as they will be different for each wind machine built. These include, dimensions, type of alternator, type of bicycle wheel. height of tower, etc. I will do my best to explain the main workings and you will have to use your own judgement and take it from there. The first thing you will need are two buckets. I found that for me 2 1/2 gallon buckets worked best. Two are needed to get enough length for proper vanes. The buckets need to be straight sided with very tight fitting lids. The buckets I use are about eight inches in diameter and about nine and one-half inches high, including the lids. The straight sides, up to where the lid comes to, are seven and one-half inches, allowing me to use fifteen inch vanes. These buckets come form a local convenience store and were free. The store does its own icing of donuts and these buckets contiained chocolate icing. The lids fit very tight, having to be pounded on. If the lids are not tight enough you may have to glue them on to the bucket. While this would work, it would make taking them apart again for repair or replacement very difficult. To be Continued.