What will this DC motor output?

[patricksthomas]

Just purchased from EBAY a McMillan 2.25 hp @ 260 vdc P.M. D.C electric motor I think came from a treadmill.I see lots of these for sale there and would like to know from others who have put them to use in wind applications how well they perform and any tips on output,blade size,charge controller,etc.Looking to start small and learn enough to go bigger.Any expertise and instruction is appreciated.

[willib]

is this the one you have?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6053134643&category=121837

[SparWeb]

I doubt it came from a treadmill if it's rated for 2 HP at 260 VDC.  Is that a typo?

There's not much anyone can judge about the whole system you imagine having, with only a motor as a starting point.  You might want to focus on what kind of power it can generate, at speeds typically seen by windmills.

Keep reading, there's lots of info to find here.

[hiker]

look to right on your screen--menu--google search the board...

enter--treadmill motors....theres a whole ton of stuff their..

my 1hp treadmill motor puts out some good power--havent tested my 2.5hp treadmill yet..

its rated at 18amps-120volts dc..i tested my 1 hp treadmill awhile back hooked to a exersize bike--the pulley was to small on the treadmill motor--so it made it hard to turn over with a big load--did manage to hit 20+ volts when hooked to a 400 watt 38volt landing light..then the belt started slipping..if i have time tommorow i will hook up the 2.5 treadmill motor and see what i can get out of that--most likly will make a bigger pulley for that before i test it out.

ps' i did test with two 50watt 12volt headlights and lite those right up to full voltage --but it was hard to crank due to the small pulley..even with a larger pulley i shounldt have to crank much faster sence the motor puts out some good volts at a low speed[hooked to the bike of course]when spun over by hand it would lite up a 20watt taillight but not to full brightness..okay what was the question ??

[patricksthomas]

Yes.Thats the one.

[patricksthomas]

I so appreciate the input.Please let me know what your 2.5 puts out.I have 2 of them and plan to erect 2 small towers to test them combined.If this little motor works well I plan to raise more towers since its inexpensive enough to use these little motors.......Thanks again......Patrick

[drdongle]

You should be able to get 13 volts or so at 250 RPM

[ghurd]

Look at some of Norms posts.  He has the same one.  It works pretty well!

G-

[willib]

i've seen quite a few treadmills get junked , but each one has an ac motor..

what style or type has the dc motor in it?

[terry5732]

Most of the newer ones use DC motors

[zap]

Of all the one's I've seen, the flimsy and cheap looking ones always had ac motors. The ones that have quality written all over them and take a crane to get in your truck bed always had dc motors.

[Canuck Power]

I was going to use a 1hp DC motor for my first windmill.  I connected it in a shunt connection.  The means the armature and stator are connected in parallel so that any power goes into the stator to make a magnetic field which powers the armature. The extra power would go to your battery bank and the rest would go threw the stator to make more magnetic fields. Well testing with a drill and flashing the poles I could easily get a lot of power out. Enough to make a 12 volt headlight explode. The drill I used was a heavy 1/2 chuck that spun at 1800 rpm.  So I got a smaller drill around 500 rpm and flashed the poles with a 6volt battery but I couldn't get any power out.  The DC motor is wired so that it spins at 1800 rpm so you will have to get your windmill to spin really fast...above 1000 I imagine   when it spins at 1800 or whatever that dc motor is rated for you should be getting out 5 amps at 120volts.  But for a windmill you want low voltage and higher currents so a dc motor is not great choice ales you're going to either re wire it or take out the armature and put in permanent magnets.   SO if you were going to use a dc motor make it a shunt connection and make sure you put a full battery on it to initially charge the stator.  Good luck.

[hiker]

sounds like an old 50s style auto generator..

these little dc treadmill motors have magnets in them not field coils..

took the flywheels of my treadmill motors-easy enough'just held on to the end of the shaft with some vicegrips and turned the flywheel clockwise by hand to unscrew..

when hooked to a electric drill--they  both needed  some good rpms to reach 12volts

with a 100watt load.. the 1hp put out a little more on the open volt test than the 2.5hp. my ac motor conversions did better in the tests using the same drill..

they might be good for a mill with a little gearing up--think il just use mine on a exersize bike for now..