The $140 Wind Turbine: Do It Yourself (DIY) Instructions

The $140 Wind Turbine
Do It Yourself (DIY) Instructions
GreenDIYenergy.com
1 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

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Table of Contents
SECTION PAGE #
The $140 Wind Turbine 5

How It Works 6
DIY Parts List and Costs 7
Generator 8
Blades and Hub 11
Mounting 21
Batteries 26
Tower 30
Caution 38
Suggested Additions 39

THE $140 WIND TURBINE:
The Do It Yourself movement is now becoming

popular as a result of the high cost of sustainable
technology. We have assembled an instructional
manual that will help you build your own affordable
wind turbine out of recycled materials and cheap
buys.
Wind power is an investment that will accompany

you into the long-term. By following the instructions
in this guide and constructing your own turbine out
of affordable materials, you will save even more than
you would from buying a retail wind turbine system
which could cost thousands of dollars.
We have provided you with many ideas, ranging

from the best types of generators to the shaping and
cutting of your own blades. Because there are many
crucial elements to wind turbine construction and
production, we have provided you with diagrams that
detail these construction methods as well as images
that depict how the turbine functions overall.

HOW IT WORKS:
Wind turbines share five common attributes:

1. Generator
2. Blades and Hub
3. Mounting
4. Tower
5. Control Panel
The wind turbine in our example will provide a

few hundred Watts of power. It wasn’t designed to
produce enough electricity to power an entire house
or farm, but its incorporation within an existing
electrical system can significantly lower your energy
bill by taking pressure off of household loads.

DIY PARTS LIST AND COSTS:
(Approximate figures)

Generator:
The generator is one of the most critical parts of the

wind turbine. It’s responsible for taking power from
the blades and turning it into usable energy.
Pictured above is the 30 VDC Ametek motor we

used. Without having to go through the complication
of building your own generator, there are several DC
motor options available.

When used as a generator, a motor rated for 325
RPM at 30 Volts could be expected to produce 12+
Volts at a reasonably low RPM.
Your motor should have:
• High DC Voltage
• High Current
• Low RPM rating
There are many motor options to choose from. We

suggest the following options:
• Permanent magnet alternators (more expensive,

but they are designed for wind turbine use)
• Old computer tape drive motors (surplus relics

from the days when there were big reel-to-reel
tape drives)
• Electric lawn mower motors
• Floor buffer motors

• Servo motors
• All Ametek motors (30, 38, or 99 VDC work

particularly well)
NOTE:
Car alternators and AC motors have been used for

wind turbines, but we have found that they generally
don’t work very well and aren’t recommended.
Before you make a final decision about which motor
to use as your wind turbine generator, go to the
manufacturer’s web site and research the motor’s
specs. If you’re browsing Ebay, ask the seller if he
has tested the motor as a generator, or if he can test
it for you.
If a motor that can be used as a generator is selling
cheap, you can buy it and test it by chucking it into
your drill press (or lathe) and turning it on while
attached to a load. If it handles the load, you can
use it. If not, you can resell it on Ebay and get your
money back.

Blades and Hub:
Blades are another crucial element to a wind

turbine’s functionality, transferring energy produced
by the wind into kinetic energy.
To construct your own blades:
• Acquire a 6 inch wide, 24 inch long PVC pipe

• Quarter the piece of pipe around its

circumference, cutting it lengthwise into four
pieces (diagram on the next page)


• Cut one blade and use it as a template for the
others (standard measurements provided)

Our research has shown that 3 is the optimum
number of blades - most commercially made wind
turbines have 3 blades. Turbines with even numbers
of blades tend to suffer from vibration problems.
Single-bladed turbines need a big counterweight
opposite the single blade to keep them balanced.
There are diminishing returns to adding more

blades. Expense and complexity go up quickly, but
performance only improves marginally. Also, adding
more blades tends to increase torque, but this
comes at the expense of speed.
Generators like to run fast, which is why you rarely

see a wind turbine with more than 5 blades. In
applications where torque is important, you may see
turbines with lots of blades, like the ones pumping
water on ranches, but they don’t make good
electrical generators unless their output is geared
way-up in order to create enough speed.

