My wind turbine chassis, robust steel 3.0 kg  is available, build a turbine with identical or higher outputs to similar to others for under £500 (£230 saving !) for a more solid design.

CHASSIS £132 POSTED, ADDS UP TO £480 WITH F/ENERGY PMA/BLADES

Fitted with the smoothrunning easy to balance futurenergy bladeset, my chassis uses these plus their pmg, though i can supply chassis to suit most pma's 

                            Non furling all steel variant for £132 posted in U.K.

A HIGH WIND POWERHOUSE!

 Furling model features very simple assembly with full instructions and tips to make your pmg last longer, includes polished alloy top cover and built in optional 'furl lock out', (easily reversed with a screwdriver)

             Futurenergy pmg, as used 

             on my chassis only 7kg                  

                                                                                                             Chinese 1200 watt+ as used        by Bob in Andalucia Spain.   

Video clip of  SEVERAL own design wind turbines view  www.youtube.com/wind4watts                                   

If you are considering installing  a wind turbine or wind generator ( in U.K.), try and make sure that there is a clear aspect from the South Westerly side. Most of the British Isles wind comes from here during our windy Winter periods swinging from South round to Northwest , so mounting any turbine on this side of any airflow obstructions like your home, other houses,  tall trees e.t.c. will tend give better results, ideally wind from all directions should be utilised (where posssible). Hand held anenometers are availalable from member   uk-et  for £23.00 if you want to take some measurements outdoors, (they run on a flat car alarm fob battery), dearer remote wind monitors are available also from £50+.      Link to real time U.K. and E.C. windspeed data on my site .                       

Ideally wind coming from any direction should of course be utilised where possible. Bungalowed  estates, cottages and homes with open areas of land approaching them like farmland or surrounding lower lying ground, do have advantages over 2/3 storey urban area as you would imagine. But a turbine with good low wind characteristics can still be practical. As time goes on blade sets will tend to become larger proportionately to aid lower wind outputs in average wind areas. 

The air close to ground is riddled with turbulence and eddies as it rushes past and around ground objects, houses fences walls trees e.t.c. , getting any turbine 4-8 metres up (as high as is practical), on a mounting pole or  post secured to a garage wall, gable end (if a light unit) , will increase average windspeed by several  mph ,and give much improved results. Many larger Wind Turbine kits include a tubular tower, one model i  had recently included a 6.2 Metre 115mm diameter steel tube tower in two sections with support cables turnbuckles included.

If the windspeed doubles then the energy available goes up by the cube, i.e. by 8 times not x2, that's why many turbine output graphs start off fairly flat (in lower winds) but rise quite steeply.

Most smaller turbines use an aluminium tube to hold turbine aloft, and will require the use of 3 or 4 guy cables, (using steel wire "rope") to hold it vertical, and take the strain of wind pressure. These should normally be mounted at (as far as possible) equidistant angles from the tower, onto either a purpose set concrete foundation, or sometimes into strong brickwork using eye ended rawbolts or deep heavy duty plugs. Cable clamps hold the joints secure , these are available from antenna suppliers or in packets from B&Q warehouses, and i would personally recommend using 2-3 on each joint, as they are THE critical parts!.

Often some of this equipment will be included in kits. Purpose supplied self assembly tower kits for turbines are available from some green energy websites in the U.K. an Ayreshire firm specialise in them if required. On some smaller turbines like the 300-500watt pictured (top of page), a thick walled steel scaffolding tube (schedule 40 4-5mm thick walls), U bolted to a firm wall or set in concrete may suffice if your not planning to go too high 4-6 metres shouldn't be a problem i have been this high you can then just have 3 guy wires which just prevents swaying in higher winds, this can look a bit alarming to passers by or neighbours and increases the stresses on the yaw mounting. Schedule 40 scaffolding tube it is very dense in longer lengths, so if using long sections assistance will  be needed to put it up and secure it. Thinner walled 48.3 x 2.5 mm is also available, lighter though not as rigid. Alloy 48.3 mm is much easier to handle, if the bottom is held secure by a hinged barcked it isn't that difficult to raise a 6 metre section with 14kg turbine against a structure and have assistance ready to secure a stand off bracket briefly at the top, (rope etc ) until rawbolts can be fitted & tightened. Guy wires/ ropes can then be secured, and adjusted as needed.

