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Forum Index : Electronics : Another washing machine motor
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Doug Regular Member  Joined: 11/05/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 41 |
This is a Gentle Annie washing machine motor. It can make a good low cost generator for people new to having a play with alternative power. There are two versions of this motor. One has swaged body and steel wire, the other has a bolted body and copper wire. The shaft on both is ½ inch. Bearings can be replaced on either type but the bolted body/ copper wire type is much easier. Both types use shaft mounted permanent magnets. All you need to do is star point the white/orange/green wires and the other ends of these 3 wires you connect to your 3 phase rectifier to get dc output. You can also connect in delta. There is also a 2nd set of 3 phase windings on this unit. Works well for 12/24/48 volt applications up to about 5 amps. The only problem is the cogging effect is very strong so would need a good blade set to get it going. Once spinning however it requires little effort to keep it going. Would possibly be better suited to a hydro setup rather that a wind turbine May The Power Be With You |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5036 |
I've been keeping my eyes open for one of those, no luck so far. I think Bruce did some work with them once. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Barry T Coles Senior Member  Joined: 30/07/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 109 |
Damn, i only threw one of those away last week, it came out of a front load washer. I need to learn from the mistakes of others. I dont have the time to make them all myself. |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru  Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
Yes, I had 3 of them ,all aluminium wiring and very coggy.. They have a round seven wires coming out ,,I rectified 6 of them and really didn't get much out on the test bench . I think at this stage ,from what I've got , the LG is the most ruggered and could be a winner ...When I get "arountoit" , I'll do some playing .. Bruce Bushboy |
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| Doug Regular Member Joined: 11/05/2010 Location: New ZealandPosts: 41 |
Hi all I have a steel wire model I picked up in the local inorganic rubbish collection. At that time I didn't actually know what it was. I was looking for smartdrives and decided it deserved further investigation so it came home with me. The only test I've done with it to date is to spin the shaft by hand. This generated enough power to to light a 12v 21w light bulb. I believe if it was hooked up to something with enough torque to overcome the cogging like a small waterwheel for instance, it could produce very usable power. Although it's not in the same league as a smartdrive it does have the advantage of being able to be connected as is without any wiring modifications other than star pointing the outputs. Doug May The Power Be With You |
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| hazy Newbie  Joined: 08/05/2019 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2 |
Hey Was hoping somebody might be able to tell me how to make that Gentle Annie motor in Dougs picture run at 48v |
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| davef Guru Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
48VDC or 48VAC? In my microhydro if I unload the Gentle Annie it produces about 50-60VAC 3 phase at about 100-200Hz. So, I would imagine that if you had a box of electronics that changed a 48VDC source to a 3 phase supply at 50-60VAC (50Hz?) you might have a starting point. It might as simple as generating the 3 phases with no voltage conversion. There is also probably a requirement to generate a reasonable sinewave, don't know. |
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| hazy Newbie Joined: 08/05/2019 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2 |
Sorry about that was hoping to use it to generate 48VDC I have 1 in place at present with my hydro thats is hooked to a 3 phase rectifier and its producing 24VDC the problem is I have no test equipment so i was hoping someone might know the wire colours involved and the connections to increase the voltage to 48VDC. |
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| davef Guru Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
Oops, I thought run meant as a motor. I don't think you have any options to re-connect things differently. The wires are ally and I have had to replace two of them due to broken windings, probably caused by using one jet and the resultant out-of-balance taking the bearings out. They are fragile. Never seen a copper wire unit. I wonder if you run the motor at a higher speed then the unloaded voltage would be higher. The trick is to get a 50% drop going from loaded to unloaded. Even at about 150Watts DC, approx 50% efficiency the motor runs quite warm. I have a fan on mine. Dave in Christchurch |
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| davef Guru Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
"They are fragile", refers to the windings. The other set of windings is a "low-power" 3 phase section for feedback or running low-power electronics. I use that winding as a "speed-sense" winding. No option to combine the two sections. |
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| hary Regular Member Joined: 15/04/2019 Location: FrancePosts: 89 |
Hi. Where do you find these shaft mounted permanent magnets motor ? What washing machine brand ? |
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| davef Guru Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499 |
Fisher & Paykel made in New Zealand. You might find them in Australia and maybe the UK. They are very old and in my opinion not worth the effort. I even made one of them able to be torn-down to replace bearings as the motors are becoming rare. The F&P SmartDrive is commonly used for microhydro and wind. See here If you look on the wind forum and search LG you will find another motor that might be more useful. |
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