Wind Generator

Posted by TheAuthor on March 23, 2009

How to Build a Wind Generator

wind power generator

Mother Nature provides an abundant and free source of power! You can build your own wind generator and create electricity from the wind to power your home and even your business.

Building a wind generator is a much more cost effective solution than buying one. The average price of a 1000 watt wind generator is USD $2500. I would have to save up for more than a year to be able to buy one. That’s why I built my own wind generator.

A wind generator works by utilizing the enormous amounts of kinetic energy in the wind and converting that energy into electricity by means of a DC motor. This conversion occurs when the wind causes the fan blades of the turbine to spin, so the windier it is, the more electricity you can produce!

The best place to start to learn how to build a wind generator is to find the DC motor used for wind turbines to produce home wind power. We have found the best sources for motors; hubs and even towers and most are easily located or even free at times.The DC motor used to power your home made wind turbine costs usually about $30 and can be delivered right to your door. Interestingly enough this part is the most expensive thing you will need to purchase.

Next in building a wind generator is the tower. Buying a wind tower is very expensive? That’s true, but when I built mine I actually made $100 getting it. You see, many people these days have switched to satellite television, but they still have those television towers up. I was doing some construction at a house and noticed this. I asked the guy if I could buy it off of him. He told me “I’ll give you $100 dollars to take that thing away.

Now for the most important part of your wind generator- the blades. You can make the blades out of large diameter PVC pipe for wind turbines up to 5 feet in diameter. Each blade would be about 30 inches long in this case. Because you’re total power produced is directly related to blade diameter it is preferable to have a bigger size blade length if you want more power produced. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Another trick that we’ve learned to make blades is to use PVC tubing. I know it sounds crazy, but a correctly cut PVC pipe works great as a wind generator blade. The plus side of using PVC as blades is that they are very strong.

The last piece you need for your wind generator is the vane. This can be made out of anything. Mine is a triangle I cut out of some plastic.

Isn’t it time you got started building your own wind generator ?

Check out my other guide on : portable generator