24v wiper moter

[Mike Gibson]

Can a 24v windshield wiper moter be used as a wind generator?:confused:

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Mike,

A DC motor will act as a generator when spun. You will likely need to pull the gearbox off and just use the motor unless it is a low ratio gearbox. I have no idea what RPM a wiper motor is wound for.

Hook the motor leads up to a voltmeter and give the shaft a spin in your fingers. You should be able to read a voltage if it's operational. If so, replace your fingers with a hub and turbine blades, put it in the wind and make some power.:cool:

Depending on the RPM rating of the motor, spinning it with wind turbine blades may only produce enough voltage to light some LED's, but still a great learning tool.

Regards,
Mark

[Mike Gibson]

Thanks for the reply. And as you said a good learning tool.I have doon a lot of solar but this is my first try with wind.

[Laurie Forbes]

Hi Mike,

A DC motor will act as a generator when spun.

Isn't that true only if the motor has permanent magnets in place of field coils??

[Mark Parsons]

Isn't that true only if the motor has permanent magnets in place of field coils??

Quite true. I haven't seen any non-PM DC motors in years, for all applications under 2HP. I expect some are still out there.

I used to run across some 90 and 180 VDC conveyor motors that were field excited, but even those are now all PM, and far less common than AC at this time.

Of course, all large DC traction motors such as used on locomotives, ships and some presses are all field excited. Can't get strong enough permanent magnets for the torques required.