Comments on: DC Wind Turbine Motors on eBay – BEWARE

By: Bruce Cameron

Bruce Cameron — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:42:11 +0000

Thanks! I will let you know the results of my search.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:37:18 +0000

Hello Bruce,
Yes, the Ametek PM motor is virtually gone now and I’m not sure what their original target product was. Large PM motors are used in various devices such as treadmills, electric vehicles, motorized wheelchairs, and scooters to name a few. As mentioned below, look at the rated RPM – lower is better, and VDC – higher is better. You need to produce at least 1VDC for every 25 RPM for a DIY wind turbine. Producing 1VDC at a lower RPM speed is even better. And try to find a motor rated at least half a horespower or you won’t get any amps out of it. Finding a motor is the hardest part of building the wind turbine!

By: Bruce Cameron

Bruce Cameron — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:20:59 +0000

Hello, hello? Anybody home?
We need help with finding an appropriate motor, as seen from the last two posts. How about letting us know what the Ametek motors, that are suitable, were made for in the first place. That alone is a good clue for us to find another manufacturer. Thank you.

By: Bruce Cameron

Bruce Cameron — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:03:45 +0000

Great info!

Thanks so much. Why is it so hard to find a motor with the right specs? Doesn’t any other manufacturer, other than Ametek, make motors suitable for a wind turbine?

Regards,

By: Shawn

Shawn — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:02:22 +0000

Thank You bruce for your response, where would you recommend finding a decent generator at a good price..
Or is it just pay attention to the RPM and VDC

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:52:38 +0000

From the graph on ebay, it looks like this motor produces about 45v at 2000rpm. You need approx 15vdc to 16vdc to charge a 12v battery bank and thus you would need about 680rpm for this to work. A homemade wind turbine won’t get to 680rpm very often and therefore you should expect to gear-up this motor.

It also seems very expensive for a DIY project.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:02:31 +0000

I found this permanent magnetic generator on ebay but can not find any other information on the generator. How does this generator stack up, GreenergyStar WindZilla 12V DC Permanent Magnet Motor Generator

Thank you

By: Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:41:13 +0000

You should be able to get 1 VDC for every 19rpm. Thus at 400rpm you could get 21 VDC out of this motor. Of course it needs to be a permanent magnet motor.

By: Vadim Betsis

Vadim Betsis — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:57:11 +0000

Forgot to add that it is 1725 rpms
Thank you

By: Vadim Betsis

Vadim Betsis — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:55:33 +0000

Hi Bruce,

We are planning to construct a HAWT for university project. I saw on ebay 1/2 HP motor with 90vdc and 5 amps. According to your previous posts, such kind of motor should work, isn’t it?
Thank you very much for your help

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 02:36:35 +0000

Hi, We have just bought a 72v Ametek wind turbine low wind motor to put togeather a wind turbine. I have tried several time to get the amps this motor is capable of and the people we bought it from (Off Ebay) will not email me back. Can anyone help me with finding out how many amps this motor is capale of producing? We have a 10 blade 60″ propeller coming in a couple of days and need to get a charger for it. Sure hope some one can help us out. Thanks

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:29:06 +0000

Ed, unfortunately there is no rule regarding geared or not…. you’d need to find the exact make and model and then confirm with the manufacturer. With those wind speeds, you’ll need to make the wind turbine “heavy duty”. Wood blades would be better than PVC, which tend to warp at high speeds – and shatter if they touch the pole.

By: Ed Morton

Ed Morton — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 23:37:24 +0000

Bruce.. I don’t really see anything on variable speed PM motors. If they don’t state that they are geared are they a viable unit? In my case the RPM/VOLTS =< 15 when doing the math on a 1 1/2 HP unit. I live on a mountain ridge southwest of Denver and we get winds most of the time and some gusts of even 70 MPH or better. Strong enough sometimes to move a heavy grill.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:46:39 +0000

Yes, there is only so much energy in the wind – but it varies greatly with the windspeed (cubed). The more blades you have the SLOWER the blades turn, but the more torch (power/push) you have. In the video, he found that with 3 blades he didn’t have enough power/torch to start the blades moving. Once he had 6 blades, the wind blowing on all 6 blades, gave him enough PUSH to turn the motor over. However, at a set wind speed (say 30mph for example) the 6 blades will turn slower (fewer RPM) than a wind turbine with 3 blades…. But again, if your system won’t even start with 3 blades, then you are not producing any power at all.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:38:24 +0000

Permitting – the only thing I can think of would be related to the tower and how high it is… You will never be allowed to connect a homemade wind turbine to the grid, besides, it produces almost no power….

To connect to the grid, you’ll likely need all kinds of expensive equipment – approved inverters, disconnect panels, fusing, extra meters – all of this equipment would cost more money than your DIY wind turbine would ever make in your lifetime.