Wind turbine project...

[Acheron]

Need some tips and advice please if possible.

I have a small garage which has no electrical power. I could run an extension from the house but want a challenge, so decided on a bit of a wind power project.

Going to use a car alternator, now i know these arent the best as they provide more power at high rpm, but aside from messing around with technical motors and stuff, this seems the easiest option.

All i need it to do is charge a battery to power a flourcescent light like this;


So what would i do? Make the turbine, connect that direct to the alternator or via a pulley. Then can you connect the alternator direct to the battery to charge it, then connect the light to the battery when i wanted to run it?

How long would the light last and what type of battery? I thought car bettery but told these were not ideal at being run down and up again, and was suggested a deep cycle battery, but these seem a bit pricey.

Want to keep it as simple and cheap as possible but effective enough to power that light, and maybe a small electric heater too.

Cheers

[Simpo Two]

Acheron said:

All i need it to do is charge a battery to power a flourcescent light like this

But the battery will be 12V and the fluorescent, sorry flourcescent, light is 240V, no?

Build the turbine, then burn it to keep warm and with luck you can read a book by the light of the flickering flames.

Edited by Simpo Two on Saturday 30th October 00:05

[mybrainhurts]

Acheron said:

So what would i do?

Hang your head in shame....

You realise you're just going to encourage the econutters, don't you..?

[Ferg]

Acheron said:

I have a small garage which has no electrical power.

I have a friend who powers his workshop from a turbine and solar panels. All the electricity is stored in a bank of lead-acid car batteries and fed to the lights, lathe and mill via an inverter. I can't comment on the installation cost of this setup!!

[Globulator]

Ferg said:

I have a friend who powers his workshop from a turbine and solar panels. All the electricity is stored in a bank of lead-acid car batteries and fed to the lights, lathe and mill via an inverter. I can't comment on the installation cost of this setup!!

That sounds most excellent!!

The chance to do some engineering is what you need, you can get 12V flourescent circuits BTW - used for car powered lighting.

The problem is making the windmill/blade IMO, I quite like the look of the of US water pump fans TBH, a bit of sheet alu with a bit of work could be bonded onto a drilled disc on a hub for a fan, then gear up via chain drive to the alternator (chains are efficient IIRC).

Then you just need to keep the chain lubed (bike chain lube) and wire up the alternator right (machine or battery sense), and run it into a battery. A 24V would make much more sense if you plan to use an inverter - 1/2 the current draw from the batteries when in use - you just need to source a 24V alternator (lorries etc).

[Ferg]

Globulator said:

Ferg said:

I have a friend who powers his workshop from a turbine and solar panels. All the electricity is stored in a bank of lead-acid car batteries and fed to the lights, lathe and mill via an inverter. I can't comment on the installation cost of this setup!!

The problem is making the windmill/blade IMO, I quite like the look of the of US water pump fans TBH, a bit of sheet alu with a bit of work could be bonded onto a drilled disc on a hub for a fan, then gear up via chain drive to the alternator (chains are efficient IIRC).

Just thinking out loud...

I built a CBR 600 powered hovercraft 10 years ago and bought a multi-bladed fan for that. Two alloy halves of the hub and 11 nylon (or somesuch) blades which could be set at different pitches....

[GKP]

I expect a reputable chandlery would stock everything you need.

[MOTORVATOR]

http://www.duogen.co.uk/d400/index.html

So it's been done sooo many times before. This is PH and you need to extend your thinking here.

How big is your garden and does it slope? You could install a V8 connected to a high output water pump that recirculates water from the bottom of your garden to the top. Route a river past the garage and then it's just a simple matter of building a water wheel attached to the side of the garage. You would then have a suitable power take shaft within the garage that could be used to run all sorts of paraphanalia (sp) like pillar drills and generator sets and even a mill for fresh flour for breadmaking whilst gaining the benefit of a purring V8 drone in the background.

Enviromentally friendly and a good waste of fossil fuel all at the same time.

[ATG]

Just a thought, but heaters use loads of power. Powering lights is feasible ... running a heater off batteries is unlikely to be practical.

[Acheron]

So how much power would it need to produce to run the light then? (forgetting the heater).

[Globulator]

Acheron said:

So how much power would it need to produce to run the light then? (forgetting the heater).

Continuous it's 500W for a 500W lamp, 11W for an 11W lamp...

Of course with a battery it depends on your usage time (and the wind). The the correct answer is 'it depends'.. I guess you really want to know the size of fan to use, but that depends upon the wind. I'd just build a big a fan as you can get away with - it will always want to be bigger.

[andy43]

Look at caravan 12v strip lights - hook up to a car battery and 12v solar battery charging panel and away you go.

[cpas]

I would use a caravan battery (£80) and a solar panel to keep it trickle charged (price from £30 to £100+). Heating is not an option but LED lights or 12V tubes will be OK. The solar panel will charge the battery continuously during daylight hours and the lights will only be on for a few hours as required. You could also charge the battery inside the house periodically if required. Some sort of gas or parafin heating would be best.

[grumbledoak]

Don't forget that battery chargers have electrics to keep them safe, you cannot just continuously recharge a battery.

[dnb]

Waste oil heating? It's recycling after all

I have a similar garage issue. I found that a deep cycle 110aH lead acid battery gives a decent amount of time running 4x 8W tubes and 2x11W tubes. This works out as around 20 hours "on" time, but I usually get at least a month out of a single charge. I have not bothered about off grid charging yet (although it is something I would like) since it's easy enough to have 2 batteries and charge them in turn.

[Globulator]

grumbledoak said:

Don't forget that battery chargers have electrics to keep them safe, you cannot just continuously recharge a battery.

So do alternators - a terminal voltage of 14.7V

[Condi]

You can set up an eco-freeko system if you want, but first time you need an inspection light, an angle grinder or a drill you'll have to run an extension from the house anyway. Why not just lay some cable and do it quickly, easily, and giving you 13amp - or 30amp if you fancy - power to the garage.