[a-w-h] Re: First project & what resources are best?

At 00:03 16/02/00 -0700, Don Goyette wrote:
>... I want to start small and experiment a lot. ...
>As a "first project", I would like to build a turbine that will power a 
>bank
>of 12 volt automotive headlights, from a number of batteries.  OR, would it
>be better to convert to A/C and use 120 volt lights?  If so, why?  This
>"bank" could start out as 1 or 2 lights, and then grow from there.
>
> I would also consider doing some "wind art" as a first project, ... to 
>learn proper blade design and construction, what kinds of bearings are 
>best in our dusty air, how to best mount everything, ...  Should I 
>"go for it" the first time 'round, or "go slow and easy"?
>

**  With Hugh's point in mind about getting blades to work right while
under load, I'd recommend you get right into (1) making the blades,
bearings etc, and (2) using truck parts for all the rest: truck alternator
(belt and pulley driven), rectifier block, a big truck battery, and a small
number of 12 V D/C lights. This would mean your system was designed for
variable speed, and dirty conditions. The belt-&-pulley would allow you to
"gear down" the (hopefully) high RPM of the blades to whatever the truck
alternator normally works at, by using a small pulley on the turbine shaft
driving one 2-3 times the diameter (I'm guessing) on the alternator.

**  I should say, I'm not speaking from experience; that's just what I
would do if I was Don.

**  You'd have to use fatter wiring for your longer distances, than is used
around a truck engine, probably the sort of cable used in powering a winch
on the back bumper of a pickup. Or even fatter, if it has to go 10s of 
meters.

**  That's one of the reasons why we'll be using an inverter (near the
battery bank) to supply our standard-voltage (230V here in New Zealand) A/C
system when we build our retirement house. We installed a 12V D/C system in
the furnished end of our barn where the other couple lived while building
their (off-the-grid) house, but even with only ~3 rooms the fat cabling
became somewhat expensive.

**  We'll be keeping one central 12V D/C lamp for when the inverter fails,
though. In our case, we always use 12 V D/C compact fluorescent lamps (the
ones with the bulge under the actual light which contains the lamp's own
small D/C-to-A/C inverter). They take _much_ less current for the same
light output than incandescent car headlights.

David.
(David MacClement) d1v9d@bigfoot.com 
www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/3142/Pg1-AD11.html
 or better: http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/
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