Car alternator wind mill generator?

[[email protected]]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

Cheers

-Gaiko

 

[The Real Andy]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

Cheers

-Gaiko

Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

 

[MooseFET]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

-Gaiko

Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

He needs to list out what he can get his hands on. Can he get all of
the parts from the electrical system of a car? Does he have lumber
and tools? Does he have pulleys? What are the locals able to
improvise?

Heres sort of the idea I had:

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.

 

[Frogwatch]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).
Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).
So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!
Cheers
-Gaiko

Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

He needs to list out what he can get his hands on. Can he get all of
the parts from the electrical system of a car? Does he have lumber
and tools? Does he have pulleys? What are the locals able to
improvise?

Heres sort of the idea I had:

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.

I like MooseFET's idea. However, getting an old truck generator
should not be hard. Third world countries always have lots of old
junk trucks. The bigger the better. He can use one of the old style
mechanical voltage regulators.

 

[kT]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).
Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).
So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!
Cheers
-Gaiko
Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

He needs to list out what he can get his hands on. Can he get all of
the parts from the electrical system of a car? Does he have lumber
and tools? Does he have pulleys? What are the locals able to
improvise?

Heres sort of the idea I had:

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.

I like MooseFET's idea. However, getting an old truck generator
should not be hard. Third world countries always have lots of old
junk trucks. The bigger the better. He can use one of the old style
mechanical voltage regulators.

Or, seeing on how this is America and everything, we could apply our
considerable scientific and engineering expertise to the problem of
small wind generators. Wouldn't that be something? But it ain't gonna
happen because American for some reason are the dumbest fucks around.

 

[Steve Spence]

The most power our

offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

Cheers

-Gaiko

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/axialflux/ has info on DIY $1 / watt wind
gens (including tower) which will work a whole lot better than a car
alternator.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Or, seeing on how this is America and everything, we could apply our
considerable scientific and engineering expertise to the problem of
small wind generators. Wouldn't that be something? But it ain't gonna
happen because American for some reason are the dumbest fucks around.

Maybe you should try learning to read?

Small wind generators have been discussed on SED in some considerable
engineering detail that pointed out the terribly low efficiency of
such a device... see Don Lancaster's comments.

But you're probably some dumb-**** leftist weenie who thinks wishing
it so makes it so ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[kT]

Maybe you should try learning to read?

Small wind generators have been discussed on SED in some considerable
engineering detail that pointed out the terribly low efficiency of
such a device... see Don Lancaster's comments.

Don Lancaster is a crank. I've been running my own home built wind
generators for decades, they work just fine at low efficiency, as do
solar panels. It's merely a straight science and engineering problem.

But you're probably some dumb-**** leftist weenie who thinks wishing
it so makes it so ;-)

Didn't you get the memo, your supposed to use all of these words :

lib, libs, left, lefty, leftist, leftists, dims, dems, socialists, and
the most important one of all : communiss!

Heckava job there George W. Bush :

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

http://icasualties.org/

http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/co2/graphics/mlo145e_thrudc04.pdf

Americans are fucking idiots, they should have put a stop to this long
ago, but they are such fucking *PUSSIES* they voted for Bush - twice!

 

[clare at snyder.on.ca]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!


Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

He needs to list out what he can get his hands on. Can he get all of
the parts from the electrical system of a car? Does he have lumber
and tools? Does he have pulleys? What are the locals able to
improvise?

Heres sort of the idea I had:

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.

I like MooseFET's idea. However, getting an old truck generator
should not be hard. Third world countries always have lots of old
junk trucks. The bigger the better. He can use one of the old style
mechanical voltage regulators.

The generator solves several issues. You are not drawing field current
when speed is low (net loss) and it only connects to the battery when
it is charging (cutout relay function) It still needs to turn fast,
but if he can get a MILITARY truck generator it will be 24 volts, and
using a 12 volt regulator he will get useable output at lower speeds.

 

[David Starr]

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

It's not quite that bad. Car alternators will charge the car's battery
at idle (approx 800 engine rpm). There is often some speed step up thru
the fanbelt, but it is certainly less than 2:1. I'd expect useful
output starting around 1000 rpm, and full output by 1500 rpm (alternator
rpm that is).
I beleive the voltage regulator is now a days integral with the
alternator.David Starr

 

[Jim Thompson]

It's not quite that bad. Car alternators will charge the car's battery
at idle (approx 800 engine rpm). There is often some speed step up thru
the fanbelt, but it is certainly less than 2:1.

More like 3:1

I'd expect useful
output starting around 1000 rpm,

More like 2100 RPM (alternator)

and full output by 1500 rpm (alternator
rpm that is).

3000-4000 RPM

I beleive the voltage regulator is now a days integral with the
alternator.

Yes. It's been that way since the '60's. See my patents.

David Starr

...Jim Thompson

 

[Martin Griffith]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).

Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap" wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).

So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!

-Gaiko

Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

He needs to list out what he can get his hands on. Can he get all of
the parts from the electrical system of a car? Does he have lumber
and tools? Does he have pulleys? What are the locals able to
improvise?

Heres sort of the idea I had:

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.

Savonious could be the word to google
eg
http://www.macarthurmusic.com/johnkwilson/MakingasimpleSavoniuswindturbine.htm


Martin

 

[Anthony Matonak]

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/axialflux/ has info on DIY $1 / watt wind
gens (including tower) which will work a whole lot better than a car
alternator.

You can also download plans (or buy the books) from Hugh Piggott's
Homepage.
http://www.scoraigwind.com/

Anthony

 

[ehsjr]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).
Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap"
wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).
So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!
Cheers
-Gaiko

Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

He needs to list out what he can get his hands on. Can he get all of
the parts from the electrical system of a car? Does he have lumber
and tools? Does he have pulleys? What are the locals able to
improvise?

Heres sort of the idea I had:

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.

I like MooseFET's idea. However, getting an old truck generator
should not be hard. Third world countries always have lots of old
junk trucks. The bigger the better. He can use one of the old style
mechanical voltage regulators.

Or, seeing on how this is America and everything, we could apply our
considerable scientific and engineering expertise to the problem of
small wind generators. Wouldn't that be something? But it ain't gonna
happen

Wrong - it already has happened: http://www.bergey.com/

because American for some reason are the dumbest fucks around.

Perhaps you know nothing about the following:

July 21, 1969
John C Mather
George F Smoot
Roger D Kornberg
Craig C Mello
Andrew Z Fire

 

[kT]

I am presently working for an NGO in Afghanistan and some of our
feild
offices are waaaaaay out in the boonies (no electricity, no running
water, nada). At the moment they have a cr*ppy chinese generator and
funding is apparently so tight that we can't afford another generator
(since the chinese generators have proven to have a life of about a
year and the higher ups don't seem to have a concept of spending more
money for a better generator [like a Honda generator]).
Anyway, the point is that three of our offices are on the sides of
mountains or very tall hills where 3/4th of the day it is *really*
windy. Since we have very little funding i was trying to think of a
cheap means of power and thought about putting together a "cheap"
wind/
generator from a truck/car alternator and fan and a few car
batteries.
The problem is, my background is agricultural development so i have
little concept of if the afore mentioned setup would even work or how
much it would power or how much it would cost. The most power our
offices use is to power a TV or Computer plus flourecnet lights and
thats it. I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap
solar or wind power setups but haven't found many (I am told they are
there, but the ones i have found seem to be insanely complicated or
way too expensive).
So if anyone out there knows of such plans or NGOs that deal with
such
things (I tried geek corps but it appears that was a bit low tech for
them) please let me know!
Cheers
-Gaiko

Car alternators are all but useless. You need a permanent magnet
motor.

I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

He needs to list out what he can get his hands on. Can he get all of
the parts from the electrical system of a car? Does he have lumber
and tools? Does he have pulleys? What are the locals able to
improvise?

Heres sort of the idea I had:

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.


I like MooseFET's idea. However, getting an old truck generator
should not be hard. Third world countries always have lots of old
junk trucks. The bigger the better. He can use one of the old style
mechanical voltage regulators.

Or, seeing on how this is America and everything, we could apply our
considerable scientific and engineering expertise to the problem of
small wind generators. Wouldn't that be something? But it ain't gonna
happen

Wrong - it already has happened: http://www.bergey.com/

I believe we are talking about Southwest Windpower and Windbugger class
machines.

Perhaps you know nothing about the following:

July 21, 1969
John C Mather
George F Smoot
Roger D Kornberg
Craig C Mello
Andrew Z Fire

Which explains why all you still have in the small class wind generators
are Southwest Windpower and Windbuggers - crap without modifications.

 

[BobG]

I think you guys are too picky about alternator 'efficiency'. The
field takes a couple amps at 12v to run, so thats 24 watts out of
1200...2% to the field coil, and another couple percent to the slip
ring friction. The diode loss for a car alternator and a permanent
magner alternator is another couple %, but it cancels out... need to
have em. I guess you could use low drop diodes and save a % or so. The
negatives for a big powerful PMA is the torque it takes to turn it...
need a big wind. With a car alternator, the torque on the blade can be
turned down to nothing... free wheeling... you might only be getting a
couple volts in a 1 mph wind, but with a 95% wide input range dc to dc
converter, who cares. If the darn alternator takes a poop after 6
months, who cares? The junk yard is full of em.

 

[Doug Bashford]

MooseFET said about:
Re: Car alternator wind mill generator?

...........snip

A fan!? Like a living room fan?

As humanity is now discovering, no such thing.
Power is costly.
No free lunch. Now you are discovering this too.

