Subject: Old car -> wind power generator?

From: [email-masked] (Dave Boll)
Date: 8 Aug 1996 05:07:03 GMT

Hi all:

  *Somewhere* recently I ran across a reference to someone making a homebrew
  wind power generator using car wheel bearings and an alternator. I can't
  seem to recall where I saw this now, and some web searches have come up
  empty. Does this ring any bells with anyone?

  I have a old car, just sitting in my driveway, and I'm trying to think of
  how many different cool ways there are to reuse some of those parts...

-- 
Dave Boll     [email-masked]
"Never use an outhouse toilet while holding your car keys in your mouth."
Homepage: http://www.pacifier.com/~dboll/      Stop by for a visit! Lots
of stuff on amateur Astronomy, recreational mathematics, etc.

---

From: [email-masked] (Dave Wood)
Date: Fri, 09 Aug 96 08:22:30 GMT

>  how many different cool ways there are to reuse some of those parts...

I have a book, printed in the 1970s at the peak of one of the gas crisis',
that details the state of the art of home power efforts. It was printed by 
Mother Earth News and was a compilation of articles relating to home power
alternatives. On the "Wind Power" section, there were sketches of a car
axle/differntial being used as the powert train for a wind mill. The 
axle was mounted on a tower with the wind mill fan where the wheel would go.
Where the driveshaft would attach to the axle was a V-belt pulley that was 
used to drive an alternator. The rectifier/regulator circuits could be used
to charge a 12 volt battery set-up. Even in the 70's auto alternator windmills
were looked at as a toy or experimentation rig, rather than a "real" 
power supply.

-Dave