95VDC 1 1/2 HP treadmill motor. . . Blade diameter?

[veewee77]

I have a treadmill that I picked up for free today and it has a 95 VDC 1 1/2 HP motor. What diameter do I need to make the blade for the turbine to get this thing to make 12V in low wind? Vague, I know, but I also know that there are some on this board that have already done it and it is working well for them. . . Hoping to ride the tails of experience.  I am thinking about PVC blades for it. The last one I made (remember the 20" box fan blade one. . .? I put

PVC blades on and it stayed up over a year before a big windstorm blew it down and broke one blade off. . .

Thanks for any input!

Doug. . .

P.S. pics will follow tomorrow when it is light. . .

[RP]

Is there an rpm listed on the nameplate?

[nothing to lose]

 "Thanks for any input!"

I dought that, here's mine

To low volts, junk, no hope, I'll give you $20 paypal for it and controller, toss in the walking belt and I'll go $25 including shipping. LOL HA HA

Although I am joking of course (but I would send the $25) I think it's the higher volt motors that make the better gennies.

You need to know the volts needed to run the motor, amps, the rpm's it runs at, etc.. to decide the rpm's it will make decent power and the blade size to run those rpm's.

"95 VDC 1 1/2 HP motor"

It's been awhile for me and I am rusty, trying to get back into things here. I really do think though that the 95V motors may be to low to make decent power. That motor may be high rpm, so when you cut back the rpm's to windspeeds you could run it at, it may not make enough power do anything.

I hope I am wrong and wish you best of luck, but I think you need a higher volt  and higher amp motor, maybe lower rpm,  to make power at decent wind speeds.

If I am right, you could still use the motor for many other uses like a drive motor for a buffer/polisher/grinder which is probably what I would do with it myself. I have a couple though, but never enough LOL

[veewee77]

Couldn't see that on the plate because of where it was mounted and it was getting dark outside. I'd bet it is a high RPM, though, because the puppy HAULS when it is running at it's full speed in the treadmill (10MPH). I may dismount it and chuck it up in a variable drill and see how fast it has to go to get 13V. Also, I may check the shorted current. (It won't be much. . . wires are too thin. . .)

[coldspot]

I bet your only hope would be gearing it up for more rpm.

 My 2HP 120 VDC one is sad at low rpms.

[veewee77]

Well, RPM is not listed on the plate. And, I chucked it up in my variable drill, (it says max is 800 RPM) and spun the motor with that and my meter read 10V+. (YUKKY!) So, it looks like it is looking like 1000RPM before it starts to even fart. Not a god deal. . .

I probably won't bother making it work. . .

Doug

[veewee77]

Do you really want it? I may ebay the whole schmo (not the treadmill, it is already dismantled. . .) Let me know before this evening and I won't list it.

Doug

[nothing to lose]

Sorry it won't work very well for a wind genny. You could still make a nice 12Vdc fan from it. There is a good post on the forum where one was built before.

 I am using 12V radiator fans for window fans here myself.

If you have the controller for the motor and everything there's allot of stuff you could build for variable speed tools and such.

[nothing to lose]

I was joking with you about buying it, but if you want to sell it e-mail me. If you have the controls and everything to run it as normal I might be able to use it for a project. I have similar motors but no controls.

If you want one that might work better for a wind genny I'll see if I have one here and maybe trade with you. E-mail me if interested.

[veewee77]

I do have the controller and motor and all. Also included was a schematic for all the connections between the boards and what they do and what voltages are expected to be on each wire. With that, the motor controller will be very easy to set up. There are three wires for the speed control. R-B-W. Red you connect to 12VDC. Black is ground, and you just vary the W with 0 to 12VDC and it should make the motor run accordingly. I am going to try this when I get a chance and make sure.

Fun Fun!

Doug

[GerryS]

You probably weren't spinning the motor at 800RPM.  That is the open max rating of the drill without any resistance.  

I have a treadmill motor at home.  By only spinning it by hand with a makeshift crank I can get about 5 volts out of it.  M hand spinning is about 200 RPM to 250 RPM at most.  That means that from 600RPM to 750RPM I should get about 15 volts.  I don't recall exactly (I will look) but I think my motor is also 90V and I will check for HP too tonight.  So I think you should easily be able to get 13+ volts.  I think the reason you only got 10V in your variable drill is that the 800RPM max rating for your drill is without any resistance, just spinning without drilling anything.  Add some resistance (like a piece of wood you are drilling through or in this case a motor crank you are turning) and the drill will not turn at the max rating.  It was probably spinning way below 800 RPM.  Try attaching a crank of some sort and spinning by hand.  You can probably spin around 200RPM at full speed.  See what the max voltage you put out is.