Has anyone ever made one of these and if so how did it work? Any pitfalls?
I have an old treadmill that has a good motor and it’s begging me to hack it up and make a wind generator out of it. Never made one of these, but I don’t see it as too hard of a project.
You need to use a DC motor, since they have permanent magnets. AC motors won't work. Something with bearings would be best; bushings fail pretty quickly on windmills.
You should also put a diode between the motor and battery. Otherwise, when the wind stops, your windmill will turn into a fan.
From my readings the best wind generators are the home made kind you make using two wide disks. One with seperate coil wrappings and one with a circle of super strong magnets.
Certain types of car alternator work too but you need to drive them off a pulley or chain to get their speed up to workable levels.
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