Anyone else using old washing machine motors for a DIY wind turbine?

Pulled a Zanussi motor out of a skip two years ago and now it's spinning away on a pole in my back garden like it owns the place! 🌀

Honestly the rewinding process nearly broke my soul (and three sets of reading glasses), but once you get your head around it the thing actually produces decent voltage in a good gust. Running into a couple of Victron MPPT controllers via a rectifier bridge — bodged together but it works.

A few things I've learned the hard way:

• Three-phase motors are worth the extra faff over single-phase for smoother output
• Front-loaders tend to have better magnets than top-loaders (controversial opinion, fight me)
• Coat the whole thing in yacht varnish before it goes up — I didn't on my first attempt and the corrosion was criminal

Currently charging my Fogstar lithium bank in the static caravan and it genuinely covers a surprising chunk of my load on a breezy day. Living in Scotland helps, mind you — we're basically a wind farm with opinions.

Anyone else found a sweet spot for blade length? I went with 1.5m wooden blades cut from reclaimed timber and I reckon there's more performance to squeeze out if I go longer. Also curious whether anyone's tried axial flux builds with washing machine magnets rather than rewinding the original stator — seems like less grief overall?

Would love to see what other folk have cobbled together. Post photos if you've got them — the more chaotic the setup, the better. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@HeatherWalker rewound a permanent magnet alternator from a Bosch washing machine motor for the van last winter and honestly the star-wound configuration gave me about 30% better low-wind cut-in than the original delta wiring — absolute game changer! 🌬️

Key things I'd flag:

• Rectifier sizing — those cheap bridge rectifiers fry themselves; grab a proper 50A unit
• Furling tail is non-negotiable unless you fancy a very exciting rooftop visit during a Force 8
• Stick a Victron BMV-712 on it so you actually know what the thing's producing rather than just hoping

The rewinding soul-destruction is a rite of passage mate — everyone's got a drawer full of melted magnet wire to prove it 😅

What pole height are you running? Below 5 metres and you're basically just making an expensive weathervane.

@HeatherWalker that Zanussi skip find is the stuff of legend. I've been eyeing up the drum bearings on a dead Hotpoint for weeks, wondering if the motor's worth salvaging too.

My situation's slightly different — running a cabin with EV charging demands, so I need serious, reliable output rather than a fun side project. That said, I'd absolutely bolt a rewound unit onto a secondary battery bank if the numbers stacked up.

One thing I'd genuinely want to know before committing hours to the rewind: what cut-in speed are you seeing? Because around here the wind is either nothing or "that's now someone else's fence panel." A motor that doesn't wake up until 5m/s is basically decorative nine months of the year.

Worth logging output through a Victron MPPT if you haven't — the history graphs would tell you exactly what she's actually contributing.

@HeatherWalker got a dead Indesit sitting in my shed right now, been umming and ahhing about exactly this. Static caravan needs more charging options over winter when the solar panels are basically decorating.

Quick question - what rectifier setup are you running to get usable DC out of it? That's the bit I keep getting stuck on mentally. Three-phase bridge rectifier into a Victron MPPT seems like the obvious route but I've seen people argue about whether the MPPT handles the variable input cleanly or if you want a dedicated wind charge controller instead.

Also curious what blade diameter you ended up with - guessing that's the other big variable with these motors since they need a decent RPM to generate properly.

@HeatherWalker I did something similar for the shepherd's hut build — ended up sourcing a dead Miele drum motor from a local white goods repair shop rather than a skip (they often have a pile out back they'll let go for a fiver). The three-phase AC output goes through a bridge rectifier into a Victron SmartShunt so I can actually monitor what it's contributing.

One thing worth flagging that nobody's mentioned — blade balance is critical with these heavier motors. I had horrible vibration early on that was slowly working the mounting pole loose. Spent more time balancing the blades than building the whole rest of the thing.

@T6Wanderer that Indesit is worth cracking open — just check whether it's an induction or BLDC motor before you get excited, makes a huge difference to how usable it'll be.

Spent a winter researching exactly this for the narrowboat before eventually bottling it and going the Rutland 914i route instead. Still occasionally wonder if that was the right call.

@T6Wanderer the Indesit motors tend to be fairly amenable apparently — lower pole count on some models means less rewinding grief. Worth checking the motor plate before committing hours to it.

My hesitation was always output consistency. A static caravan or shepherd's hut tolerates variable input more gracefully when you've got decent battery buffering behind it. On the boat I couldn't afford the temperamental period while I learned the build's quirks — the Victron SmartShunt would've told an unforgiving story.

@HeatherWalker genuinely curious what your actual measured output looks like on a decent 15-20mph day. Real numbers would help people like @T6Wanderer make a more informed decision before they start unwinding copper.