8 FT Ornamental Windmill

[Ziggy]

Has anyone ever tried to hook a small genny up to one of those 8' ornamental yard windmills, to say run low voltage yard lightning at night? Would it even be feasable to try? The solar yard lights seem to be pretty crappy and go out only a couple of hours after dark. Found this one on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46772&item=4362257256&rd=1

 Any thoughts?

[tinker]

Just got mine from same people today.

gonna try it

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/2/25/25033/1905

[ghurd]

The 8' has a bigger (22") blade than the one in the link.

There are some problems with sloppy bearings.

I'm going back to single rotor and laminations for another try.

G-

[PHinker]

A co-worker (dhagerty) is working on a similar windmill to see if he can get any usable power out of it.  You can see his diary at :

http://www.fieldlines.com/user/dhagerty/diary

I think he'll be updating his diary soon since he made a new stator guided by some advice he got from this board.  I also made a stator for his project using Ed Lenz's coil winding method.

Here's the stator blank.  Just cut out a circle with a jigsaw then cut a 1/8" channel with my router.

Here's the blank with some iron in the channel.  This is just some 14 gauge soft iron wire cut into segments that fit in the channel.  I've got a better idea for this for version 2.  I tried coiling the wire in the channel but it's just too hard to keep the wire flat.

Just printed out a pie chart to use as a sectional template for my wiring pins.

I used some 5/8" brads as pins as opposed to the machining/plastic casting that Ed's does for his stators.  Here's the first phase in place.

Second Phase

Final phase in place.  I'm going to give this stator to Dave tomorrow for him to try with his new magnet rotor for his 18" windmill.  Of course, that will mean the wind won't blow for 3 days now.

Paul

[dhagerty]

I'm the dhagerty of song and legend that Paul is referring to in previous posts.  Paul is, indeed, correct, that I am going to post results to my own diary when I have some.  Last weekend, I built another stator and rotor according to the (excellent) list of recommendations I received with my last posting.  I still have some redesign to do, but am using the same basic design.  My plan is to run a series of LEDs connected to different voltage zener diodes (more lights, more voltage).

My redesign work has to do, I'm sure, with the fact that I haven't a clue what I'm doing :-).  Currently, I have 8 ceramic magnets backed with steel and just one coil (for test) backed with steel.  I'm getting a smidgen of voltage (around a volt), which I think is attributable to the fact that I am not placing the magnets properly and the fact that I'm still not using enough windings.

Currently, my plan is to try Paul's stator.  I'll post the results.

You know...  For something that has virtually no practical value, this sure is a lot of fun.  It's a sickness, isn't it?

                         Dave