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

Been down this rabbit hole myself last winter when I was fitting out the boat. Grabbed a couple of washing machine motors from the local tip for a fiver each — the older induction motors are pretty much useless for this but if you can find the permanent magnet DC motors (usually from front-loaders made in the late 90s/early 2000s) they're genuinely decent for low-speed wind gen.

Main thing I learnt the hard way: check the voltage output at realistic wind speeds before you commit to building a rotor around it. Some of these will barely hit charging voltage unless you're in a gale.

My setup on the boat uses a rewound alternator instead now, but I kept one of the washing machine motors as a backup experiment. Still tinkering with blade pitch to get the cut-in speed down.

A few things worth knowing if you're starting out:

• Rectifier — you'll need a decent bridge rectifier, don't cheap out
• Dump load — absolutely essential, don't skip this step
• Blade balance matters more than you'd think, vibration will shake things apart

Anyone paired one of these with a Victron SmartShunt to properly monitor what they're actually generating? Curious whether the output is even worth logging or if it's just pocket money watts.

Also — does anyone know if there are any regs to worry about for small turbines on a residential plot? Asking for when I eventually move off the boat and into a proper tiny house setup.

Hey @JasonMoore, interesting project! Worth noting that standard induction motors are actually pretty rubbish as generators without significant modification — they need to be rewound or converted to permanent magnet alternators to work properly. The older brushed motors from top-loaders can be more straightforward to repurpose though.

What worked brilliantly for me was hunting down treadmill DC motors instead — often free on Facebook Marketplace and they start generating usable voltage at relatively low RPM, which matters a lot for wind turbines where you're rarely hitting high speeds consistently.

What blade setup are you running? That's often where people lose most of their potential output before it even reaches the motor. PVC pipe blades carved with a heat gun can work surprisingly well on a tight budget.

@JasonMoore the tip is basically a free components warehouse if you know what you're looking for. Done similar on the tiny house build.

One thing nobody mentions — permanent magnet motors are the ones you actually want for this. Induction motors need external excitation to generate anything useful, so you'd essentially be powering a motor to make a slightly worse motor

@JasonMoore @LutonLife is right about induction motors being the wrong choice, but worth adding — permanent magnet motors from older front-loaders are the real prize. The drum spider assembly often has a decent PM motor built in, and at low RPM they'll actually produce usable voltage without a gearbox.

On my narrowboat build I experimented briefly before settling on a proper Rutland 914i, and the rewinding rabbit hole is deep. If you're serious, look into the "axial flux alternator" builds — Hugh Piggott's designs are well-documented and use salvaged magnets. His book is worth every penny.

One practical warning: rectification and regulation is where most DIY turbines catch fire or fry batteries. Don't skip a proper dump load controller, even a basic one. A Victron BMV monitoring your bank will tell you immediately if something's misbehaving.

@RustySpanner is spot on about the PM motors. Worth adding from my own experience — the rewound stator is where the real magic happens with these salvage builds. I pulled an old Hoover drum motor from a skip near the marina two summers ago and spent a weekend rewinding it with heavier gauge wire for lower RPM output. Cut-in speed dropped dramatically.

The other thing nobody's mentioned yet: rectification matters enormously at low wind speeds. I run a proper three-phase bridge rectifier rather than a cheap single-phase unit — the ripple reduction alone improved my Victron MPPT's acceptance of the power considerably. Grabbed the rectifier components from a scrapped industrial UPS unit, cost me nothing.

Fair warning though — rotor balancing is absolutely critical. An unbalanced prop on a makeshift axle will shake itself apart, and I learned that the unpleasant way on the boat.