Control.com - Nerds in Control

Hello,

I am not an expert in power generation, but from what I've read, the alternator in a vehicle needs to operate at the 1000+RPM range in order to generate electricity. IF you get a DC permanent magnet motor, or an AC servo (also with magnets) these can be used for generators. The ideal scenario might be a large AC servo with a 3 phase rectifier setup. I was going to go down this road, but a friend of mine gave me a Baldor 450WDC motor for free. I'm setting up to run a wind turbine, mostly for fun. and to heat hot water or something trivial to start with. Starting with a free motor will get me up and running and to change out to a larger motor will just be couplings etc.

Some people talk about using treadmill motors also. Just don't pay too much money for them, Ebay is now crazed with folks commanding a lot of money for cheap cheap stuff in certain niche items now that Energy is in high demand. Some people are even paying well over $100 for 30 year old DC motors used in old servers (tape drive motors or something). For that money you can buy a used servo and don't have to worry about brush failure.

There are also companies that retrofit car alternators for coils and permanent magnets. Some places even sell as new or New/reconditioned. I
don't know how these are, but I would imagine they are decent. Ebay has some of these companies.

KEJR