• Use a belt/palm sander to smooth and shape the
edges of your PVC pipe quarter-pieces
• It is critically important that all the turbine blades

are the exact same size and weight

Now the blades need to be assembled to a hub. Be
sure to assemble the hub before you drill any holes
in the blade so you can make sure that they line up
correctly with eachother.
• Use a scrap disk of Aluminum that is 5 in

diameter and ¼ in thick

• Bolt together a toothed pulley to fit on the
motor of the shaft, making sure that the hole
fits the motor attachment snugly
• Drill holes in the hub for the blades to be

screwed into

• Attach the hub pieces together and then
proceed to connect blades
After assembly, check for balance:
• Mark each of your blades with a number
• Assemble the blade/hub contraption upon a

stable support, such as a pole

• Spin the blades approximately 10-15 times
• For each spin, document the number upon

the bottom blade
• After spinning, notice if the same blade ends

up on the bottom each time. This means that
it’s heavier than the others, which could
offset the entire turbine’s productivity
If your blades are unbalanced, you can sand a bit

more off of the heaviest blade’s curved edge. Then,
test it again by using the same process.

• Once you are convinced that the blade/hub
contraption is balanced, attach a dome-
shaped vent cap for protection

Mounting:
To create a mounting for turbine mobility:
• Strap the generator to a piece of 2X4 wood
• Cut a 4 inch diameter PVC pipe to make a

shield for the motor, protecting it from the
weather
• Construct a tail to keep the blades turned into

the wind with a piece of heavy sheet of
Aluminum (tail shape varies by preference)

Shown above is our mount with the generator and
tail attached.
You need to make sure that your blades are

functional and always facing into the wind. Create a
bearing that allows for ample mobility in the wind
current:
• Attach a 1 in iron floor flange, centered 7 ½ in

back from the generator-end of the 2X4

• Screw a 10 in long iron pipe nipple to it
(displayed below)

This photo shows the newly constructed head and
base of the wind turbine, prior to final assembly.
• Disassemble the generator and tail

• Completely coat all wooden parts with UV
protected latex paint - three coats is ideal to
protect it from harsh weather
After painting, this photo shows the finished head

unit with the generator, blades, and tail attached.

Batteries:
Collecting and using the power created by your new
wind turbine requires the following:
• A charge controller
• A blocking diode to prevent power from the

batteries being wasted by spinning the
motor/generator
• One or more batteries to store power produced

by the turbine
• A secondary load to dump power from the

turbine into when the batteries are fully charged
• Power Inverter
Car batteries may seem like a good material to
recycle for wind turbine utilization, but they are not a
good choice for a wind or solar power installation. If
discharged too deeply, they become damaged. Car
batteries are designed to deliver a quick burst of
power to start the engine. They are not meant to be
deeply discharged and recharged repeatedly.

Recycled golf cart batteries and other types of deep
cycle batteries work much better with wind turbines
and will not be destroyed quickly from over-usage.
Whether you build your own or buy one, a charge
controller for your wind turbine is crucial. It will:
• Monitor the Voltage of the battery(s) in your

system
• Either send power from the turbine into the

batteries to recharge them, or dump the power
from the turbine into a secondary load when the
batteries are fully charged (to prevent over-
charging and destroying the batteries)
If you did not have a charge controller, your battery

would overload from an abundance of energy,
making its life run out faster. A controller is a
necessity for your wind turbine, as it will interrupt the
system before it overcharges. Without a controller,
you would have to slavishly watch the voltage on
your batteries and connect and disconnect them
from the wind turbine manually.

Pictured above is the inside of our charge controller,
of which we chose to construct. However, you can
easily purchase a charge controller online at Ebay or
other electrical stores.
• Before wiring everything together, speak with an

electrician about the best size gauge of wire to
ensure maximum turbine performance

Voltage output from a wind turbine varies wildly with
wind speed. Without a battery bank and charge
controller in the system, connecting directly to the
wind turbine could cause damage to the inverter or
another appliance. The load from the battery bank
smoothes out the Voltage to something the inverter
can handle, providing power during periods of little
or no wind.
Your wind turbine should function in the diagram
presented below:

