Breezy day in south Florida
By dnix71, Section Wind Posted on Sun Mar 01, 2009 at 09:04:25 PM MST
a chance to test a home mill

Yeah, that's an 8 foot Harbor Freight special ($50 with a coupon). Unfortunately the ceiling fan wires are so thin that it only puts out about 3 watts. Those are ac volts from one of the two windings. I get a nice funnel effect from the buildings when the wind is from the east or west. The picture is taken facing east.

Breezy day in south Florida | 6 comments (6 topical)

Re: Breezy day in south Florida (3.00 / 0) (#1) by wooferhound on Sun Mar 01, 2009 at 02:51:25 PM MST

Does that produce power out of the box, or is that your modifications ? W o o f -={(

Re: Breezy day in south Florida (3.00 / 0) (#2) by dnix71 on Sun Mar 01, 2009 at 03:09:29 PM MST

My modifications on the fan motor. I just posted in Homebrew Electricity the ceiling fan mod. Hi res pix are in my photobucket account. [ Parent ]

Re: Breezy day in south Florida (3.00 / 0) (#3) by jrmobb on Sun Mar 01, 2009 at 09:47:19 PM MST

Looks like a fun project,to bad its only putting out 3v, I guess you could charge your cellphone with  it lol Nice looking solar farm back there.

Re: Breezy day in south Florida (3.00 / 0) (#6) by dnix71 on Mon Mar 02, 2009 at 08:40:10 PM MST

It's 30 volts. Unfortunately when I short the wires I only get about .08 amps. The amps should be better, but I didn't rewire the fan, I just replaced the reluctor ring with magbets. I need to buy and oscilliscope. With 16 magnets and two windings the ac phases and harmonics must be pretty wild. It might be possible to make a circuit to impedance match the output for better power transfer, than just running it through a full wave bridge and a cap. [ Parent ]

Re: Breezy day in south Florida (3.00 / 0) (#4) by Airstream on Mon Mar 02, 2009 at 07:36:44 AM MST

I bet it took longer peeling all the warning stickers off it then it did to assemble it!

Re: Breezy day in south Florida (3.00 / 0) (#5) by dnix71 on Mon Mar 02, 2009 at 08:34:10 PM MST

I got lucky on this windmill. I went to the retail outlet in Pembroke Pines after calling to ask if they had any in stock. I was told there were 2. When I got there there were 2, the display and an open box with parts missing. Normally they absolutely refuse to sell a display, but the stock clerk (maybe assistant manager) said they weren't going to sell that windmill in his store anymore, so they might as well sell the display. I drive a Ford Aerostar XLT, so all I had to do was take the top off the mill and slide the parts in. I wondered why they painted the mill those bright odd colors until I realized how sharp and heavy those blades are and easy they spin up in a light breeze. [ Parent ]

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