All of the bridge diodes I have bought so far have one corner shaved off. That corner is the positive terminal opposite to that is the negative(180 %). the other 2 terminals which would be 90 %from positive either way would be the AC inputs..  Does that make sense??

Rectifier Diodes are very easy to test with a multimeter.. This WEB site has a great walk through with pics... loads fast...

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_3/2.html

You will have to remove from the circuit to test.

It always helps me to keep it straight to make a quick sketch as each pair of terminals is tested.. then I mark them on the bridge so I can remember which is which. There are industry standards for each type of package but I have seen many odddball units with strange configurations. As these are surplus, they may be non-standard.

So by what Flux said, I assume it is 1.4 multiplied by the AC voltage of each (or;one) phase, is the total expected output. I see now. I hope I didn't get a bad rectifier!  I have 6 - 6amp diodes to try like DAnB showed if I have to.

11 volts at 60-70 rpm would be very acceptable considering I had to open the gap more because the steel mag discs are not running perfectly true. One is a 1/16" off up and down, and the other one is another 1/16" off! - Thats an  1/8 of an inch more on the gap than expected.(Total gap about 3/8")
The mags are 1" dia. by 1/4" thick, N42.

The RPM range of the alternator is simply way too high for this Vawt rotor.
So this alternator would certainly make a nice low-wind HAWT mill, since it would easily go up past 300rpm. The 12volt 'cut-in' IS about 70rpm.  However, the VAWT rotor rarely goes above 100 rpm.(on a so-called, 10-15mph wind day)
It goes about 100rpm at a 12-15mph wind.  Therefore, it only did 5 stinkin watts or so, at 100rpm.  I could spin it faster with my hand (around 150rpm or so) and it went up close to 20 watts. I expect it will at least make 20 watts in a bigger wind--but the rpm is still very limited and slow.
I did expect more. My very first 3-phase stator WAS a real pain it the A$#^#beep to make. It is NOT one of my favorite things.
I may make a smaller diameter vawt rotor (18" diam by 5 ft. high) to get the speed up.(even though the over-all power will be cut in half)

Or, I can try this 'voltage doubler' circuit that Tecker and Damon mentioned. However, I see a transformer in there , and this is 3-phase, not one. It doesn't make much sense to me.   The Vawt rotor has been turning 60-100rpm for most of the day and with some good torque. But as of yet, I cannot tap into that low rpm range!!!!  Forget gearing--  I am quite certain it looses about HALF the power potential. Thats why I attempted direct alternator drive.

Well I do have a few things to try. Probably making the small diameter rotor is my best bet right now. Second is to make another stator with even smaller ga. (24ga) wire. Now, I see that I would rather have 'cut-in' at 30rpm or even 20rpm if possible.
Stacking 40 more magnets just isn't feasible I'm afraid. There is almost 1/16" epoxy over the mags now. I was afraid this could happen because I (in the beginning) had purchased too small of magnets! I am ONLY going to buy 1/2" thick magnets from now on, to compensate for my poorly wrapped coils AND my crooked steel magnet discs. If those 40 magnets on my mag rotors had been 1/2" thick, everything would have worked WAY better I think.

Concerning those basic Voltage doubler circuits, I DO have 3 big AC (big MFd) 'runnning' capacitors and several 6amp diodes, so I may try to see what happens making one of those circuits.  I'm not so sure about the series "Jerry rigged" circuit WOOF showed. The 3 are out of phase, so I'm not sure if that would work. I quess that would take BIG capacitors also. Unfortunetly, I buried the other 3 wires in plastic.
Making the smaller Diametor rotor will not take long at all. First, i will mount the Prototype small rotor on the alternator and see what happens. The hub turns real easy since I cut out the rubber seal on the bottom.

To everyone,
Thanks for your vote of confidence!

I have some good news. I just put Vertigo JR. rotor on that alternator , and as I suspected, it is doing WAY better now. But there are only tiny breezes right now.
However, It is actually charging 1-5 watts in very tiny breezes! (under 10 I believe)





As I had said before, the big rotor was MISMATCHED for that alternator.
This small 18 inch diameter rotor goes much faster rpm. Probably twice as fast.
The separation of the blades could also have something to do with it.
I now believe its easier to make the difficult alternator FIRST (as low rpm as you can), and THEN try to match a rotor to it. I am understanding more now.

