How To Build A Treadmill Motor Wind Generator

So can you build a wind turbine from a treadmill motor? Well, Mark takes us into his workshop to show us how to use the permanent magnet motor from a treadmill he got of bay for $40, as a generator for your homemade wind turbine. You can not attach the blades directly to the flywheel, simply because it rotates clockwise and as it does that you will be unscrewing it from the generator. He also opts not to use the infamous PVC blades, as he is not really a fan of the material they are made from.

How to build a Wind Turbine with a tread mill motor

------------------------ Advertisement -----------------------


The first part he tackles is the tail boom, which allows the wind turbine is always facing the wind. After he has drilled the holes and fitted in the assembly that allows the free rotation, Mark goes on to install wind blades purchased from windynation.com made from airplane grade aluminum. He prefers these to the PVC ones, due to their strength and durability. It is a three blade design, which should increase the efficiency of this wind generator.

To attach the blades to the motor, he uses a hub he got online that fits into the hole in the middle of the blades assembly and then attaches to the  shaft of the motor. The next step was attaching the motor to the tail boom using a stainless steel hose clamps, followed by a blocking valve which restricts the flow of electricity to only one direction. This prevents the motor drawing power from your battery bank and spinning like it normally would when it is part of the treadmill assembly.

All the top wire connections are then connected to the various points. Since the motor uses three wires, he opts to use two wires for the positive and one wire for the negative. Using male female connectors to connect the wires makes it easier to simply replace the motor in the future should it stop working or you have issues with it. You will not have to build the whole system, just get another treadmill motor and switch it out.

The housing cover is made from galvanized metal roofing material, that he just shapes out to make sure it covers the area with all the connections and protects it from the weather. The blades are the next components to be installed and attached to the motor, using the hub and some nuts and bolts. When everything has been installed the blades should spin the motor clockwise when the wind rotates them. On the other end of the tail, he attaches a vane made from metal purchased from a local hardware store.

You can watch the full instructional video here…

.