Stud

What the fuck have you done?

who's the hippy now, FTR? who's the hippy now?

You.

Wow! Makes you wonder how many other geniuses there are who could help out if they just had some education.

id get this doofus to build a windmill on top of my house, but here in the god-blessed US of A we think windmills ruin the quality of life for beachgoers.

uh, yeah.

Nice. I wonder if he got a generator somewhere or if he started out from totally 0 with a constant magnet and some wire.

I figured out why you posted this video, it was because the Radio DJ was wearing a Obama Hat so you were trying to make us unconsciously support Obama because if it... just kidding, it was a good story and hopefully more people here and else where can be more inventive like him.

I used to be pretty bad-ass with my Erector set, back in the day.

You know, it's nice for a feel-good story to come around the CE boards once in a while.

-TM

Hero.

Great story FTR, Thanks.

Anyone looking for a role model? It's nice to see someone working on a solution, on something positive. I love that he figured out how a windmill can generate electricity and pump water on his own.

hmm, i wonder if I can make a mini windmill outside my window to charge my phone...

[troll rant]
YOU FUCKING HIPPIES! CANT YOU SEE HOW MUCH BIGGER HIS CARBON FOOTPRINT IS? HE HAS TO USE A BATTERY TO STORE HIS ELECTRICITY! THOSE THINGS ARE ORRIBLE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT!!! THE BASTARD SHOULD JUST GO TO SLEEP WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN! [/troll rant]

A yard sized windmill (about 8 foot tall base with maybe 18 inch blades) will generate about 60 watts. So, potentially . . . yes. But not practical for an apartment in Brooklyn (I'm guessing that is your living situation)

no, im talking like connected to my windowsill. like a air conditioner.
ill put on my gyro gearloose hat.

Yeah, it would work, as long as you make sure the blades have clearance.

Get one of these



and shove some batteries up your ass.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

"the pulleys from the windmill run to a dynamo, which creates direct current, from there he ran it though a rectifier diode which converts it to alternating current."

source

He's smarter than half the kids in my Tech school.

thats not a bad idea either. i eat so many potatos i probably could charge a battery.

I've got my father talked into Solar Panels, after explaining to him how they worked, the initial investment is less than the overall savings. The house won't be entirely solar, but it will reduce the house load on supplied energy, which in turn will reduce the overall cost he pays for electricity.

I haven't done the math yet to see how much he will save since i have no cold-hard numbers to deal with, but anything helps. If i pull it off right, i can probably cut his bill in half.

and the sunshine is still free, at least for now.

Um, Science Nazi here. I believe you have that backward. The dynamo (generator) makes AC, and he uses the rectifier to make DC for some low voltage appliances like those use in RV's.


From the article:

I really loved this story. Thanks for sharing.

my bad. used to dealing with AC as source power and mixed it up when i typed it out.

I work with electricity and transformers a little, and have actually been studying electricity lately, so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going nuts. I just remembered generator=AC, magnet moving through a coil of wire, battery=DC, steady stream of electrons.

Science Nazi done and out!

I remember seeing something in a local paper last year that someone building a new house wanted to put up a small vertical style wind turbine, and their neighbors went apeshit saying it would be noisy. I think the town wound up telling them they couldn't put it up. Fucking lame.