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Forum Index : Electronics : Anemometer how to
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Doug Regular Member  Joined: 11/05/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 41 |
Hi all. Just had a look at Glenn's anemometer made from a hard drive motor. I had a rummage around in my dead computer box and came up with a suitable donor drive and fan motor. The problem I have is whats at the other end of the wires. I have read lots of articles on home made anemometers and they all go into great detail on how to build the drive head but none of them say anything about the electronics used at the other end to display the actual wind speed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. May The Power Be With You |
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Downwind Guru  Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Hi Doug, What do you want to do with the information, display it on a lcd or led display or log it to a computer and display it on the screen. You will need something like a micro processor to do the counting and sending of data regards what method you choose to display with. The picaxe chip is what most of us use as they are easy to program and will do all the required functions needed. Have a look for a earlier thread called Anemometer build time of a month or 2 back. There is many ways to go about this but its a matter of how accurate you want the data in low wind speed and what you wish to do with the data. They are a fun project to build and not to hard and a good introduction into several aspects of electronics. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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| Doug Regular Member Joined: 11/05/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 41 |
Cool, thanks Pete. I'll have a look for that thread. I wasn't sure what to do with the information as i didn't know what my choices where. Probably display it on an lcd/led screen. Just wanted a ballpark idea of the wind speeds in my area. I just built my first mill. A 60 series f&p wired in star with a 2 mtr 6 blade pvc pipe turbine. Its not doing much at the moment other than lighting a couple of car headlight bulbs. Have high and low beam hooked together and wired in series for 230 watts at 24 volts as a load. Its like daylight in my back yard when the winds blowing, ha ha. Cheers Doug May The Power Be With You |
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| Janne Senior Member  Joined: 20/06/2008 Location: FinlandPosts: 121 |
Hello Doug, In the most simplistic form, you can get a display from a humble old analog ľA meter. You need to wire the meter with a 3-phase rectified to the hard disk motor, and then put a suitable resistor in between to tune the current right. A 100kOhm potentiometer would be a good start, for a 100ľA rated meter. This will propably not yield a perfectly linear scale, but that can be fixed by printing your own scale to the meter. A good old analog meter in many cases is still way better than a rapidly changing digital display, that's hard to read out. From analog scale you can see the windspeed with just a quick peek. I also gobbed one of those together from scrap HDD parts, it was a fun ˝hour project. Picture link If at first you don't succeed, try again. My projects |
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| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Hi Doug, I would warn you against using the HDD motor as the pulse generator for an anemometer. Yes it will work and is very easy to do, but i tried one as a test for a easy build idea, only to find it needed 6-10kph wind speed to get it to start to spin. At the time i had 2 other types up next to it and they would spin in the slightest breeze, but the hdd motor one just sat there till the wind picked up, even then it was not very accurate unless it was strong winds. A waste of time i deemed it to be. The motor gutted out makes a great bearing set for an anemometer but with the iron core it has too much of a cogging effect to work in low wind speeds. You cant feel it when playing with the motor, but its there and will effect the operation. Just what i found with playing with one. Good luck. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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| Janne Senior Member Joined: 20/06/2008 Location: FinlandPosts: 121 |
I also noticed the same thing, the anemometer needs around 2m/s to start turning. But for me that was no problem, I don't care so much if i can measure 1m/s of windspeed with it or not =) If at first you don't succeed, try again. My projects |
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| Doug Regular Member Joined: 11/05/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 41 |
Thank you both for the advice. Its defiantly given me some food for thought. May The Power Be With You |
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| Pukwudji Newbie  Joined: 10/07/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 20 |
Two things. If you are measuring wind anything less than 6 mph doesn't matter anyway as you can't produce power below there ( or at least usable power). My second thought is if the arms on the anemometer are made a little longer it might add enough torque to make the unit measure at lower speeds. Just a thought. Brian -Brian V Hillsboro, OR (USA) KF7DUZ |
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