A Homemade Wind Generator From an Auto Alternator

Using an auto alternator as the motor in a homemade wind generator is an attractive idea for a few reasons. It is potentially cheap, it is convenient, and it seems inherently rewarding to recycle the alternator of your car. Auto alternators are not without their drawbacks, however. Because they power cars, they are meant to produce power at extremely high RPMs. Also, you will have to adjust your alternator to prevent it from completely shutting down current flow to your battery bank AC alternator. Nevertheless, building a wind generator with an auto alternator offers you a way to recycle old parts while using renewable resources to produce energy.

Things You'll Need

  • 12-gauge AWG cable
  • Soldering iron
  • Charge controller
  • Dump load
  • Battery bank
  • AC inverter
  • Generator frame: blades and rotor mounted on a wooden platform
  • Fine wire
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Instructions

    • 1

      Doctor your auto alternator to allow you to produce energy at the low RPM that wind generators typically receive. Unwind the thick coils of your alternator and replace them with finer wire.

    • 2

      Remove the regulator in your auto alternator, if it has one. The regulator will shut off the flow of charge to your batteries, should charge exceed a certain level. Instead of completely shutting off flow of excessive charge, you will be wiring a dump load into your generator that gets rid of the excessive charge by discharging heat.

    • 3

      Connect your auto alternator to the generator frame by attaching the shaft from the rotor to the alternator shaft. You are ready to start wiring the alternator. First, connect it to a blocking diode to ensure that charge only flows from the alternator to the battery bank -- not the opposite way, on a calm day when the alternator is producing little energy. Solder the 12-gauge AWG cable to the positive and negative terminals of the alternator, then to the blocking diode.

    • 4

      Connect the rest of the circuit, with soldering, down to the AC inverter. Connect the blocking diode to a charge controller. Connect the charge controller to a dump load, as well as to the battery bank, which will store any excess charge and pass charge on to the AC inverter. Connect the battery bank to a fuse, then to the AC inverter. The fuse acts as a final safety measure to prevent excessive charge from flowing to your AC inverter. You are now ready to power your home appliances using wind energy and a vehicle alternator.

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