😄

too funny!

Terry, that is so funny! lol

Just make sure you move very slowly to seem unviable, then you should be safe from Magnets, lol.

only if you sit still too long lol

lol - yes it is. lol

lol - therein is the only real problem mate lol

Awesome man! Plz post a vid on it (even if it doesn't work) if you ever do get to putting it together. I picked up a bicycle wheel so im looking forward to turning it into a wind turbine lol. How is the spin on the washing machine motor? Is it easily moving? I too will be on the lookout every garbage collection day for one😂

please do mate - I would love to see

Any update on your project?

Glad you enjoy it!

Yeah, I think if my DNA were tested, they would find it looked like a couple gears, maybe a cam and pushrods, ha-ha...

Glad you liked it!

outside of the vent I paid around UK£20 for everything else but then I did scavenge a lot and only really bought the magnets which were ferrite so dirt cheap

Mmmhm, here the turbines would be the biggest cost. I did a quick browse, and it looked like they go for about $40-$70 apiece.

for sure mate - cheers

Glad you like it!

it probably would mate - interesting - cheers

cheers mate

go for it mate

you can buy a pile of rare earth magnets online -- I got mine on Ebay -- They came out of disc drives -- super strong and really reasonable. Highly adaptable.

I amnow on the look out for a front loader with direct drive mate!

lol - awesome mate - cheers!

Glad you like them!

Absolutely

Thank you! Cheers! and best wishes to you too mate

Thank you! Cheers!

I might get round to getting one myself mate - and let me know when the vid is up will you? I'd love to see

@@ThinkingandTinkering also, I'm wondering if on a small setup like what you just built, making a large ring on the outside of the ventilator maybe 5' in diameter of magnets and coils. It would have to be beefed up to support the extension of the mass, but it would increase the size of the stator and coils and give more energy.

You talking about the leverage yesterday.

to be honest mate this is just answering the question - can it be done - I think there are quite a few improvements that could be. made

will do mate - cheers

interesting mate - you should build it for sure

awesome mate - and yes I have had a few cuts from them too lol

we don't have a lot of rotating vents in the UK mate we are more concerned with damp than heat - so I haven't seen that many myself

@@ThinkingandTinkering Interesting! :-)

Greetings from Brisbane Australia! I came across this build video whilst researching to discover if exactly this application has merit for a trickle charge system to supplement a solar array. As opposed to the UK, these types of roof vents are everywhere in Australia especially on corrugated iron rooftops. The usual summer temperatures of 35+ degrees Celsius means that the roof cavity heats up incredibly and even on completely still days these vents fairly fly around! I’ve often wondered if there was a way to harness this energy especially as the vents continue to spin after sunset and the ambient air temperature drops more rapidly than the air trapped in the roof cavity maintains the temperature/pressure gradient. The same effect is evident in our winters as well but not as pronounced. I haven’t heard about the internal fan trick until now. Do you have a reference for the paper you mentioned. Great channel! Thanks. Cheers, RF

I was surprised how well it worked mate lol

cheers mate thanks for the info - I did wonder how well they would perform - interesting idea you had there too

Robert Murray-Smith I’ve been thinking about the fan that you have used and I think there is huge room for improvement. I think the fan that you have used is designed for higher speeds, the fans used on our vents look as though they are made from a circle cut out of sheet metal with the perimeter bent at 90 degrees for rigidity with cuts between the hub and the outer perimeter are very close together and bent to form long thin blades. Unfortunately there’s no point in sending a link to this manufacturers website as the no longer use them. Also just an observation for your interest I have noticed that in the early morning without wind these vents will stop but when the sun comes up in summer still without any wind they will spin as well as your one did in your video.

I do like repurposing stuff - to my mind it is much better than throwing it away

cheers mate

cheers mate

Adding large stationary scoops to direct the wind into the VAWT blades will also help. :)

cheers mate

cheers mate

lol - yes it does bit lol

lol - for sure

yes it is

probably not mate - it would mean knocking a hole in my roof

I was thinking of maybe a pipe of sorts and push just enough air to simulate the normal flow. Knocking holes in roofs can be upsetting.😁

nice thoughts mate and thanks for sharing - tbh I haven't really thought that much about how to actually use the power - but we will get there

@@ThinkingandTinkering it would be interesting to see what each of the different types of Generator's can produce over a longer period of time but for that, your going to need a battery to store what you have harvested and independent meters for each device to see what they can actually achieve over the long run and a load or two that you can switch in or out depending on the state of charge on the battery to keep it always in it's charging region so that you are always getting the maximum out of each device! You can start each video with a look at the meters to check performance, I would definitely want to watch that! Another meter that measures the total amount of electricity harvested... I think that the results would be very interesting, some of the devices that I have seen you build can be placed in places that are normally not used like a wall! I really can't see something new to the market that would force you to replace it with. A solar panel for example, many people have 'em but it's an industry that has a lot of attention so you run the risk of having to replace the one that you have for a better one possibly a year later! But that pipe contraption with no moving parts mounted on a wall! Nothing is going to knock it off it's perch so you can pretty much set it and forget it! Sure they can't compete with solar or wind or hydro for output but they are not in the way and every little bit helps! Say! I just had an idea! LoL this always happens to me! I would be talking about something and a picture just Pop's up in my head! That pipe contraption with no moving parts, what if you connected one end to a mechanical lever? That way you can amplify it's movements to get more swing through a coil! But then it has moving parts! Who knows, maybe it might possibly produce more if you used a mechanical amplifier? Better swing = longer stroke = higher voltage... Hmmm interesting.. Anyway, that's just some food for thought. Thanks for your reply, it's nice to get that every once in a while, it just makes the world feel a little smaller..

