Making a Wind Generator: How To Pick a Good Motor
Intending to construct a windmill? If so, you’ve got a lot of research to do. The most significant bit of research to carry out is in respect to picking out a motor for your DIY wind turbine. This is tricky because you won’t be buying something out of a shop, where there are knowledgeable people around to work with you. Instead, you’ll be purchasing an used motor over the internet, where there will be a lot of people selling motors that are totally unacceptable for wind generator use. This informative article is going to show you exactly what you need, and it is going to give you real-life samples that demonstrate how to pick an appropriate motor.
The most significant Fact About Wind generator Motors
There is one very important fact that you absolutely need to understand before choosing a motor for your wind generator. The fact is this: wind turbines, and the motors installed on them, spin at around 500 RPM’s. Compare this to the generator in your car or truck, which usually spins at thousands of RPM’s. Why is this so significant? Because if you take a motor that is meant to create 12-volts of electricity at 3000 RPM’s and affix it to a wind generator that spins at 500 RPM’s you aren’t going to generate any usable power at all, meaning that, straight away, you can exclude a huge number of the generators that you discover for sale on eBay, or other web-based shopping sites.
Precisely what You Need
The ideal electric motor for a DIY wind turbine is one that produces the HIGHEST amount of voltage at the LOWEST possible RPM’s. That’s slightly abstract, so I’ll supply you with a few statistics. A good motor will generate at least one volt for every 25 RPM’s. Exactly where do these figures come from? They’re based on the fact that you’ll in all likelihood be utilizing your turbine to charge up 12-volt batteries, and to do that, you’ll need to be generating, on paper, between 16 and 20 volts.
Now consider what I stated to you earlier–that a typical wind generator spins at around 500 RPM’s. The math is simple. You get 1 volt for every 25 RPM’s. A wind turbine spins at 500 RPM’s. Divide 500 by 25 and you get 20; therefore, you get 20 volts at 500 RPM’s.
Examples Using Real Motors I Found On eBay
How exactly do you check to see if a motor is suitable for a wind generator? The first thing you must do is check out the motor’s maximum operating RPM’s and its rated VDC. Then divide the maximum RPM’s by the rated VDC. Here are a couple real-world cases.
The Ametec 37
Ametec, undoubtedly, produces the most popular motors for DO-IT-YOURSELF wind turbines. Don’t assume all, however, work well. Is the Ametec 37 any good? Let’s find out. It has a maximum speed of 2100 RPM’s, and it’s rated, as suggested by its name, at 37 VDC. To find out if this is a good motor, we divide the max RPM’s–2100–by the VDC–37–and we see that this motor generates 1 volt for every 56.8 revolutions. Is this a good electric motor for your turbine? No, an acceptable motor, as I mentioned previously, needs to make 1 volt for every 25 revolutions.
The Ametec 99
The Ametec 99 possesses a maximum speed of 535 RPM’s, and it’s rated at 99 VDC. Is it appropriate for our project? 535 divided by 99 equals 5.4, which means this motor delivers 1 volt for every 5.4 revolutios. Oh, yes, it’s a fantastic motor for a DIY wind generator. Unfortunately, with this kind of amazing productivity, these motors have grown to be very hard to find, as most have already been snatched up by windmill hobbyists.
Final Thoughts
You will discover lots of motors out there being sold to people planning to make wind turbines. Unfortunately, the majority of them are not acceptable for the project. Don’t do your research, and you’ll become among the many who have been duped into buying a motor that is worthless for your purposes. Make use of the figures and calculations earlier mentioned to research your motors, on the other hand, and you’ll get a motor that’s perfect for your project.
Want to build a wind generator? Check out these great wind generator plans!
We also have pictures and videos showing you how to make your own power with both wind generators and solar panels.
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