IOW, you want close to unmodified city life.

Your first step should be to reduce your power needs.
(first step in Conservation)

You might consider converting all that to 12V. And LED
lighting. (or yadayada whatever)
And Coleman type pump-up gasoline lighting (or whatever) for
those rare peak needs.
That's all off the shelf and cheap.

If you wanted to REALLY save power (money) convert
to personal lighting. Like headband minors' LED lamps
powerd by say, 3 NiMH AAA rechargables. A single charge
could yeild days of late night novel reading etc.
Most are overpowered for this, use too many LEDS,
but at least one on the market is high-low switchable.

I have looked around on the internet for plans for cheap

.............snip



I disagree. If the bits of cars are what he can get then that is what
he has to work with.

The alternator from a car needs to be turned at a few thousand RPM to
make useful power. This is the point that causes the trouble.

The reason why cars switched to altenators is that
they charge well at or near engine idle speeds.
Since there is never a free lunch, I'm guessing
generators are more effecient at higher speeds.

I'm guessing that "gaikokujinkyofu...@"... has no
idea how much horsepower this requiers since
he mentioned a fan. Certainly anything smaller
than a bicycle-parts power train would be "under designed."
My gut feeling says "small motorcycle." For example,
he dreams of a Honda generator, well what size bike would
that dream engine power? That's also the source-horsepower
we are talking about; what he'll need to harness for his
dreams to come true.

I'm guessing that "gaikokujinkyofu...@"... is pretty much
looking for a free lunch, and we have nothing to offer him.
....like so many optimists, he underestemates the nature of
the problem. (...Moving from the laboritoriy or armchair
"physically possible" to the production line "doable.")


...........snip

Take a oil drum and split it along its length.

Make some sort of verticle shaft that is well supported.

Run a couple of 2x4s crosswise and attach them firmly to the shaft.

Attach the drum halves near the ends of the crossbars.

Use something like a bicycle wheel as a pulley on the shaft to take to
power off. Or perhaps take a bicyle chain etc to do it.

Bicycle parts will give you about an x10 step up in speed. He will
need more than that. Perhaps two x10 step ups could work.

Instantly we see another of the laws of economics at work.
It's almost always cheaper to hire an expert. Buy one.

I've seen a backpack collapsible solar unit that isn't
too expensive and shows promise and was desiged expecitely
for NGO bush use. However, "gaikokujinkyofu...@"'s power
needs may be too high.
--Doug

Google Results about 311,000 for
backpack solar "solar power" $120..$600.

Voltaic Backpack, Solar Backpack, Solar Bag
The Voltaic solar bags are mobile power generators,
designed to charge your devices ... Voltaic Backpack $249.
Silver Panels, Orange Panels, Green Panels ...
www.voltaicsystems.com/ - 31k

*Expedition Solar Power Packages
One 32W Solar Panel with 16AH Power Center Package.
Package system with one 32W folding rugged solar panel and a
16AH solar power center. Your Price $575.95 ...
www.ctsolar.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=4 -
39k -


Results about 192,000 for
backpack solar "solar power" $520..$950.

*Expedition Solar Power Packages
Our most popular with serious expedition users. Package
system with two 32W folding rugged solar panels and a 16AH
solar power center. Your Price $835.95 ...
www.ctsolar.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=4 -
39k -

 

[RW Salnick]

BobG brought forth on stone tablets:

I think you guys are too picky about alternator 'efficiency'. The
field takes a couple amps at 12v to run, so thats 24 watts out of
1200...2% to the field coil, and another couple percent to the slip
ring friction. The diode loss for a car alternator and a permanent
magner alternator is another couple %, but it cancels out... need to
have em. I guess you could use low drop diodes and save a % or so. The
negatives for a big powerful PMA is the torque it takes to turn it...
need a big wind. With a car alternator, the torque on the blade can be
turned down to nothing... free wheeling... you might only be getting a
couple volts in a 1 mph wind, but with a 95% wide input range dc to dc
converter, who cares. If the darn alternator takes a poop after 6
months, who cares? The junk yard is full of em.

One problem not considered is that a coil-driven alternator requires
field current whenever you *might* be able to get power. That is, you
will likely be supplying field power in the hopes that the wind will
blow enough to pay back the investment.

The PM alternator does not have this requirement - when the wind blows,
it makes power. When the wind stops, it uses no power.

bob

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per ehsjr:

George F Smoot

Could that be the same person as the MIT student who, as part of
some kind of initiation, was used to measure the distance from
the campus to Boston in "Smoots"?

 

[Anthony Matonak]

I think you guys are too picky about alternator 'efficiency'.

....
I'm no wind power expert. The guys that are wind power experts are
the ones who say car alternators aren't very good for wind turbines.

This Hugh Piggott guy has been working on low tech wind turbines
that folks can build themselves for years so I would think he would
qualify.

Anthony