Introduction: How to Make a Small Wind Generator (In Celebration of Earth Day!)
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About: I am an electrical repair tech by day and an engineer by night, after work or free time.
In this i will show you how to make a wind generator that produces electricity! I will only walk you through making the generator but it is up to you to figure out what you want to do with the electricity it produces! i havent gotten that far yet but i am planning on making a charge circuit so follow me if you want to see the outcome of that in the near future :) ok lets get started. first off id like to say that The amount of electricty it generates depends on what kind of steper motor you use, mine outputs 8 volts tops but on a slow wind day it generates around 4 which for me is enough to work with. This is a great "green" project so vote for me if you agree :) i would greatly appreciate it!
I recently updated the wind catchers so please see the last step for the updated positions! they work a lot better and more effecient.
for more timely updates visit https://www.facebook.com/Electricreations
I recently updated the wind catchers so please see the last step for the updated positions! they work a lot better and more effecient.
for more timely updates visit https://www.facebook.com/Electricreations
Step 1: Things Needed
In this you will need common tools normally used by a fan of electronics such as a soldering iron, wire strippers and so on. For the wind generator you are going to need 8 empty pop bottles (2liter), 8 pop bottle caps, epoxy, super glue, thin light pieces of metal (for the fan part, will describe that more later) and a stepper motor . no pictures of the things needed sorry :(
Step 2: Making the "wind Catchers"
in this part you will be making the wind catchers, its the part that catches the wind and turns the motor.
first cut the tops off 8 pop bottles like so. I cut where the lable ended and i later painted them red (that part is optional). once you have 8 all cut off move on to the next step
first cut the tops off 8 pop bottles like so. I cut where the lable ended and i later painted them red (that part is optional). once you have 8 all cut off move on to the next step
Step 3: Making the Wind Catcher "couplers"
I like to call this part the coupler because to connects two pop bottle tops, alls you do is simple use epoxy to combine pop bottle caps together. combine two caps back by back like this, in the end you will have four pop bottle couplers. for added security i wrapped electrical tape around each set.
Step 4: Making the Fan Part (cant Think of a Better Name for It)
This step is fairly easy all you do is make an X shape using two pieces of thin light metal (about a foot and a half long and one inch wide) then after that part is done you secure the couplers at the end using epoxy. I havent figured out what to call this piece so for now the "fan part" will have to do. let the epoxy harden then move on.
Step 5: Adding the Wind Catchers to the Fan Part.
this step is very easy, alls you do is screw the pop bottle tops into the couplers.
Step 6: Adding the Stepper Motor (generator)
after the "fan part" is completed you have to attach the stepper motor to it. what i did was i combined the two using epoxy and secured the edges with hot glue.
Step 7: The Stand.
after the stepper motor is attached you have to make a stand for it. the way you make your stand is based on how your motor works, i had to make mine in a weird way due to the way the motor works but the stand is fairly easy, i used a piece of wood (close to a 2x4) and a rectangle piece of wood as the base. after the stand is done you have to attach the fan part with the motor to the stand, to do that you simply use epoxy to combine the two. as i said my motor is weird so i had to add a piece of wood and drill a hole through it and let the motor rest through there and i used epoxy to secure it. after all that is done and all the epoxy has set go out on a windy day and test the output with a multimeter, I would recommend testing your motor before you start this just to get an idea of how much power it outputs.
Step 8: All Done!
this is as far as i will take you, it is up to you to figure out what you want to power with the electricity. I will be making a circuit for it real soon so if you would like to see that just follow me other than that the wind generator is complete! :) please vote for me if you liked this project i would really appreciate it :) also i will be adding small solar powered motors to help spin the generator but again that will happen in the near future so subscribe to see that add on aswell. please if you have any questions or comments just post them or message me :)
Step 9: Little Demo (barely Any Wind But It Works Great!) More Wind=more Power
Step 10: Update
AN UPDATE! this is an updated picture of this instructable, meaning it was taken a few days after this was posted. i have read some of the comments and some people suggested taking one cup off of each arm to reduce wind resistance and increase rotations, and it worked! so thank you for your feedback! the generator does work with two cups on each arm but i did see improvement when i took of one from each arm, that is the beauty of using the pop bottle caps, it is easy to go from two cups to one just because you can simply unscrew the bottle. as you can see in the picture i added a few things. more info on these will come soon! thank you so much :)