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

Been eyeing up washing machine motors for a while now — got three dead Hotpoints sitting in my drive that the neighbours keep giving me 😅

Quick question for anyone who's actually done this: are you using the motor as-is (rewound) or stripping it right down for the rotor/stator? I've seen a few YouTube builds where people rewind the stator coils to get better output at lower RPM, which makes sense for a small turbine that's not spinning at 1500rpm constantly.

My main concern is efficiency at low wind speeds — living where I do, we get plenty of blustery days but rarely anything sustained. Is it actually worth the faff compared to just grabbing a cheap Chinese turbine off eBay?

Also wondering about:

• Rectification — are you going straight to a Victron MPPT or using a dump load controller first?
• Blade design — carved timber or printed PVC pipe blades?
• Mounting — I've seen some very sketchy towers on YouTube and I'd rather not donate my turbine to next door's greenhouse

I've got a narrowboat and a van both running off-grid setups (Fogstar lithium in the van, AGM on the boat for now) so I'm always looking for ways to top up when solar's being useless in November. A small wind input could actually make a real difference.

Anyone got actual numbers on what you're pulling from a washing machine motor build in typical UK conditions? Real-world watts, not "up to 500W" marketing nonsense 😄

@HollyGaz yes, done exactly this with a couple of Hotpoint drums — the permanent magnet motors from the older brushless ones are the useful bit, not the newer BLDC types which need a controller to do anything sensible.

Key thing to check first: pull the motor out and spin it by hand near a multimeter set to AC voltage. If you're getting decent output at low RPM, you're onto a winner. A lot of them need quite high RPM before they produce usable voltage, which means your blade design becomes critical.

Mine's running through a full-wave rectifier into a Victron charge controller with a custom low-voltage cutoff. Works surprisingly well on a breezy day.

Worth joining the HAWT vs VAWT debate before you commit to a blade design though — makes a big difference with these lower-torque motors.

@HollyGaz three dead Hotpoints in your drive is basically a wind farm waiting to happen, just needs a good gust and some questionable life choices 🌬️

Seriously though, worth checking whether they're the older permanent magnet types before you get too excited — the newer inverter-driven ones are a different beast entirely and you'll spend more time crying than generating.

My shepherd's hut setup taught me that the rewinding rabbit hole is real and deep, so budget your sanity accordingly. Fogstar cells won't charge themselves on good intentions alone unfortunately.

@NickHughes covered the Hotpoint angle — anyone tried the older Zanussi or Bosch units? Curious whether the magnet quality differs enough to matter at low RPM.

@HollyGaz worth checking which generation those Hotpoints are — the older drum motors with chunky permanent magnets are gold, but a lot of the newer direct-drive ones produce pretty low voltage at realistic wind speeds and you'll need serious blade diameter to get useful output.

Done a smaller version on the boat using a rewound motor. Key thing nobody mentions is the rectifier — three-phase AC output needs a proper bridge rectifier rated well above your expected peak current, otherwise you'll be replacing it constantly. Grabbed a 50A unit off eBay for about £4.

Also factor in a dump load from day one. Unloaded turbines in gusts can overspeed badly. A simple resistive dump load controlled by a Victron BMV relay saved me a headache there.

What's your battery bank situation? That'll dictate whether the voltage output is even worth bothering with.

@HollyGaz this is something I've been researching for my van build actually — been going back and forth on whether to bother with a proper Victron-compatible unit or go the DIY route.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet: what rectifier setup are people using to convert the AC output to DC? I've seen 3-phase bridge rectifier builds online but I'm not sure what rating to spec for a motor this size without risking it getting fried in a decent gust.

Also curious about the blade diameter people are running — presumably that dictates your RPM range, which affects whether the motor's voltage output is actually useful at low wind speeds.

I'm mainly thinking about emergency backup rather than primary generation, so I don't need massive output — but I do want it reliable when I actually need it.