Stepper motor as a generator??

[Gary]

They do act as a generator and i have had people buy them for this, but the problem is they make a lot of noise.

[Jonathan]

The detent torque is too high to make it useful for a wind turbine. Also what rpm do you need to get a decent voltage...I suspect it's a reasonable amount.

There's better ways - make your own with neodymium magnets and copper coils. I've made a couple for wind turbines, will post a couple of pictures in a minute.

[wiatroda]

I think someday I'll give a try for stepper motor generator. Just for try or rather fun. I have idea stuck in back of my head to make a windmill. The only concern can be shaft thickness to cope with a rotor but tooth belt reduction and rotor on its own shaft can sort this problem out.
Gary: my neighbours got used to some weird noises blasting from my backyard and I can only hope a stepper motor generator won't over-exercise their patience :)

[Jonathan]

If you're thinking of making a wind turbine then you might be interested in the (roughly) 1kW generator & variable pitch wind turbine I made:

(In no particular order)








The good thing with making the generator this way is:

• It's coreless, so no cogging = low cut-in speed. Energy density/efficiency is worse, but you make up for it with big strong magnets.
• Since you're winding the coils you can get the right voltage without gearing (less maintenance and SIMPLE).

My wind turbine does use a wind turbine, but not for the generator. It's to vary the pitch of the blades via a worm drive and bevel gears:






As you can see mine (along with many others) uses a hub (like a trailer wheel hub, except I made one to fit better) and tapered roller bearings. That means the rotor is mounted on six M12 rods which is plenty strong enough.

The reason I made my CNC router was to make the blades (3.1m diameter) for this wind turbine....which I've still not done as I keep changing my mind.