Moving the genny
By Peppyy, Section Wind Posted on Thu Dec 16, 2004 at 01:45:25 PM MST
Current elevation 4' going up.

Since I am totally broke and headed farther into the hole for a while I have decided to make due with what I have. The longest tower I have available at the moment is a 16' 2X6. I have a 4X4 PT post at the corner of my new roof which is set into a concrete base. I plan to parallel this with the 2X6 with about a 3" offset and make a mount at 10' on the outer rafter. That puts the genny 6 feet above the roof, same elevation as my weather station. I am thinking with the small 21" prop this should be more than enough support if I put some blocking between the post and the 2X6. I should then be able to get some idea of what kind of output I can expect from it. It drives me nuts to see my minigen mounted at 8' in the air spinning all the time and the larger one just sitting there. On my "Test Post" at 4' elevation I seldom saw the genny yaw unless the wind got pretty strong, 8-10 mph. I decided to build a simple mount to use on the 2X6 and here is what I came up with. It slips over the end of the 2X6, a bit too snugly bit it will fit. The bearing is a spare garage door cable pully I had. The shaft is a 3/8" galv carrage bolt. Forcast is for some warmer temps and a south wind +or- 18mph so I want to get it up higher today.

Moving the genny | 8 comments (8 topical)

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#1) by hiker on Thu Dec 16, 2004 at 08:52:58 AM MST

thats about the same set up i used on my minnie mill- two 2by 4s screwed togeather--mounted on the corner of my shop..just has a bunch of l.e.d.s on two little arms that stick out on each side...nice little light show at night..neighbors get a kick out of it..  i used the same set up on my bigger motor alts -with 7.5' prop and it worked out okay--most likly will stick a metal pipe up there when i get the time-- same as my motor home set up...  so what size is your bigger alt ?   WILD IN ALASKA

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#2) by DBGenerator on Thu Dec 16, 2004 at 08:54:37 AM MST

I like your idea there with the garage door pully. I haven't made anything that big to give you professional advice on mounting, but it looks like what you have should support it.  I think it would definately be worth the time to paint it or seal it with something so it lasts a little while out in the weather.

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#3) by hiker on Thu Dec 16, 2004 at 09:18:13 AM MST

just a shot of my old maytag alt--mounted to my motorhome--i use it to test all my alts and blades--i just drive down the coast aways and find a good place to park.. and no i don't drive down the road with the alt on the back.... i think JERRY has a  motorhome  mill also--works great for keppin my batt.s charged while the furnace is going... WILD IN ALASKA

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#5) by nothing to lose on Thu Dec 16, 2004 at 01:25:36 PM MST

Could you do a post sometime on your mounting for the motor home mill? Size of pipe, mounting it to the vehicle, height above vehicle ect.. How well it's working compared to normal mounted mills. I think that is something I haven't seen yet here. How to mount test rigs to vehicles. I think at least 3 people have these though. Dans, you, Jerry, maybe others too. My plan is to mount one or more to the back of a 10' tall box truck. About 14'x8' box. I may eventually put one mill at each corner of the box. Now I have a mill mounted about 12' high behind the pump house, bad location though, far to many tall trees right there and can't reach it to work on it. I figure on my truck I can climb on the roof, being  over 6' tall myself and reaching up a little I could get about 18' high and still work on it, not while driving though :) Also I could park anywhere in the yard for better wind. I'll be adding pictures to my What NOT to do post in a few minutes too. . nothing to lose Spelin and tpying are my strong points, not electronics. [ Parent ]

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#4) by Peppyy on Thu Dec 16, 2004 at 11:06:05 AM MST

It is true, a picture is worth 1,000 words. So far so good on the bearing, now she points into slightest breeze and starts turning. I still plan on doing a lot more testing with the ametek to see what kind of efficiency I can get out of it but this might be the last nice day I had to raise Proposa Sputnick Turbosa up. (Long story on the name :) I have to remember to put my height and width tags in my photos or they get stretched. She Flies! Pep

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#7) by Ungrounded Lightning Rod on Fri Dec 17, 2004 at 09:54:18 AM MST

That 2x6 looks long in the picture.  If that's true I'd expect it to flap at some wind speed/direction combinations, putting large stresses on the mount that might tear it out, or maybe cracking the wood and dropping the mill that way. I started a long post about making a T beam by screwing or nail-and-glueing a 2x4 to the side of it, and all the pros and cons of one.  But then I realized a far better solution would be some guy wires at the top. [ Parent ]

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#8) by Peppyy on Fri Dec 17, 2004 at 03:03:28 PM MST

It's a temporary setup untill I can come up with a perminant mast. Unfortunatly in the past couple years the maximum wind speed recorded on my Davis WMII was 28mph. The genny is at the same height as the animometer. I am hoping next spring to go to about 30 feet in another location but I think I should build some blades first. Have seen over 20v out of it in this location, probably a 15 mph wind gust. Haven't had any constant wind to speak of since I put it up. I can read my voltmeter now and pretty much tell what the windspeed is though ;) I couldn't get any specs on the motor except that it is a 40vdc 6" ametek. Turns about 15 rpm/volt as close as I can count by spinning the shaft with a wrench. I could spin it up to 12V by hand, unless there was a load on it. I think my next step is to make a set of 2' PVC blades and see how they work. I have some 4" sch80 green sewer pipe that might work. Pep [ Parent ]

Re: Moving the genny (3.00 / 0) (#6) by nothing to lose on Thu Dec 16, 2004 at 01:27:56 PM MST

Good work, looks alot better than mine. . nothing to lose Spelin and tpying are my strong points, not electronics.

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