Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

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Fordowner1995
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Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:51 pm

Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by Fordowner1995 » Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:00 pm

Hello I have a 20" box fan that's just sitting around in the garage. I saw a video from the DIY world on YouTube about this way back. I did"t happen to find the how to video how to convert the fan. I was wondering also how to take a dryed up car battery and bring it back to life. I can hook my running car up to it and pump 60 amps or so into it. Then it can hold a charge with no fluid in it. ( Ive only done this once), it held the charge for about six hours. So can anyone help my on my penny budget build of maybe $15 at most. I know it's a small amount but I'm just interning into wind power.

techman
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Re: Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by techman » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:38 am

Do not ever charge up a battery that has no fluid in it.

Top off the fluid in the battery with distilled water. Costs a dollar for a gallon at most grocery stores.

Top off the fluid to just above the lead plates inside each cell. Let it settle a while and check again.

Charge and see if it holds a charge. Check the fluids again and top off if needed.

Build a bedini charger or a commercial pulsing battery desulfator to restore the battery back to some of its original capacity.

Please let me know how it goes.

Fordowner1995
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:51 pm

Re: Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by Fordowner1995 » Sat May 10, 2014 10:34 pm

We'll this is a update on my project on a shoe string budget! I took distilled water and Epsom salt and made it come back to 75% life. I know this because I took it to my auto parts store tester.

Now here's the part I didn't get fully. I took apart the plastic casing on both sides and put it into the wind and only pulled about .003 to .012 volts from a 25 mph wind blowing for about five minutes :?:

I went to a whole sales place and picked up a 200 running watt running and 400 peak watt inverter. I put it onto the battery and it ran three 100 watt light bulbs with out a problem.

I really need tips to get my box fan to at least put out 200 watts any tips or tricks of the trade will put me one step closer to me investing my time further into this project :D :ugeek:

techman
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Re: Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by techman » Sun May 11, 2014 2:09 pm

You need to take apart the box fan motor and put magnets on the armature. The metal core that spins around in the middle. Get the strongest magnets you can afford that will fit into the motor. You will have to cut or going out the core to fit the magnets into it.

Glue the magnets onto the armature alternating north and south poles and put it all back together.

Test it out in a wind to see which of the two wires put out the most voltage.

Hope that makes sense.

Fordowner1995
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:51 pm

Re: Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by Fordowner1995 » Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:56 am

Well here is an update for current viewers of my conversation. I took the advice from Troy and redid six box fans with magnets purchased from a local hardware store. I now have further seen an impact on power production from 200-1000 watts from six box fans. :P Now I have had a major problem with the wiring of my set up to a bank of six volt battery bank (Ten batteries) I have been using 2 gauge wiring and had a wire to the outback Charge controller. It catches fire with a wind gust of 60 mph and caused my thousand dollar controller to turn into a paper weight. I had a experienced electrician of 32 years hook up my system following the instructions to the letter. Now does anyone have input to what i should do now? Im just lost!!!

techman
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Re: Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by techman » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:24 pm

Wow! That is a sad surprise. Somehow you either put out too much current or too much voltage. I am not sure which one.

Sadly you have to get a new charge controller. Not sure if the electrician was a friend or a proper business. Maybe their insurance can cover it?

I would first set it all up again, but not connected to your batteries or charge controller. Get some meters or gauges and see what the maximum output volts and amps are from the new wind turbines.

I think you got too many volts is my guess.

Please let me know what the current status is.

Howard Boone
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Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:48 pm

Re: Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by Howard Boone » Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:49 pm

you can get DC current from some motors if you spend them backwards and at a fast rate. Basically get out the Electric testing tools. ultimately you need a amp ige.. I would think you would take days you're trying to trickle charge a battery .. there is a black feed situation that need some thought.. Because some motors even though there are a hundred and ten household current they can run on DC current the current that is in the batteries.

techman
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Re: Wind turbine from old box fan and dry up car battery

Post by techman » Sat Feb 14, 2015 3:39 pm

I have heard that some people use the AC squirrel cage motors and get power out of them but there is some trick with putting some power in for a second to energize it. I have never tried this myself though.

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