Breezy day in south Florida

[dnix71]

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.

[wooferhound]

Does that produce power out of the box, or is that your modifications ?

[dnix71]

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

[Jrmobb]

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.

[Airstream]

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

[dnix71]

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.

[dnix71]

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.