Baldor VM3539

[Otto]

 I can purchase this used Baldor .5 hp motor for $65.00. model VM3539

http://www.baldor.com/products/detail.asp?1=1&catalog=VM3539&product=AC+Motors&family=Ge



neral+Purpose%7Cvw%5FACMotors%5FGeneralPurpose&winding=34WG5884&rating=40C+AMB%2DCONT

 Will this motor be a good choice for my first wind turbine generator?  I do not plan on rewinding the motor, mainly because I am not knowledgeable enough at this time to undertake that task.  Any help /advice is appreciated.

Thank you

[methanolcat]

hmmm .5 horse, face mount with no foot, not looking to rewind.

     Might be money ahead to try and find a permanent magnet motor and use it. Look up surpluscenter.com and look in electrical then dc motor.

[Otto]

I have been reading info written by Zubbly regarding using an AC motor and switching some wires around and not necessarily rewinding the whole motor. Is a .5 horse, facemount, w/o a foot a bad motor?

Thanks

[zubbly]

hi Otto,

that little Baldor sure would make a nice genny.  you would have to make an L bracket to mount it, and also it is 1140 rpm (6 pole). my gut feeling is that those #29 skewed neo mags you can get on ebay would be just about perfect for the coil spans of that motor. the skewed mags will get rid of most or completely eliminate cogg.  you will need 6 total, 3 south and 3 north. the mags are usually listed under wind generators, neo mags, or the dealer is tropical_son (i think).

with the 230/460 volt connection, you should be able to suit 12 or 24 volt batt bank charging.  if you are a little daring, you can operate on the winding and bring out the star point as leads #'s 10, 11, and 12.  you can then have 4 possible connections of 1 or 2 star or delta.

a 5-6 foot 3 blade, trs-7 prop would be close.

that unit is a little honey actually for a first conversion.

good luck!

zubbly

[methanolcat]

I'm sure zubbly could tell you more about estimated output if he had an idea of mag size and number of them, but it just seems with the face mount that you would have to fabricate some sort of bracket to mount it from the face, unless your planning to make some sort of wrap around mount or clamps of sort. Not thats its a bad motor or anything, possibly a little small for the money you will have in it, first the cost of the motor, then magnets and not sure if you have a way turning down the rotor for the mags.

        I'm not sure of the amount of power output you might get without a rewind compared to a permanent magnet(PM) motor. I just think if you add the price of the motor,  magnets and machine work (unless you can do that or know someone that could for cheap) and add them up, for the same money or probably even less you could have the same or more output from a PM motor, if you don't need more output you could buy a cheaper PM motor and save some money for wire, batteries, etc.....

       I will have 4 dc servo motors of various size for sale soon, I just need to take some pic's of them and I want to post some rpm/ voltage numbers with them. I'm not looking to make alot of money on them so the price will definitely be reasonable. I was going to use them myself but I converted my 7.5 baldor since it will put out considerably more, and my wife says I'm not allowed to have more than 1 wind genny flying (we will see about that though, laughing, I am keeping one of the servo motors for a small vawt, I have 5 keeping 1) heck, may mount it on the same tower if I can find a way to. Besides they are in my way on the work bench and I got them cheap so why not help others out by selling them cheap as well. I'd like to see them all flying, it just won't be here.

     not trying to change your mind, just my thoughts.

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

if you are a little daring, you can operate on the winding and bring out the star point as leads #'s 10, 11, and 12.

Say, zubbly:  What's (the right / a good) way to make the connection and bring out the leads?

 - Kind of wire/insulation.

 - Kind of splice or solder(?) joint.  (Is solder a bad idea in the hot environment of a motor?)

 - Insulation to add to the joint after the fact.

 - Tiedown lacing.

etc.

(I think this is also the general question of how to transition from the wire of windings to the wire of leads.)

[Otto]

Zubbly thanks for your reply.  I was hoping you would read my post.  I am totally lost with your explanation on how to wire it, but the main thing is to get the motor before it is sold and then ask for more help wiring it up correctly.  I have printed your post on turning a AC motor into a generator but it is still confusing to me.  Turning the shaft by hand I hardly feel any cogging at all.  Couldn't I make large "U" shaped brackets to hold the motor?

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

You won't feel cogging until you add magnets.  Then you'll feel it unless the magnets are arranged very well.

Cogging is about the magnets attracting the stator poles, so you have to work to pull them away, then they yank the rotor further to get near the next pole.  It's like driving on a road that goes over a series of bumps or little rolling hills.  Turning the shaft feels kind of like the detents on a rotary switch.  Too much and it makes problems for getting the mill started:  You have to have enough torque to "get the wagon up the first hill" before it spins.  After it's started it keeps going, because you get enough momentum from going down one hill to get you up the next.

Solution is to skew the stator poles and/or the magnet poles so some of the magnet(s) is getting to the next pole as an equivalent amount is leaving the previous one (or variations on that theme).  This "smooths out the hills" of the potential energy function.  It's like driving on a flat road, or one with only very low bumps.

It's OK to have a little cogging.  Mills in a battery-charging arrangement won't generate until the speed is up to "cutin", where the mill is generating the battery voltage plus the rectifier voltage drop.  So if the cogging is low enough that a wind almost up to that speed will start the mill you're fine.  If there's more cogging than that a rising wind will leave your mill stalled for a while when it could be generating useful power, until it gets really strong or a gust finally kicks the rotor forward enough to get things going.

[methanolcat]

     Hey otto, sorry for posting what ya probably wasn't wanting to hear, as I guess I missed the whole question in the first place and was thinking of being on a tight budget since I am and try to keep the cost down any way I can. I wasn't trying to be misleading in any way, I was just thinking how I think and that was off base here.

[vawtman]

I think that would be a good place for Otto to start.Any prices yet?