12mm stud iron can be fashioned for making clamps  using a section formed into j or U shape to grip the tube securely, and washers/ nuts on reverse side of the wall  , it's a good idea to temper (harden) the steel once finished by heating to a straw colour and quenching it in water, this makes it less, malleable and resistent to bending in future. Ready made types are available also. Always ensure a safe 'fall zone' as unlikely as possible failures may be, this is normal practice wih any wind turine.

                                                                  D.I.Y. TURBINES

D.I.Y. wind turbines are pheasible with  a bit of planning, sourcing suitable parts and some basic engineering skill/ knowledge like ability to use a  welder angle grinder etc. Turbine frames can be made of alloy wood but mild steel probably offers the best overall material. Look at some existing turbines for ideas , and do some sketches of possible designs, U tube has some interesting turbine designs featured built by people at home and some unorthodox experimental types also. see www.gotwind.org for pictures of some diy turbines..

Mounting the frame to the support tube or post can be via using a standard engineering flange  bearing, or it can just be a tube which slides (freely) onto the stationary one on the tower, on a film of grease, allowing it to swivel into the wind, a little friction can be tolerated as it only swivels with changing wind direction rather than spinning as with the rotor, i have used both methods with good results.Whichever method is used it does need to be very robust as all the pressure from the air resistance /pressure on  the rotor is transmitted onto this mounting including sudden gusts, which can occasionally whip the unit from one angle to another quite violently, i have seen tempered 12mm mild steel stud iron easily bent over almost double from these forces.

You can secure the wire at the top and run it down the tower, preferably rubber coated types like some some extension wire. Worries of the wire 'knotting up' within are usually unfounded. Many powerful commercial types still use this 'hard wired' method, though a slip ring capsule can be used, these are available commercially , as making a satifactory reliable one is quite difficult.

QUOTE FROM A U.S. TURBINE SUPPLIER/ MANUFACTURER      (ORIGINAL STILL ONLINE)

No Slip Rings - Our advice on slip rings is to use heavy rubber cable and don't worry about twisted wire. Twisted wires in the pole are an overated problem in small wind turbines. Heavy rubber wires tend to simply unwind when they are under tension and the head favours turning in the opposite direction to effect unwinding. In all manufacturing testing slip rings eventually failed and required maintenance while over 100 small test turbines equipped with rubber welding cable operated with exceptional dependability for over 12 years now and counting.

PMG .     It's advisable to choose a proper manufactured pmg. (futurenergy supply these, also renewable components  and blade sets) You can build them using Hugh Piggots designs if very 'practical'  from scratch using car brake discs and rare earth 'super' magnets mounted on them, and hand wound copper coils  these can work extreemly well with good outputs at quite low rotational revs. In higher winds 50-70 Amps isn't unheard of from larger types, but  the epoxy can eventually become  frozen  in bad weather, losening epoxies hold, releasing the (immensely powerful) magnets. This damages coils and renders these units inoperable, which is disheartening after so much work. Proper waterproofing/ sealing and protective preperation could well reduce this though, and would be worth the extra few minutes invested. 

PMG's are available in 12-24-36-48volts outputs, so a unit designed to charge 2x12volt batteries would be a 24 volt rated though would actually produce 28-30 odd volt when spinning/ charging. also some 100-300 volt AC pmg's are available. 

