We can all use a little more green energy in our lives at home. So when [] — a fan of wind power — ran into durability troubles with his previous home-built turbine, he revised it to be simpler than ever to build.
Outside of the DC generator motor, the rest of the turbine is made from recycled parts: a sponge mop sans sponge, a piece from an old CD drive case acting as a rudder, the blades from a scrapped fan, and a plastic bottle to protect the motor from the elements. Attach the fan to the motor and form the plastic bottle around the motor using — what else? — a soldering iron. Don’t forget a respirator for this step, folks.
A few zip ties secure it marvelously to the mop’s end, with the rudder similarly attached. If you followed along, you probably have something resembling a functional wind turbine now. Running a few wires that can withstand the elements to a charging circuit or whatever you plan to use this turbine power for is a separate endeavour. If you’re interested, we have a few ideas for low power applications.
[via Instructables]
Link is to instructables startpage
Seriously? –> “…a soldering iron. Don’t forget a respirator for this step, folks.”
Immediate response from me is “yet another dummy I don’t need to take advice from”.
Another dull day at LifeHackeraDay…
What? Somebody makes wind turbine from a mop, cd case and plastic bottle and you say it’s boring? This should be marked as “THE Hack of the day”! What says “this is a hack” more than using old mop and some junk to make wind turbine?
A wind turbine which could generate how much power? like 500mW ? I’m already thinking optimistically, several volts WITHOUT ANY LOAD THAT’S IT.
It has a purpose built PM generator designed for small wind turbines, with internal gearing.
It if was a regular brushed motor, this would not work as the motor is not designed for axial loads and would quickly burn through its bearings. In other words, the hack is about buying a generator from Amazon and fixing it to a pole.
“What? Somebody makes wind turbine from a mop, cd case and plastic bottle and you say it’s boring?”
Agreed. This totally gets the MacGuyver award for this week.
The McGuyver award goes to the ingenious.
This solution is too obvious, because it’s just using junk for raw materials, and in that capacity an old CD case is no different from a scrap piece of plywood, and a mop or a broom handle is just a long stick. Buying the generator from Amazon automatically disqualifies it as a McGuyverism.
A McGuyver solution should do something unexpected in a completely ad-hoc manner, like hacking the motor in an actual desk fan to act as a generator by drilling a hole through the rotor and sticking a bar magnet in it, and then using the electricity to power a windshield wiper motor that lifts a cardboard target made of a movie poster to distract a bad buy into shooting at it, thinking it’s McGuyver, who’s actually waiting in the opposite direction with a fire extinguisher in hand ready to incapacitate the bad guy.
if it spins freely to get good use from the rudder, doesn’t that make it especially difficult to run a wire to it?
it should! Over a (probably short) period of time, it will turn in one rotation more than the other and the wires will wrap themselves around the mop super tight to the point where it wont turn or the wires will break.
There are commercial solutions (http://www.mercotac.com/html/wind_energy.html) or diy versions using ball bearings
(http://makezine.com/2006/06/15/how-to-make-a-slip-ring-p/)
Only problem with wind is there isn’t enough of it compared to solar to make the investment plus the NIMBY nature of wind compared to solar.
Totally depends on your location, prevailing wind etc. Wind is better for me by far as we don’t get enough sun, being coastal helps along with open space. Certainly in higher latitudes solar is of less benefit. .
A fan of wind power. I see what you did there.
Well Done. You have a nice Lifehack. By the way, how many watt can produce by improvised wind turbine?
With some clever electronic circuit, it could produce 1000W,
during 1 uS,
everyday.
Not bad. I guess we can put battery storage to use this electricity at night. :P
Again, it’s really awesome.
Thank you all for your comments. They really give me positive energy and continues motivation. This couldn’t be a best seller without your support.