wind turbine??..

[fcreamer88]

Has anybody every considered using a small 100W wind turbine to charge the battery? Im just looking at ideas for wiring. I built a small barrel style wind turbine a few years back and managed to get 50W out of it on the beach with 10mph winds. Sadly, it has since seen better days and the motor I used gave out on me. I want to wire up AC and DC in my trailer, and I am no electrician by any means!

[jeffmutch]

I checked out a guy's truck that he'd rigged up a small r/c plane propeller into the grill. He said at 65 MPH he was getting about 70 volts from it. (I dont know about wattage or amperage) His plans were to install a couple more and use the power they produced to run his radio, A/C, etc. therefore supposedly saving on fuel economy...

My curiosity, yet lack of a college education, tells me that the truck must be working harder to push the propeller through the air. Like blowing your own sail kind of concept... Of course, wind power has been proven to produce very useful amounts of power. I'm sure it can be done. I've considered it before until I decided wind isn't reliable enough for my needs. Solar is the way to go!

[fcreamer88]

Im thinking another barrel shape design instead of a prop. this spins regardless of wind direction and my old one would spin just by blowing on it. Problem im having is finding the right kind of motor again, It needs to ne brushless and a few other details. Solar panels are a little pricey for me and you have to follow the sun around in order to get the most efficient use out of it. Well this is just another idea I had. Heck, i havent even gotten to start on my trailer yet and here I am planning electricity.........might need to slow it down I guess.

[Lgboro]

The topic has been around here before and the result if I remember was the efficiency was just not there. There is a thread that actually links to a plan to build a wind turbine and it may be in the same discussion. They were using a particular computer server fan that is now obsolete and the price on Fleabay was way up. You can probably find the thread with a search and it may be in forum index. I have an 80 watt solar system that easily runs my lights (LED), vent fan (computer fans), and TV or radio. I don't think you can count either wind or solar to power higher need items like coffee pots, hair dryers, etc. but I just took a 7000 mile trip and never plugged in to AC and had light, fans, and tv / radio without limits. My battery never dropped below 70% during the entire trip. For around 260 dollars you can set up an 80 watt panel w/ a Morningstar solar controller --- I think you will be hard pressed to get the equivalent in wind power for the price.

[H.A.]

!

[pmowers]

One source of inspiration I have found is Instructables.com. There are a number of "-ibles" that are really in the spirit of the folks of the TnTTT crowd. Searching on wind turbine gives you a lot of different options, including creating your own generator units.

[eamarquardt]

If Tumbleweed Tex were here this is what he'd like to hear: Mounting a generator on the front of your vehicle to generate electricity will not work (economically).

You will burn additional gasoline to turn the propeller. You will get less energy per unit of gasoline than you'd get from just using the vehicles alternator to generate electricity.

Don't do it.

Building a wind turbine to harness the wind while stationary can work but you have to have a fair amount of wind and use the proper components if you want to be successful. A typical automotive alternator will not be effective.

See:

http://www.windynation.com/articles/car ... generators

http://www.windbluepower.com/

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

[fcreamer88]

One thing you always have on the beach is wind. 75% of my camping is on the beach so it seems it would be practical for me. I use brushless, fixed magnet motors the put out with low rpms. It's jut something I'm toying with. I do like the idea of wiring it to the tow vehicle too. Especially since my gf seems to sit in the truck with the ac on alot when we hit the beach. I'm going to try to dig up some old pictures I have of my first turbine. It's not the traditional windmill like turbine. It's pretty impressive how easy it turned too.

[emiller]

Here is one I built a few years ago.

[emiller]

Here is another one from Aircraft Spruce.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/e ... nnipod.php

[droid_ca]

I like the idea of a wind turbine maybe someone should post plans on one
Where I'm planning on camping when I get my trailer there is a fair bit of wind so I was thinking it would be good for topping up my batteries at night that's usually when I'd be inside watching a movie or something any ways I'd like to have solar for the day time as well just to be on the safe side..but it's always good to be prepared

[Breytie]

I like the idea of a wind turbine maybe someone should post plans on one
Where I'm planning on camping when I get my trailer there is a fair bit of wind so I was thinking it would be good for topping up my batteries at night that's usually when I'd be inside watching a movie or something any ways I'd like to have solar for the day time as well just to be on the safe side..but it's always good to be prepared

One of my favorite alternative energy web sites is www.otherpower.com. A great bunch of people just like us. There are wind, solar, water, steam etc power designs, articles and forums, everything but nuclear!

[bonnie]

This is a wind generator that is not a turbine. I've thought about mounting these in a grid on the top of the trailer. Still in the noodling stage, but looks very adaptable.

http://greenpow.blogspot.com/2012/01/wind-belt.html

[droid_ca]

some not bad ideas Thanks for sharing those links

[bobhenry]

I like the idea of a wind turbine maybe someone should post plans on one
Where I'm planning on camping when I get my trailer there is a fair bit of wind so I was thinking it would be good for topping up my batteries at night that's usually when I'd be inside watching a movie or something any ways I'd like to have solar for the day time as well just to be on the safe side..but it's always good to be prepared

I went looking last week for DIY plans. Seems everyone, now, wants to sell you the info. I finally found a site that gave clear (free) instructions on most aspects of building one. Here is a link.....

http://makeprojects.com/Project/Wind-Generator/9/1#s50