Considering the tough times we are now living in, you may likely be thinking of other options that could make living easier and inexpensive. Since we live our every day lives fully dependent on electricity, it is indeed beneficial to make use of the recyclable energy that is quite abundant in our surroundings. One good bet would be to take advantage of the wind that we have around us. To be able to do this, a device called a wind generator would come in handy. But how to build a wind generator?

Glad you asked. Below are some basic guidelines to get you started:

- First you need to know where you are going to put it. You need an area with at least a 300 to 400 foot radius of open space and a 30 to 40 foot vertical clearance. There are two types of towers you can choose from, a tilt-up or a freestanding design. Tilt-ups are more widely used in residential areas because they are easier to maintain, since you don't need to climb them to clean them. However, since free standing towers are taller, they help maximize the output of your wind turbine.

- Next up on your list are the materials you are going to use. You can start with a high voltage, low current DC motor that runs at low rpm's. This is the heart of the unit that will convert the wind into electrical current.

- Then comes the blades of the wind generator, which can be carved from plastic, wood, sheet metal or you could also use PVC pipes. Note that the longer the blades are, the wider its swept area covered, meaning the more power it can extract from the wind.

- The next step would be about fixing the hub, that which connects the blades onto the motor. One easy way would be to look for a scrap steel disc with which you can drill holes into and attach to a shaft that would connect the blades.

- In order to keep your wind generator turned to the wind, you need to make a tail and pivot. You can use some scrap sheet metal for the tail and a flange for the pivot, along with some square tubing and pipe nipple.

- Lastly, you need a place to store the converted energy so it is there even when the winds are calm. You do this with batteries. In order to monitor the charging, you should keep the generator and batteries as close together as possible. Look for low maintenance batteries that are highly efficient.

"Deep cycle" batteries are best used for this type of power system application. They are rated in amp-hours and have indicators of their charge-discharge cycles.

In knowing how to build a wind generator it's best to remember that placing a diode between the battery and the generator is good in order to prevent the energy from being wasted and flowing directly onto the generator itself. Adding a secondary load is helpful as a depot for excess energy produced.

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