Indiana General 24 volt

[SACONGO]

 found one of those Indiana General 24 vdc motors on flebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=260350764736

is it worth the money??

[Tritium]

24 volts at 1/2 amp.  I believe someone once wrote somewhere on the board that you couldn't expect much more than name plate amps from a dc motor used as a wind generator.  If that is a true statement then 12 watts is not worth it in my book.

Thurmond

[ghurd]

I thought it was neat he put a link to Speo's story.

Seems a Bit overpriced to me.

Can get a 3/4 or 1HP ECM for that kind of money.

G-

[CmeBREW]

I don't think it is worth it.  It is hard to believe the rating is only .5 amps as it shows. It don't make any sense to me- that motor would have very low speed AND very low torque. It may actually be 5 amps.

Even if it is 5 amps, it seems to me it would be about the same as an Ametek even with a 5' set of blades on the Indiana.

Some Indianas are almost worthless as windmills making little power.

Open voltage and shorted amps is about worthless.

The ACTUAL amps it will make into batteries is half or even less the shorted amps from my experiments. It varies a little on different motors though. And it is incorrect to multiply open voltage times shorted amps to get watts. It is correct to multiply the amps times the 12-14 battery "clamped" voltage.

Much much better to use that money to make an alternator and mill like this fellow did out of a Ford escort wheel:

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2009/1/4/22240/17582

Even if it cost an extra hundred you will have something REALLY worthwhile, tough, and three times as powerful as any Ametek or Indiana, and no cogging which is better in lower winds.

[ghurd]

The .5A is unloaded.  Some 30V Ameteks are rated at 0.15A.

I think it would make a decent little windmill...

But yes, WAY too expensive.

The 1HP GE ECM will make 400W (one guy claimed 500W) with a little coil reconnecting.

No Way the Indiana motor will get anywhere near that.

Plus the ECM is brushless, and 1HP versions often sell on ebay for $200 or less.

G-

[Chuck]

Way overpriced IMHO. I've used some 24vdc motors from Northern Tool that used ~ 300 watts (14 amps on the face plate) and put out more than that without too much problem beyond burning out brushes. I got those for $50 each. They are good to play with, but probably not a great option for a long term generator unless you have lots of brushes.

I read an article a while back where Marcellus Jacobs talked about how he got long lasting brushes. He angled them, made them span more commutator segments and had something added to the carbon, but I don't remember what it was. I'm sure a google search would pull it up.

[bob g]

somewhere in my collection of info is a tech article on brushes

many of the commercial brushes are laminated with low resistance layer on the inside

and higher resistance material on the outside, this cuts down arcing and greatly increases brush and commutator life.

i have no idea whether these smaller motors use the same technology or not

i suspect not.

recently i picked up an assortment of large brushes, some about 1/2 x 2 inch and about 3 inches long, some had been sitting in water and started to delaminate

(of course i picked brushes still in sealed bags out of the crate) but looking at those that were seperating clearly illustrated what the book talked about.

btw, i got the brushes for something like 2 bucks a pound, and got several sets

thinking they might be useful someday for a down the tower slip ring setup.

all have very large braided copper leads so they look like they might be easy to work with.

bob g