Building Your Own Wind Turbine

If you live in an area of the country or world for that matter in which the wind blows sufficiently for a large par of an given day, then building your own wind turbine is an ideal project you should consider.

Not only will you learn something new from the project, adding a wind turbine will reduce your electric bill saving you money and it will also add value to your property.

Building a wind turbine is not as difficult as it may seem and building your own wind turbine can save you thousands of dollars over a commercially available unit. On top of that since you built the unit yourself you can modify it in the future to meet any future power demands.

So what's involved in building your own wind turbine?

First you're going to need a generator. This is the mechanism that will convert mechanical work in electrical energy.

Second you're going to need blades to harness the wind energy to power the generator.

Third you're going to need a mounting the keeps the blades and generator turned into the wind so you can extract the power as the wind changes direction

Forth you're going to need a large post so that you can get the most wind striking the set up.

Fifth you're going to need a storage, control and distribution system to allow you to utilize the electricity that has been generated.  This is required because the electricity needs to changed into the voltage that your appliances use in your home.

For the generator your going to need a permanent magnet motor that is designed to output a certain voltage at high current and at a low rpm. Most DC motors won't work here since they are designed for high speed; this means that for them to output the rated voltage they are designed for they must rotate faster there rated speed.

What this means then is that motor that is rated at lets say 200 rpm at 24 volts will produce a 12 volt output when driven at a lower rpm. Which would not be the case for a motor that is rated at several thousand rpm at the same voltage.

Buying a motor, over building one yourself using Neodymium magnets is the best way to as there are plenty of motors available on the open market that will fit the bill.

Next come the blades needed to capture the winds energy to transfer it to the permanent magnet DC motor. You can easily fabricate these from PVC piping or other suitable plastic material.

The blades are then connected to mounting hardware that will allow you to connect the blade assembly to the motor.

This is all assembled on a wooden platform that has a vane on the hind to track the wind and is mounted on a pivot so that it can move freely as the wind blows.

You then need to construct you post to mount you wind turbine high up off the ground so that it can grab as much wind as possible without being obstructed by other structures.

To put this together will require a platform to which you will attach a metal piping assembly that also carries the wiring from the motor out the bottom to feed your controller.

There are many controllers available and I suggest that this is the route that one take. For those that know about power electronics and DC to Ac Conversion circuitry you can build your own controller.

This is Basic System that can be put together for about $200 depending on where you get your parts and how much of it you build yourself.

You can get step-by-step easy to follow plans from the Renewable Energy Resource Website. Including plans for building your own solar panel arrays for thousands less than commercially available units.

Surprisingly All The Parts Can Be Found At Your Local Hardware Store. Check out the videos and the included extras which show simple ways to reduce your power consumption.

For those not in the know - YOU MUST NOT AND YOU CAN NOT directly connect the output of the wind turbine or even of a solar panel array directly to the mains (or outlet) of you your home. 

Doing so is HAZARDOUS TO LIFE AND LIMB!!!

You need electrical circuitry that is designed specifically to do this.  The installation must also be done by a qualified licensed electrician.  Check your local building codes.