BLADES. One you have sourced a suitable pmg choose or make a good blade set, we are after good start up torque,so go for a good surface area, steeper 20-25 degree at the root if possible, and a gradually feathering angle5-9 degree at the tips, to allow a capability of reaching and withstanding 300 to possibly 900+ rpm a good typical operation range could be 300-500rpm,  though when a pmg is working, it drops the revs down a lot, due to magnetic resistance and so called 'cogging'resistance as it does it's work driving the magnets around past the coils. Beware of  possibly well finished  blades which may be made with some skill  but may not have actually ever been fitted/ tested  on any pmg in reality, you may be buying a white elephant!, as simple 'one set angle' blades although easy to make and mount, rarely/ never  reach high enough revs to power up a pmg even though they may spin up with easily initially. 

Powermax/ Windmax GRP 3 blade sets and hubs are also on U.S. e bay, and look similar to the ones in chinese kits i have stocked, i haven't tried these but go for an adequate diameter and confirm the mounting methods suits, (or can be adapted to) your pmg using hub plates, go for larger blades if unsure, they seem reasonably priced at least, but enquire about shipping costs.

POWER STORAGE/GID TIE. If you are after a serious money saving set up, then plan to have a battery bank with a charge regulator, you can then wire them to feed your lighting TV pc small halogen heaters, most things. Very high demand devices like tumble driers can be run off wind power i have done this, but expect to flatten your battery bank in quite a short time, even on 'low' setting they often use 2kwatts, they are power "eaters" as are aircon kettles some fridge freezers e.t.c. and possibly not suitable unless using several units or a 5kw+ grid tie  turbine .One

feeding directly through a grid tie inverter like a Windy Boy or Windmaster need no batteries.

 Halogen heaters £15 GBP for 2, 400-800w ideal for heating from a wind turbine.

A 3,000 watt kettles uses 12.5 Amps of mains, but when the same kettle draws from 12volt via an inverter it uses a hungry 250 Amps, though obviously only for short periods. Combination systems using Solar panels and wind energy tend to work very well together, again see u tube for some members system setups. This February in the U.K. saw more sushine than for the last 100 years!.

Some electricity meters in the U.K. at present will actually turn backwards at windy periods if using a big enough output turbine, and if using few devices in the house at the time.

TESTING    If you slip a charge supply wire off briefly from a spinning pmg (not recommended usually) as i have done, (so the pmg isn't under load), the revs will rise from a modest but charging 14volt 230rpm to 500+ rpm and 60  volts  in a 15 +mph gusty wind. Serious Mis alignment in the mounting shaft/plate e.t.c. or badly balanced blades can often mean it could literally shake itself to pieces in a high wind, ruining a potentialy successful and productive device. Care in construction, like weighing/matching blades , final rotor balancing and "real life"testing is the best way. During testing a thin rope attatched to the tail  can be used to take turbine bladeset out of the wind if needed, and hold revolutions down until the problems can be sorted out.

STORM PROTECTION.  Some type of furling or the ability to put the turbine into 'braking mode' to limit maximum strains in Gales is considered essential for a permanently installed unit especially if using wooden or grp blades it isn't unheard off for them to 'com adrift' at massive spinning revolutions,with roof piercing velocity, (though alot a less likely with robust plastic types).

  Small turbines like the air x aeolus and some larger types use stall control, to limit maximum revolutions, the blades are designed and shaped so that at above say 600 rpm or so the blades lose their efficiency and are reluctant to rotate much faster which is useful to prevent damage, sometimes this does create some noise but on a windy day or night this is usually lost within the normal row of a howling wind, even a few 3-5 metre diameter blades can work well with this system, as long as it has been properly tested.

  More often furling  involves a tail boom unit which swings to one side turning the blades out of the wind, lowering the revs and strains, though usually, this method can work very reliably ensuring unit endures even 90+mph gusts as my furling units did recently the tail boom was at a full 90 degrees from the frame on a few occasions, but was still producing  good power. On some designs the blade and pmg unit swing upwards to furl. 

