Posted on September 11th, 2008 by Bruce

Homemade Wind Turbine Very Popular

The homemade wind turbine or diy (do it yourself) wind turbine has become very popular as the number of large industrial sized wind turbines as spread across the country.

A homemade wind turbine comes in one of two basic formats; horizontal axis wind turbine hawt, or vertical axis wind turbine vawt. The hawt is more popular and can generally produce more power or electricity. The vawt on the other hand, works very well in confined areas or urban settings, running very quietly and works well in rough air currents. Both models are easy for the do it yourself-er or handyman to put together.

Homemade Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine – HAWT

6 foot homemade wind turbine

Usually running in the 4 to 6 foot diameter range, these units produce around 100 watts of power and can be built for under $100, plus tower costs. For someone with the space, 10 to 14 foot wind turbines can produce 1 kilowatt of power per hour in steady winds. The tower is a very important componet of the hawt. These units need access to “clean” air (no turbulence) and therefore need a rather tall and sturdy tower. Of course, a large tower can take up a fair bit of space, if guyed for support. These smaller wind turbines also have a very fast rpm rate, as they usually don’t use a gearing-up system for turning the DC Generator. Fast spinning blades can cause a bit of noise.

Link to step-by-step instructions to make a horizontal axis wind turbine

Homemade Vertical Axis Wind Turbine – VAWT

: Homemade vertical axis wind turbine

A homemade vertical axis wind turbine can be put together in an afternoon, once you have assembled the parts. These homemade wind turbines are often made from 5 gallon plastic pails, up to 55 gallon plastic drums. Of course the larger the surface area of the wind turbine, the more potential power it can produce. Larger VAWT’s, those made with 55 gallon drums, often use a gearing or pulley system to increase the rpm’s that power the generator. A simple vertical axis wind turbine, made from pails or drums, can not rotate faster then the speed of the wind. More complex vawt’s, can be made that produce lift and can exceed the speed of the breeze that powers it.

As more and more homemade wind turbines appear in people’s backyards, we can expect this trend to really take off!

Link to homemade VAWT wind turbines

Link to DC motors used to make both turbines

8 Responses to “Homemade Wind Turbine Very Popular”

sandip, on January 24th, 2009 at 3:06 am Said:

i like this both projects
Homemade Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine – HAWT &
Homemade Vertical Axis Wind Turbine – VAWT.
I’m interested to do this projects
plz help me( give details of design)
Bruce Knight, on January 24th, 2009 at 9:55 am Said:

For the instructions, just follow the links.

For the 4 foot HAWT the link is :

http://www.greenterrafirma.com/DIY_Wind_Turbine.html

and the VAWT is found at:

http://www.greenterrafirma.com/vawt-designs.html

Let me know if you need anything more.
Bruce.
Gavin, on January 25th, 2009 at 10:31 am Said:

cant wait to get the 30vdc motor ( that you guys reccomend ) and will have a go at these projects , will prob make a few errors and get a few shocks but its a learning curve eh
Bruce, on January 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am Said:

Hi Gavin,

As a lot of people end up buying a DC motor that needs to be geared-up, before it spins fast enough to produce 15 volts, I’ve added a video of one such set-up. It’s fairly easy to add the gearing to either a horizontal of vertical wind turbine.
Bruce.
darren, on July 7th, 2010 at 1:55 pm Said:

hi i have a treadmill motor that i want to use as a wind turbine.can you tell me if it will be any good? green master 230v dc motor 1.5hp im told =1119watts @ 4800rpm charging a 12v battery bank .thanks darren
Bruce, on July 7th, 2010 at 2:13 pm Said:

Darren, what is the voltage at the maximum output? Then divide that voltage by the maximum RPM of 4800 to figure out the RPM to produce 1 volt. Multiply that RPM value by 15 to determine your RPM to produce 15vdc (needed to charge the 12v battery.

For example, if the maximum voltage at 4800 RPM was 230VDC, then 4800/230 = 20.8 RPM to produce 1 vdc. You would get 15vdc at 15×20.8 = 313 rpm… which is a reasonable speed for a DIY wind turbine.

However, if the maximum voltage at 4800 rpm was 130vdc, then you would get 1 vdc at 4800/130= 37rpm. To get 15vdc, you would need 15×37 = 553 rpm – which is faster than a DIY wind turbine usually turns.

Bruce.
TUSHAR, on August 13th, 2010 at 11:39 am Said:

very good information for self built wind turbine
home made vertical wind turbine - ENERGY TYPES – ENERGY TYPES, on October 19th, 2011 at 2:34 pm Said:

[...] yourself) wind turbine has become very popular as the number of large industrial sized wind …http://greenterrafirma.com/wor ..Homemade Vertical Axis Wind Turbine – YouTubeUploaded by batfink009 on May 1, 2009 Catching [...]

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