I GotWind today!

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I now have a tiny turbine that Ben of GotWind arranged the supply of, which though it is producing a small amount of power at 12V, is mainly there to help me measure how many 'wind-minutes' I might reasonably expect each day from a more grown-up arrangement.  As well as just getting me familiar with PM motors, making blades, etc.

Big big thanks to Ben for getting me going!

Signing up to Ecotricity earlier today was a rather more significant contribution to wind power...

Rgds

Damon

[TomW]

Damon;

HaHa, once the Wind Virginity is gone the next step is Wind Slut. I will let your imagination figure out what comes after that!

Is that one of those turbines like he showed on a tent awhile back? Or was that someone else?

Cheers.

TomW

[gotwind2]

Yes it is very similar to the one I made for the tent.

Only about 1 watt of power absolute max, but may be of use for wind recordings and tiny milliamp readings.

I agree with Tom's warning, this hobby can become addictive....

Ben.

[TomW]

Well, Ben, big power or not it looks cool on the tent.

If you need one tested in non metric wind just let me know :~)

Cheers.

TomW

[DamonHD]

Yes, if only I had the kewl tent too!

Instead I have a washing-line pool about 2m (6ft6) tall that is the home for this tiny turbine, and today was the most blowy in a while, so I seized my chance and got everything installed.

It's generating power in tiny bursts including right now, and I have a tiny green LED indicator on my desk...  Green is good... and intermittent!  B^>

I have a second identical turbine for spares since I'm beating it up in the process of learning.  For example, I needed to step up to 12V with a little diode/cap multiplier (Cockroft Walton) that was discussed here some time ago.  That little multiplier was something I'd wanted to do for years, or at least last did something similar to when a kid about 30 years ago when I was fascinated by neon bulbs and weird random light flashing circuits...   This was the first time that I had safe low-voltage AC to hand.

Many thanks again to Ben for his help, generously turning down an offer for some hard cash and instead teaching me to fish, as it were.

Rgds

Damon

[jmk]

 That's pretty funny Tom!

[DamonHD]

Here's my write-up of the turbine, including the little voltage multiplier.  Not sensible (and would require big tough capacitors) for large power, but might do for some purposes.

http://www.earth.org.uk/wind-power-pilot-autumn-2007.html

(Also had best-ever PV day at 8hrs + lots of extra power off-grid, unexpectedly.)

Rgds

Damon

[fungus]

That makes me wonder; are these the little toy wind turbines you get pretty cheaply from ebay etc? Wondered what ben used for his turbines..

[gotwind2]

Hi Fungus

Not far off the mark there - considerably modified for my uses BTW

I can only be impressed with what results DamonHD has achieved, not in performance, but in his logging of data.

Ben.

[DamonHD]

Very kind of you Ben, but barely any interesting data points to log yet!

Hoping for another windy day soon: dead calm here again...

Rgds

Damon