Methods to make this is too engrossed to go into here, and varies with each set up, some experimentation is often required to get it right.You really want to utilise the relatively energy rich regular 10-45 mph  periods we get here in the U.K (if unit is up to it) , while protecting it from the 60-100+ mph winds and gusts we get most  years.

Wind power is a new and developing technology and so has many limitations, but it is very satisfying to create or install a device that makes demonstrable useful amounts of power, even if you won't ever worry Powergen! 

Some pmg's can be put into a braking mode and higher models can be progammed to do this automatically, this is done using the pmg connections.

 Please see Scot Hugh Piggots website (scoriag wind) if interested, he's somewhat of a pioneer/Guru in the wind power world, and has been involved in the field  for decades. Many people around the world have followed his plans with great results, some enthusiasts articles showing the resulting turbines can be easily found on the web, often with photos of their construction process. 

  OTHER WIND POWER INFO.

Some turbines like the U.K. Proven brand widely advertised, have a robust tapered tower with good foundations which is free standing, these can be seen in Blackpool on the seafront and also on the roof of one of the Council buildings, Airports Schools in Scotland and elswhere, this makes the whole turbine quite expensive but also makes the whole setup extreemly robust, once mounted on it's correct foundations.  

 There is some growing support for utilisation of limited wind power production in urban areas, (see urbanwindenergy.org.uk), no one would ever say conditions are even close to ideal as in parts of Scotland, the  Western Isles, Stornoway or the Northern Irish coast, but some would argue that even a tiny contribution from home production will have some benefit in reducing emissions, and the Government agrees, with plans to ease planning restrictions to encourage it , turbines are improving steadily and no doubt shall continue to. Have a look at the  B.W.E.A. website, which is informative. Also perhaps people will think more carefully about energy issues if exposed such technology close to home. One school in Scotland  is now almost entirely wind powered , what a positive message to give to our Children. 

 One of my recent customers Bob and his wife Pauline who live in southern Spain  invested in a 1kwatt turbine as he (in common with many others in rural Spain) manages without grid power but has bountiful winds. Having some reliable wind power with a small petrol generator as a  backup, means power for lighting refrigeration T.V. without paying for a VERY expensive grid connection. Spain ranks second in E.C. for wind energy (after Germany), they are and have built hundreds of turbines in mountainous areas, and are phasing out nuclear power.

                                                                                  3 phase rectifier

                                                                    to see a video of this one  in action      quietrevolution.co.uk

                In America  most wind power enthusiasts / users recommend mounting any turbine on a 40 or even 50 foot pylon or tower, this is very high, but where possible is ideal. The potential energy up there is much greater, and even though the tower/ mounting may be almost as  expensive than the actual turbine, the payback in terms of overall energy production would prove worthwhile over a relatively short time.

In Ohio and many other States there are some communities who manage without grid power and through inginuity and economy manage on wind / diesel generation alone, the same still applies for some places in rural Eire Wales and Scotland.  

     At the heart of almost every small or medium size turbine is the p.m.g. permanent magnet generator (or alternator more correctly) , to the laymen this is roughly similar in appearance externally to a large electric motor or alternator (have a look at a Windsave 1Kwatt), indeed some small electric motors like the Amtek motor, (lots of articles about this on the Web) have been used to build very small useful wind generators, enough to charge batteries for power for house garage or shed lighting etc. if spun quickly enough.

     Within the body of a p.m.g. or p.m.a. are a collection of extreemly powerful rare earth magnets usually these are arranged to spin with the blades assembly unit spinning close to the copper coils (in which the electricity is made) in this case coils are stationary, power is then fed out of the turbine usually from 3 wires (3 phase) to ground where it can be rectified if wished from A.C. to D.C. Direct Current to charge battery banks, which can easily be converted to usable 220-230 volt with an inverter. 

see photos and real time U.K Wind data at

   wind4watts                    

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