Wind Turbine Mounting System

Wind turbines are available on eBay for very reasonable prices however they don't come with a means of easily mounting them. Looking around online there is very little in the way of off the shelf items you can get to attach the turbine to a building without doing your own metal work and welding.

Thankfully I found a product that does the job very well and it's available for a low cost. Handrail pipe.

It can be bought online from most scaffolding suppliers for a very reasonable price and comes with all the fittings you need to mount the turbine to the wall.

The specific turbine I bought from eBay was the

White-Wind-Turbine-Generator-Set-with-5-Blades-Charge-Controller-DC-24V-400W

Step 1: Measuring

The turbine arrived very quickly and then I set about measuring the mounting plate to try and find something compatible.

I found that a Wall Plate Tube Clamp 42.4mm OD - Size 3 was almost an exact fit to the four holes on the mounting plate and was available at a reasonable cost.

Step 2: Bill of Materials

Here is the complete list of parts that I bought.

1 x Wall Plate Tube Clamp 42.4mm OD - Size 3

6 x Wall Mount Tube Clamp for Handrail 42.4mm OD - Size 3

2 x 1.5m Tube Clamp Tube 42.4mm OD - Size 3

1 x Double Inline Swivel Tube Clamp 42.4mm OD - Size 3

1 x 3.0m Tube Clamp Tube 42.4mm OD - Size 3

As well as the following from a local DIY shop.

M8 Bolts 100mm x 4

M8 Nuts x 12

M8 Anti Vibration Washers x 4

M8 Threaded Bar - 1 meter

M8 heavy duty wall screws x 12

10mm heavy duty Rawl Plugs x 12

Threadlock compound

Tools you will need

8mm Metal Drill Bit

Drill

Spanners / Socket Set

Step 3: Securing the Turbine Mount on the Pipe

I first painted my pipes black using outdoor metal paint to make them blend in with the rest of the paintwork on the wall.

Once dry I put the wall plate tube clamp onto the end of the 3 meter pipe and tightened up the grub screws to hold it in place. Then using a metal drill bit I drilled an 8mm hole through both the clamp and the pipe. I then put a section of M8 threaded bar through the hole and clamped in place with four M8 nuts and threadlock compound.

This just stops the clamp from going anywhere, even if the grub screws work their way loose over time.

I then thoroughly tightened everything up and made sure it was all as solid as possible.

Step 4: Installation on the Wall

I first mounted a single wall mount clamp on the wall and then placed the 3 meter pipe into the clamp.

Then I mounted a second wall mount clamp directly underneath.

Be sure to feed the cable from the turbine down through the pipe before you go up with the turbine so you need a decent amount of cable so the turbine can be sat on the floor with the cable going into the top of the pipe.

Once the two vertical clamps were in place I loosened them off and dropped the turbine mounting plate down to roof level. I could then climb up and mount the turbine to the Wall Plate clamp using 4 x M8 bolts, 4 x Anti Vibration Washers and 8 x M8 Nuts and secured the nuts in place with threadlock. Again making sure that everything was tight and not going to vibrate loose.

Once the turbine was mounted I could then slide the tube up in the clamps until the turbine was high enough and then tightened the clamps to hold the pipe in place.

Between the two clamps I added a Double Inline Swivel tube clamp to allow me to add a further two sections of pipe in an inverted Y configuration to add more strength and more attachment points to the wall. Each of the additional pipes then had a further 2 wall mount clamp.

Finally everything was checked to be tight and the job was complete.

Step 5: Finished Project

Here's a video of the turbine at work on the garage.