Learning How To Build A Wind Generator Is Easier Than You Might Think

You live your life every day fully dependent on energy, mainly gas and electricity. But with the constantly rising costs of these energy sources, you might be wondering how you can cut back on these expenses and make your life a little easier. You likely already know about renewable energy and that it is being used around the world. But how do you take advantage of this without spending a fortune? You might want to consider building a windmill, but do you know how to build a wind generator?

Glad you asked. Below are some basic guidelines to get you started:

- First you need to know where you are going to put it. You need an area with at least a 300 to 400 foot radius of open space and a 30 to 40 foot vertical clearance. There are two types of towers you can choose from, a tilt-up or a freestanding design. Tilt-ups are more widely used in residential areas because they are easier to maintain, since you don’t need to climb them to clean them. However, since free standing towers are taller, they help maximize the output of your wind turbine.

- Now you have to think about the materials you will need, beginning with the motor that will convert the wind energy into electricity. It needs to be a DC motor that is designed for high voltage, low rpm’s, and high current.

- The blades of your wind turbine are the next things you will concentrate on. Wood, sheet metal, or plastic are all good materials, but PVC pipe is usually the best. If you want to get the most power from your generator, make the blades longer, since this will cover a wider area.

- The next step would be about fixing the hub, that which connects the blades onto the motor. One easy way would be to look for a scrap steel disc with which you can drill holes into and attach to a shaft that would connect the blades.

- In order to keep your wind generator turned to the wind, you need to make a tail and pivot. You can use some scrap sheet metal for the tail and a flange for the pivot, along with some square tubing and pipe nipple.

- One last, important step to cover for your wind generator is the battery. The wind doesn’t always blow, so you need a way to store the converted energy. Try to keep the batteries as close to the generator as you can in order to monitor the charging. Try to get batteries that are highly efficient, yet low maintenance.

“Deep cycle” batteries are best used for this type of power system application. They are rated in amp-hours and have indicators of their charge-discharge cycles.

In knowing how to build a wind generator it’s best to remember that placing a diode between the battery and the generator is good in order to prevent the energy from being wasted and flowing directly onto the generator itself. Adding a secondary load is helpful as a depot for excess energy produced.

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