How to Make an Inexpensive Vertical Wind Turbine – Part 1
Visit Blog at http://berezin.com/jeff for details.
Part 2 is now done and covers power generation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24LSnATIZhw
Harness the wind for less than $100.
DIY vertical wind turbine of the Savonius style.
Notable is that this cost less than $100 in materials so far and that the largest part of this turbine is recycled materials (the PVC drums previously held Balsamic Vinegar from Italy).
Also, this turns well in a very light wind.
Axle: 3 inch PVC piping from Home Depot
Bearings: 5 inch lazy suzan from Lowes.
Part 2 will cover power generation and connection to the battery bank.
Tags: Italy, Vertical Wind Turbine
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March 25th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Awesome. That works out to about $1.50 per Watt. That’s dang cheap … comparable with small hydro … and a lot more people have wind than a creek with vertical drop.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Thanks for putting this on YouTube. Please continue to video your projects, thanks.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:39 am
this computer is the best but I wnt more!!
March 30th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Put out a dozen. Neat!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:17 am
sorry (Mite)
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
If you use a belt and pulleys it bite run a lot more efficiently!
Great work!!!!!
Cant wait to see whats next!!!!!
April 7th, 2009 at 3:19 am
Thanks. will do.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:50 am
It is fairly quiet unless we have 30 knot winds and then it gets quite loud with the lazy susan bearings.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:59 am
I know this, but I need the overlap I have for structural integrity. I am going to read up on salt-water dummy loads.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Am making another version with sealed bearings now.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Am trying this now. Just got approval to put up 6 towers.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:54 am
It is putting out about 14v @ 5 amps or around 70 Watts at 15mph
April 15th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
wow thats alot of staghorn in the backround…
April 18th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I havent watch the whole video yet. this is the thinking we as a country need. thinking we cant is bullshit thinking we can is what our children think all the time. Kept that spirit and we will get thru these tough times. KEEP THINKING
April 18th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Ok. What was the power output again, I seemed to have missed that bit? perhaps I slept through that part while you described how to get it out of the shed. what what what. only three whats, how dim.
April 18th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I suspect this generates a fair bit of noise too!
April 20th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
If you want to be green, just grow some vegies in your garden and then spend the money you save on planting trees or buying CO2 offsets.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:03 pm
in this case you should get some of your community to help building turbines, so people know what it is all about, may be they’ll say yes afterwards… i live in switzerland, means i could just build some of those, put em up and whait for people to come look at it and ask questions about it
April 24th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Sealed and lithium-greased bearings are more efficient. Excellent idea using those drums.
April 27th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Research at Sandia Laboratories suggests an overlap of 10 to 15% of the bucket diameter, not 50%. I suspect you’re loosing a fair amount of power.
You ought to hookup a simple home-made salt-water dummy load and check the power. Piece of cake.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
The problem with doing that is that it would have to require a huge tail to align it with the wind. If you’re going with such a system you might as well construct a hawt instead of vawt as you get more power out of a hawt.
May 1st, 2009 at 1:50 am
Interesting take. Personally, I think it is awesome, but even if I did get it built and implemented (without my wifes approval) my community platt would probably say NO because it is very non standard. In Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweeping down the plains) it would be a great place to have a couple of these bad boys. In fact I would be worried that they would get worn or broken from over use.
May 1st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
lol, the big NO is one more resason to do so:-) if possible in the frontyard so that everyone asks: “dood, whats this gonna be??”
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
greasing the bearings or spraying wd/40 will help lower the resistance. the weight of the barrels probly help keep it spinning aswell. great vid!!
May 6th, 2009 at 4:22 am
Hi,
I’m building my own wind turbine and need to know more about what type of alternator to use. Baring in mind that I’m a student and poor, so if possible could you recommend a cheap alternator.
Would a solenoid work to generate a voltage?
Thanks for any tips!