My observation is different. Vertical axis wind turbines have not really been able to establish themselves on the market.

Any advise on designs from your favoured source as am attempting diy vawt with hoverboard wheels n tested ideas rarely need much tinkering or maintenance.. 🤞

@@stevepr100 Sounds a great way to re-purpose a hover-board motor which of cause also makes a great generator. I hope someone else has had the from, as I don’t have any experience of using them. same idea from which you can draw inspiration I don’t know when I’ll see Tom again but here are some of my thoughts: The vawt will need a thrust bearing to support the total weight. The board’s bearings are NOT of a suitable design to do this. Also, the existing bearing plus a thrust bearing WILL add a lot of friction. Friction is always a problem (especially at low wind speeds). Toshiyuki Aso published a paper entitled: Study on the Bearing Resistance in a Wind Turbine Generator System I quote: ...when the rotor is designed according to the wind conditions and the safety factors in the international safety standard for small wind turbines, IEC61400-2, commercially-available bearings are not suitable for the rotor, because both of the static and dynamic load ratings are larger than those demanded for the vertical axis wind turbine. Unquote. Therefore, you may need to replace the existing bearings with (say) plain self-lubricating bronze bushings of a size which will resist side loading from the wind. Then, support the whole turbine rotor on a self lubricating thrust ‘washer’ (bearing) suitable for that total weight. Bronzelube is one such company that supplies these types of bearings. Also, the very act of generating will add rotational resistance. The wind is having to push the electrons against a pressure of some 36 volts. Therefore, I’d imagine that you will need to construct quite a large turbine to ensure that it can generate in a broad range of wind speeds. Good luck.

In suboptimal conditions, you have to question a small wind turbine. Depending on what your goals are. If it is primarily a hobby and electricity generation is not so important, then you can also make compromises in terms of wind supply. But if you want to keep the cost of self-generated electricity within reasonable limits, then you definitely need a windy location.

@@WindSunWisdomI do have a very windy location, but it is probably not free of turbulence. The question is how much I should invest and whether there will be return on investment.

@@WindSunWisdom What about the horizontal axis turbine seeking the wind in turbulent conditions? If this could make a big enough difference to the output it might be more efficient to have a VAWT. A second possible reason for choosing a VAWT could be in an area where the wind often blows at speeds above what the HAWT can handle and so forcing it to shutdown. I don't have any experience with wind but I think that I might have seen the latter argument being used.

Good decision. You can't force a windy location

Every location has its own conditions. Unfortunately, I can't give a general answer.

You could check this company from Scotland: en.windlogger.eu/collections/small-wind-turbine-data-loggers

@@WindSunWisdomThank you for your answer. This is a bit too much money for me to invest, just for test. Do you know of any DIY solutions, or something involving RPI or something like that ?

As far as I know, studies have shown that small wind turbines are not a great danger to birds and bats. A thousandfold bigger problem is free-roaming domestic cats.

An honest answer: a lot of claims are made in the field of small wind power. The decisive factor is evidence in the form of independent test results. I primarily deal with wind turbines that have proven themselves in practice.

A high quality wind turbine might last 20 years or longer.

@@WindSunWisdomWhen 'high quality' includes concrete, steel, and fiberglass, even 30 years ROI is unacceptable!

Yes, an ingenious technology. I will make a video in the future.

Which turbine do you mean?

In a way researchers are hampering progress of the VAWT. For instance it must be very cheap it must not be more complex . Some one said. If nothing change the results stay the same. For me it is about efficiency . It will cost you more to solve the inherent problems of vertical Savonius turbines. It is possible and then you will have one of the most long life and efficient small turbines. You have toe solve bearing issues, static torque curve, braking and drag forces and this wil solve the restricted rev capabilities. If you design it to resolve this issues your turbine will have a very flat torque curve . Your design will be very unique. I did all that. I am busy building a strong durable test model so that it can be tested by creditable institutions. Small problem is it is my private project so there is no big funding.