Been reeeaaallly busy on the main site lately, haven't had too much time for running other experiments. Still looking for some aluminum flashing to make better VAWT blades. Also picked up another 12v generator. Now with winter here I definitely need to do some more sealing and insulating. I've noticed where the wind blows through in the bedroom. Gotta get some Great Stuff to seal it up. I also have to be careful not to seal *too* completely, as I do want some air to come in. I just don't need it ruffling my hair as it does. I'm also waitning to see if some financing is going to come through soon, that will make things a whole lot easier. Or not, depending. I really want to get enough of a system in place so that I can add a hot water heater running off renewable electric. I can have it set inline with the furnace to help cut back on oil consumption. But that takes cash. So I wait.

anyhow, it's late, brain is fried, need sleep.

Shine on!
Mark

Wind picked up on Thursday, tore the turbine. *BUT* got some good voltage out of it before I pulled it in. I didn't want it flying through the neighborhood and breaking something, or littering. Since the design works well enough, I can start looking for some Aluminum siding or flashing to make the blades bigger. I'll work this one backwards, and design the circumfrence to match the width of the finished blade, since there will be a limit to the width of the flashing or siding.
I still want to get pics of all this at some point.

Oh, well...

Put up the 3 bladed Lentz VAWT today, mounted it on the old bike hub and printer motor assembly I've had out there for the last year. Had to move the assembly down to the next upright on the bannister to clear the house. Put it up, and the wind died. :-P
will see how long this blade assembly lasts, as it's really just hot glued together. Still trying to find the NdFeB magnets to make a better alternator/generator hub. Seems that I can get all the magnets I need real cheap, unless they're big enough to do something with. I may try to use a more magnets/ thinner wire combo, with multiple discs to get decent voltage. I'll be looking into it.

I've also got my hands on some titanium dioxide powder for the homemade solar cells. I'm still looking for a cheap way to get the conductive glass. Backside of a mirror perhaps? There is a silver spray paint hat is used for mirrors, I've found, but they wants lots of money for it. Still cheaper than a commercial PV panel, but too much for my nonexistent budget. Still looking...

VAWT Lenz type blade assembly completed, but I slipped in the measurements and it's too close to the house, so have to reposition the generator assembly. Should be up soon, I'm going to get pics of all this soon.