Many many thanks

nice tip mate - thanks a million I will look out for one

I haven't done that mate - but it is a really good idea - I'll do one - cheers

lol - it also might make whoever lived there dizzy just watching the walls spin by lol

ok mate - I do have a few others but I will get to it - cheers

my thoughts exactly mate

I picked mine up from eBay mate - they are easy to get in Oz and the US but here in the UK they are a bit of a rare beast that's for sure

yeah a lot comes down to cost -I am guessing to make a production version of this would be expensive - but as I scavenged most of the bits and used ferrite magnets then outside of the ventilator I spent about UK£20 - so cheap for me - but I would think not so cheap if you used neo magnets and new all the way

nice one mate - cheers

I don't know mate but I do like the idea - fancy trying it?

Interesting! - thanks for that mate

lol - I am afraid that is something I agree with mate - as an aside - I do focus on something - I just don't show much of that on youtube lol

I dunno

nice info mate - thanks for taking the time to post it

that's like a Toepler or Holtz Machine isn't it mate?

I am good with long comments mate - they make me think too - like all things this would need to be a balanced approach - if it were me I would not connect a variable load directly to the generator in whatever circumstances - I am still pondering this which is why I haven't done a video on it yet - but in my mind a reservoir between generation and consumption is needed - like a capacitor bank and variable loads are only drawn from the bank - it would seem to me then load on the generator would be around a constant and can be planned for - but like I say I am still pondering this one

@@ThinkingandTinkering Agreed, I would connect a battery to be charged, capacitor to handle surges if necessary, and something like the XL4015 DC:DC buck convertor which can be set to limit voltage and current, to whatever will not stall the rotor in your area's average breezes? They are dirt cheap on eBay and work excellently, I've used them in several projects

I don't know mate - it seems to me that's a bit like an axial flux design - but probably worth a try just to see

go for it mate

I would think you could mate - to be honest I was asked to see if it was a possible thing to do and I think I answered that question and to do that I basically did the simplest thing possible - I am sure there are a million improvements that cane made

a marvellous thing mate lol and yes I think that's the idea

I would think the fan creates a vortex (instead of chaotic air movement) so that the air inside spins with the ventilator and runs with less internal friction.

let say, let say, let say... Let say you have a house with a roof (everyone has some). If that is sloppy roof, than it can has living space under roof or only empty space, but in both cases it will be good to ventilate gap between roofing and insulation. Especially in summer, such a ventilation can lower significantly energy needs for airconditioning (cooling). If one slope is oriented towards to south, then space under the shingles can reach up to 80°C (especially if roofing is made from steel plate). During the winter it will be better to not vent it to lower heating bills. Such gap can be used instead of pipe as heat collector for creating push from hot air rising. (If there are shingles right on plywood, then it is not good in terms of no gap and low thermal conductivity). Question is how to balance energy gain and ventilation properties. Even the best wind turbine has efficiency about 56%, which means that 44% of flowing air energy is not turned into rotation (everything without wind). If there is a roof 10by6m it can get 60*1330W from the Sun (depends on latitude), which is quite interesting79.8kWatts of energy. While it is not painted by unobtanium paint, it can turn about 40kW into to heat. Cowering it by thermocouples will be crazy idea to gain 2kW in direct electricity and 38kW in heat (which needs to be vented out to prevent heating living space). then if we are talking about those 40kW heating ability, then if only 10% penetrates thermal insulation, then venting will save 4kW of cooling needs (about 1-1.3kW in electricity). The second question is how you can utilize those 40kWatts (1%=400W, 5%=2kW, ideal theoretical max 56%=22.4kW)

I didn't really see much of a difference mate

tcp wash for me lol

no idea mate - I bought it 'off the shelf'

there is no always mate - you should try to adapt to what you have or what is appropriate to the situation - always is a set of blinkers folks often wear - you are right it is a good idea to mount a motor as you suggest - but always - I don't know about that

@@ThinkingandTinkering inside block air flow you told us :)

you might want to watch the video I did on making the coils

good thoughts mate - but they are things you should investigate

@@ThinkingandTinkering yes I like your videos get me thinking of other uses and the movement of off grid living looks like some of this could be very useful

nice point mate - cheers

I suppose you could - give it a go

@@ThinkingandTinkering wish I had the energy to try.

nice tip mate - cheers

@@ThinkingandTinkering God bless you Robert. Your replies are gratefully received. Thank you. If you do try this at any point be aware. Mounting magnets around the peripheral edge of each disk interact with each other making it as fluent as lumpy mash potatoes. It also adds horrendous vibration too each disk. To combat this I have resorted to halbach arrays. The top disk field is up and the bottom disk field is down. As you know halbach arrays have almost a none existent field on their weak side. This way they are fluent.

cheers mate - I would vent the plate though so air can flow

The disk idea has been used with diy wind generators. The plates were initially car break disks and a front stub axle assembly often from a volvo, the wheel bearing ised for the blades and the stearing bearing for the rotationto the wind. Pitch of coils and magnets needs to be right for the phases.

ok will do mate

lol - for sure mate - I am sorry I laughed but it is a bit akin to saying 'an axial flux generator is basically just a generator flatted out' what you are saying is true but a little tautological - cheers

You are right, but a device can be two different things at the same time! A transformer can both step up or step down, a motor can be a generator ... it is all in the perspective!

to be honest mate I think all I did was answer the question can it be done - there are a ton of improvements that's for sure

it would mate - but it then wouldn't really answer the question I was asked