I suppose I am somewhat lucky as I have rebuilt dozens of alternators and starters as I worked for a company as their electritian for quite a few years and I got to be around some really smart old timers who passed on much of their knowledge to my pea brain. One of my friends ask why I did'nt make my own design and double the amount of magnets and coils so i could get slower speed generation, however I did not want to spend the next two years with prototypes. In theroy there are many things to try however practical use is another thing. I have spent the last couple of months reading everything I could get my hands on and settled on the newer still active ten foot design. I myself like the design and the poslished look of the unit plus the ability to furl. Most of my hobbies have been in DC electic motors and I have made qite a few of those too. I have used the little 1/10 scale RC motors and the 24 volt motors for the scooters to make generators and they work well, however they need to turn at 300 plus rpm to get much power out of them, they need a gearbox, they cog and stall easy. I played with lighting the outside lights in the garden and yard and they worked OK, but I want to get off of the grid at some point in my life and those little things will not get me there, but the process has been useful. I have a large river running through the back yard and I want to use wind, water and solar in combination to get the job done. The space I have to use is almost 3 acres in a rural setting and i hope one of these designs of alternators will prove useful running my waterwheel too. Time will tell and I still have so much to learn. Its funny the more I learn the more I realise how much I need to learn. I have ran my own computer electronics store for the last ten years and due to my back injury I have slowed down a lot as I have lost the ability to stand for more than a hour or two a day, but I can still get around ans I suppose I should build an electric wheelchair so when the day comes where I can't walk i'll have some way to get around. Oh well, I hope things will get better not worse. I am just getting my feet wet and I'm sure I will need lots of help. I have many useful things that will help me save alot of money by doing it myself and it really does look like a load of fun. I figure if one is having fun in life doing what they would like one is really very lucky. I believe I have stumbled on to a bunch of people who are pashonet about what they do and have a good time doing it and passing it on. Oh well, I have been a bit wordy, but it is hard to contain my excitement.Oh one more thing do you know of a place where there is a chart that tell you the winding/magnets/diameter/wireguage/RPM equils whatever might be located. i found such a formula somewhere but I can not find it again. I thought I bookmarked the site but I guess not.

Thanks for the input!

regards,