I think at some point you VAWT guys are going to have to take a serious look at the design I proposed in my diary.  Of course, you'll have to do it from the start as you can not retrofit it once you've glued everything down.  The design requires a larger rotor and more coils for the same investment in magnets, but should give more power and a lower cut-in RPM.

There were even upto 30mph gusts today.  
I hate to say this, but I am beginning to believe there is not much power in these basic drag pvc vawt rotors like I just made. I was just experimenting. At least I tell the TRUTH. I will keep messing around with it though. It is discouraging though. I will try to contain my hopeful 'speculations' more, from now on.

Since they are now outlawing small windmills in many,many counties everywhere,(more than ever now)  I was just hoping to make something less noticable, even if it does only do a fraction of the power a HAWT does.(I wanted to put up several)
  But designing and making something new and matching a generator to it is extremely difficult and (will be) alot of work to actually make one that usefully works.  

Finsawyer:  I think stators like you're talking about (or similar) have been done before, (overlapping coils, electronic switching between sets of 3-phase coils,etc.) but,,, it is simply over my abilities to make at this time. I had a heck of a time with the basic one i just made . (and I am very glad that it works!)  I had alot of cross-overs and alot of air in the coils. Plus, the exact spacing of my coils is FAR from perfect.  I will keep it in mind If I ever get the skill to believe I could make something like that. Besides, for me, cut-in is not the problem anymore. I can get 30rpm cut-in now.  Yes, its the WHOLE thing is the problem now!  -Thanks.

I can 'free spin' the alternator pretty fast by hand (UNLOADED) and get between 30-40 volts DC. (after rectifiers) This sounds correct to me. I even tried the 6 diodes like Danb showed incase I hooked the rectifiers wrong---but it did the same exact thing.
I don't think there are any shorts.

I believe this alternator I made is the main problem, NOT the Vawt rotor!
I will try to explain.  Cut-in IS at 70rpm as I had wanted. But It is hard as HECK TO TURN  by hand, especially after only about 90 rpm!!
After only 100 rpm it is MEGA difficult to turn by hand. I can usually only maintain about 10-12 watts turning it by the threadrod that comes up from the hub. For a second or two I can barely hit 18 watts. (1.5amp) I can't turn it any faster.
Therefore, I believe I have very bad STALL due to the stator I made.
 The amps seem to want to raise way TOO fast.

I believe Finsawyer mentioned it. I will have to re-make the stator and use the same 20 GA. wire and use MORE turns and thus thicker coils and stator. I'm thinking 3/8" thick and a 1/2" mag to mag air gap.  Then I can even lower the cut-in to 50-60 rpm, and because the mag flux is weaker, the amps won't try to raise as fast, thereby causing a severe STALL situation. (and this time I will leave all 6 wires come out)

I still do believe I can get SOME useful power out of my Vawt if I can match the alternator within range.  Making something for the first time is WAY more difficult than simply COPYING someone else's design. So please give me some time.
I haven't even put the REAL Vawt rotor (Vertigo SR.) on the altenator to test it yet! I haven't had time yet. Before I do , I want to stabilize the 'flimsy' long blades by putting in a 3rd round support plywood disc in the middle. I will do it this weekend and test it. I will also try to open the gap 1/16" to maybe bring it out of SOME STALL. But doing this will RAISE the Cut-in point which is not good for my situation. But I will try it anyway.

Finsawyer: Sorry I mis-quoted your idea. I will have to look at it again later. Sorry I don't understand anything about "Saturation" at this time.

"Yes, If I had a 6 volt battery I am certain it would do exactly what I was wanting. But I do not. The only way to make it work well for 12volt I think, is to have bigger and/or thicker magnets and extremely STRONG magnetic flux with a thin stator to raise the AMPS quickly with the slow rpm.  However, the wind rotor STILL manages to turn it slowly even in breezes from the very strong Torque and it should turn fairly fast in bigger winds."

I now believe everything I said above is wrong. Sorry about that,, but I just learnt some new things.  
A 6 volt battery would have STALLED it even WAY earlier-- as would have having thicker magnets and even stronger flux. Using 24ga mag wire (same thickness) would have STALLED it also. The main thing I've learned is--STALL is NOT simple with Vawts!!!