Tower:
You must now construct a sturdy tower that will

support everything you have created thus far.
To assemble the tower upright:
• Use a 10 ft long piece of 1 ¼ in conduit
• To test, anchor the pole to four big wooden

stakes - driven into the ground with nylon rope

The photo above shows how the guy-lines should
attach near the top of the tower.
• Use chain-link fence brackets as tie points for

your guy-lines
• Place a steel hose clamp at either end of the

stack of brackets to keep them in place

Later, for a more permanent turbine establishment:
• Replace the wood and nylon with steel and

cement the tower into the ground
This photo shows the base of the tower, staked to

the ground. A wire from the wind turbine exits from a
Tee below the conduit tower.
• Cut off both ends of an old extension cord (to
connect between the turbine and the controller)
• Put spade lugs on both ends

Threading the wire through the tower is fairly easy,
but you may have to use a fish-tape or string line to
pull the cord through the conduit.
• Grease the pipe on the bottom of the head and

slide it into the top of the conduit

• When the wind starts blowing, the turbine head
should snap around into it and begin spinning up
quickly until the output Voltage exceeds the
battery Voltage plus the blocking diode drop
(which is around 13.3 Volts, depending on the
state of the battery charge)

This photo shows our controller, battery, inverter and
associated electronics wired up to the turbine.
• Once maximum Voltage is exceeded, the turbine

suddenly has a load as it begins dumping power
into the battery
• Once it has a load to power, the Voltage from

the turbine only goes up a little as wind speed
increases
• RPMs only slightly increase as wind speed

increases

• Remember: More wind = More Current into the
battery = More load on the generator
Here is a close up of the electronics. The meter

shows that the wind turbine is producing 13.32 Volts.
The electric shaver and battery charger are
providing loads on the system through the AC
inverter.

To do maintenance on the wind turbine or in
cases of high wind, you will need to shut down
the wind turbine by shorting the turbine output.
This will halt the blades and make the turbine
safe to work with.

Caution:
• The whole head-assembly can swing around if

winds change direction during maintenance. Be
careful!
• Generally, the wind turbine created in this guide

isn’t loud. However, it may be overhead by those
situated in close proximity when the wind is
blowing hard.
• There is no big tendency for the cable to twist

up. However, if you use your turbine excessively
and it does become twisted, you can always
disconnect the wires at the bottom of the mast
and manually untwist them.

Suggested additions:
If you are interested in investing a bit more time and

money into your wind turbine, here are some
options:
• Add meters to monitor battery Voltage and

charge/discharge Current
• Add tachometer to track speed of spin
• To increase reserve storage capacity: add more

batteries
• To increase power production: add a second

wind turbine or solar panels

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The $140 Wind Turbine

Do It Yourself (DIY) Instructions

1 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

GreenDIYenergy.com Terms & Disclaimer

All products from GreenDIYenergy.com and its related companies are

2 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

By choosing to use the information made available on

The information provided may need to be downloaded using third party

3 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

The $140 Wind Turbine 5

4 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

The Do It Yourself movement is now becoming

Wind power is an investment that will accompany

We have provided you with many ideas, ranging

5 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

Wind turbines share five common attributes:

The wind turbine in our example will provide a

6 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

7 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

The generator is one of the most critical parts of the

Pictured above is the 30 VDC Ametek motor we

8 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

Your motor should have:

• Low RPM rating

There are many motor options to choose from. We

• Permanent magnet alternators (more expensive,

• Old computer tape drive motors (surplus relics

• Electric lawn mower motors

• Floor buffer motors

9 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

• All Ametek motors (30, 38, or 99 VDC work

Car alternators and AC motors have been used for

10 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

Blades are another crucial element to a wind

To construct your own blades:

• Acquire a 6 inch wide, 24 inch long PVC pipe

• Quarter the piece of pipe around its

11 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

13 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

There are diminishing returns to adding more

Generators like to run fast, which is why you rarely

14 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

• It is critically important that all the turbine blades

15 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

• Use a scrap disk of Aluminum that is 5 in

16 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

• Drill holes in the hub for the blades to be

17 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

After assembly, check for balance:

• Mark each of your blades with a number

• Assemble the blade/hub contraption upon a

18 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

• For each spin, document the number upon

• After spinning, notice if the same blade ends

If your blades are unbalanced, you can sand a bit

19 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

20 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

To create a mounting for turbine mobility:

• Strap the generator to a piece of 2X4 wood

• Cut a 4 inch diameter PVC pipe to make a

• Construct a tail to keep the blades turned into

21 Copyright © 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

You need to make sure that your blades are