6 foot Dual Rotor

[mitcamp]

I wanted to replace the 4 foot single rotor we had at our cottage at the lake. It put out 10 - 15 amps and we needed a bit more power. The second reason for changing it was, the 4 foot was having a hard time braking with the 10 - 15 mph winds we encounter. The 6 foot with dual rotors would be a better choice. I searched the board and used 55 turns of 2 in hand #15 wire. The rotors were 10 in with 8 mags 2 x 1 x 1/2 on each rotor. I used 3 foot blades to make a 6 foot diameter.

I had 2 visitors one day and when they saw the performance of my machine, they decided to remove thier Air X machines from thier cottage if I would build them each one. Well they told another friend and I was busy this winter.

This is my build.





My yaw bearing is a front wheel assembly off any front wheel drive car. You need this as it has a hole in the center of the bearing to run your wires through. It also allows me to use my sliprings and brush towers.

Home made sliprings and brushes

I ended up building 4 more 6 foot gens.

Note on the top right of the picture, you will see a 4 foot single rotor. It,s hanging by a horseshoe,on the end of the rope.

In northern maine and New Brunswick we must have a weatherproof covering because of snow and freezing rain. I use the 5 gallon sized pails that my magnet wire comes in to enclose the generator. Its not that pretty, but it works and they last for a long time.





Here is a 8 foot Dual Rotor with its canopy installed and the heatsink looking out.

Thanks to all you guys that give me advise over the last few years,  Harrie, Dave, Hugh, and Flux. I,m retired,what else would I do. Mitcamp

[TomW]

Mitcamp;

Pretty nice to see these projects posted. Its what makes it work for me here.

Just curious how that slipring setup works out and how does it deal with any bearing slop in the yaw mount?

Thanks for sharing.

TomW

[spinningmagnets]

Dear Mitcamp, Beautiful work. I just got a welder at a yard sale because of people like you, now I just need to learn how to use it!

What is the voltage?

Also, is the heat sink a dump load, or does it cool something else?

The sliprings look like common copper pipe (great idea!) what are the brushes made from?

[Flux]

Nice work. I agree that 8 poles using those magnets is about right for 6ft. I have one using the metric equivalent magnets and it is used with a buck converter. I lowered the cut in to suit the converter so my alternator would run well towards stall without the converter. If your cut in is a bit higher then it should be fine with reasonable line resistance.

If you have very low line resistance you may see a bit of improvement with a bit more added.

Flux

[mitcamp]

Tom w, spinningmagnets,I get my front wheel assemblies from several Auto junk yards. I choose them first by checking the bearing, then I,m looking for one that will let me use a 3/4 inch plumbing nipple to go through the axel hole. I use 3 1/2 and 4 inch nipples. The nipple is inserted in the hole with a coupling on the bottom and another on the top.Sometimes I have to use a washer on the nipple in order to make it tight. It is very rigid and there is no slop whatsoever.

This slipring setup is used on 8 foot gennies and up. I have these brass sliprings built for me so they slip over 1 in plumbing nipple. They are insulated with a insert of black teflon.  You could use 3 sliprings and take 3 leads to the batterys. I use 3 of these on my 17 foot generator with 3 brushes to each ring,total of 9 brushes. On my 8 footers I use 2 brass rings and 1 brush per ring, On my 12 foot gennies I use 2 brushes per ring,for a total of 4 brushes.

On my 4 foot and 6 foot gens I use 1 1/2 copper couplings for sliprings because of cost. I use automotive Delco 24 volt starter brushes with the wire attached for brushes. On the 2 smaller machines I cut the brush in 2 pieces,leaving each with the wire attached. This is done mostly because of room.I have absolutely no problems with either of my slipring setups. But they must be out of the weather.

I attach my downleads to the + spots marked on the brass rings.

spinningmagnets, the heatsink is for the 3 rectifiers.

I installed my 17 foot machine last summer and have not been up the tower since,knock on wood.

Hope this helps someone.    Mitcamp

[TomW]

mitcamp;

I had read that slipring assemblies on turbines had issues due to what I called "slop" in the bearing. Glad it works for you.

Thanks for the response.

TomW

[FishbonzWV]

Mitcamp,

Nice work and I guess you will be voted in as the nice guy of the year around the lake!

I have a couple of brushes you might be interested in trying with that set up.

If you want them free, reply back and we'll trade info.

Fishbonz

[TheCasualTraveler]

 Looks great! I'm envious.

     I'm working on an alternator with the same specs as yours. Can you tell me where cut-in RPM is and also approx cut-in wind speed?

[mitcamp]

Hi Traveler, I searched the board when I built the first 6 footer and I come across a post regarding another 6 foot that was being built and Hugh Piggott suggested 60 turns of 2 in hand #15 and on the same post Flux suggested 50 turns of 2 in hand.  So I went with 55 turns of 2 in hand #15 thinking that the extra turns would start charging my battery pack sooner.

 Flux would be a better fella to ask this question. This machine is at my camp and I have no wind indicator out there and I would only be guessing. My guess the cut in would be 110 R.P.M at 10 M.P.H    It worked great so I wired the last 4 machines the same. Happy building. Mitcamp

[mitcamp]

WINDING UPDATE

If you are in a windy location the above winding 55 turns of 2 in hand #15 willl work fine. In normal wind you will see 10-15 amps. In above normal winds you will see 20-25 amps. I have seen 30 to 40 amps out in a good gale.

I have 2 6 foot machines in a somewhat lower wind area and I changed the winding to 65 turns of 2 in hand #15  This gets it charging the battery at a lower windspeed, with a decrease of 6 to 10 amps at the top end. In a gale you may see 25-30 amps.  Mitcamp

[SparWeb]

What an adorable family!  I'd be heartbroken to separate them.

Looks like you're retirement's over, what with 6 babies like those to "raise".