Homemade Anemometer (construction pics)

[Warrior]

Hi Fellas,

I thought I'd share with you guys how I built my anemometer. I wanted something non plastic, and with a large enough diameter to catch low winds. I chose to make it all aluminum and with a 10" diameter.

Here's how it started with your typical hard drive stepper motor. I removed the stator and added three aluminum tubes

OK so how do I make the cups? I took two pieces of wood and turned them on my lathe to make a female and male spherical mould. Then cut some pieces of aluminum sheet and STAMPED them out. I placed the round piece of sheet in the female mold, on top the male a 3-4 hits with a mallet...

OK so the first cup didn't come out as good, cut them round instead of square.

Another pic

The finished product

Flying

Second view

One problem I encountered was that it would turn too slow due to the large diameter, and no matter how small the wheel diameter was on the bike speedo used, it wouldn't pick up the real speed.

To fix it I glued 3 small neos instead of one, recalibrated the speedo and problem solved.

Hope you like it...

Warrior

[willib]

pretty cool

i like the stamping procedure.

i tried a larger dia anemometer also and found it didnt turn as well as one that i made the dia of a tuna can ( inside dia)..

[nanotech]

I need to make me one of these.  Never know what the wind is doing outside unless I open the door!!  

[domwild]

Thanks for that. Silly question: Where did you attach the neos? I believe the magnet normally sits on one spoke of the bicycle wheel.

Thanks.

[WXYZCIENCE]

I like the view in your last picture. Is that the same from your living room window? Joe

[Warrior]

Hi guys,

To answer some questions, Dom the neos were epoxy glued to the aluminum tubes, look in my last pic close to the sensor, you can see a grey blob (thats the expoy).

I thought you guys would like the last picture, that's from the roof of my shop. The town we live in has a population of about 10,000 people and an elevation of about 3000 FT. I've been on the peek if the mountain in the background.

Regards,

Warrior

[dinges]

That's a nice view indeed. Nice mountain. How about putting a small tower on it with a genny? Better make it a 48V system though, otherwise line-losses will bite you

Will have to make me one of those anemometers too one day. Still have some original (plastic) anemometer cups lying about though. A small DC motor will do the trick. Connected to a (calibrated) voltmeter should give a nice anemometer.

Did you calibrate yours (e.g. from a moving car on a pole, or against a calibrated anemometer?). Not necessary for hobby use, of course, it's just that I hate uncalibrated instruments. You never know if what you measure is (moderately) correct.

Peter.

[Warrior]

Peter, we calibrated by sticking out of the cars' window and using the speedo, yeah not the best method, but I set it to show a lower reading than the cars' speedo, that way I get a conservative reading.

We got a bunch of strange looks from people seeing us go back and forth with a weird spinning aparatus sticking out the window...

[dinges]

LOL. That doesn't impress me. I get weird looks all the time.

The speedometer of my car (Kia) overindicates. I normally have a handheld GPS in the car, and when the clock says 56km/hr, I really drive 50 km/hr, according to the GPS.

Have just found my parts for an anemometer. With a good spin the motor gives 10V; more than enough for a voltmeter as an indicator.

If you go to a boating supply store, they will probably be able to get you just the three cups-part (how do you call it? Propellor? Turbine?) Mine is an original Vetus part (Dutch boating supplier). Am now trying to mount it on a little DC motor. Next thing is a nice PVC tube housing to waterproof it.

I blame it on you, I was perfectly occupied with my 2 motorconversions and the dumpload controller; now there's an extra project under way, that anemometer.

Shame on you!

Peter.

[ghurd]

Strange.  My GPS registers about the same, in many different cars.

I figured it was knots to MPH, but I believe the GPS reading is too fast for that much error.  It always reads like that just the same, at any speed.

Also wondered about a 3600RPM conversion, maybe a shaded pole motor, one tiny magnet, single wave rectification. Fed to a tacho circuit.  Seems like it should be more accurate...

G-

[kitno455]

peter- i bet your car has the wrong size tires.

allan

[dinges]

Same size the factory installed.

Ghurd, I think they intentionally make speedometers overindicate. I've noticed it too with several different cars. I trust that GPS more than a car speedometer.

Peter.

[nanotech]

Meh, I don't trust either the speedometer nor GPS.  

I use the timed and measured mile.  My Toyota is dead on, the Neon reads a little slow, and the truck is more than 10% fast......

[RogerAS]

Hi,

That looks like Mt. Clemmons outside Naches, WA where I grew up. Of this is so, I've been up there too.

RogerAS

[TheSuperFantasma]

Warrior,

How did you remove the stator from the Hard Drive motor? I'm building an anemometer just like yours.. but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to open the little motor and get the stator out of there.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

[TheSuperFantasma]

I got it figured out. Did not think it was that easy!