Scavenging motors from washing machines

Energy & Sustainability Technology

Luke Iseman makes stuff, some of which works. He invites you to drive a bike for a living (dirtnailpedicab.com), stop killing your garden (growerbot.com), and live in an off-grid shipping container (boxouse.com).

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January 5th, 2009 10

Here’s a useful tutorial on how to harvest a motor from a waching machine, including a section on how to use bridge rectifiers to produce DC from an AC motor. Supposedly these are ideal for driving wind generators, so check out your wind exposure, make an inexpensive generator, and start charging some batteries!
(via hack a day)

10 thoughts on “Scavenging motors from washing machines”

Liszt says:

January 5th, 2009 at 4:14 pm

Sadly, this is only relevant if you live in tha-down-undah.
Or get really dang lucky elsewhere.

One of the key selling points about the motor for these machines is the fact that it uses 42 coils, which allows you to rewire it into a 7-phase power generation system. This reduces cogging losses, and obviously, increases efficiency.

Otherwise, its just another run-of-the-mill permanent magnet generator. :(
volkemon says:

January 5th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Hm…I am the appliance tech/repair guy at a 750+ housing unit retirement community, with washing machines up to 19 years old. I have never seen such a motor setup on a washing machine.

I will study the newer ones under repair to see.

THANKS MAKE!!

BTW- location: Viera/East central Florida/USA/North America
Bret says:

January 5th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

that if someone throws out a washing machine, it’s because the motor has problems. But if not, sweet!
wonder-wheeler says:

January 6th, 2009 at 9:42 pm

That it is more likely a timer or solenoid problem, or a leaky joint or hose that gets them thrown away. Or the fact that they are out of fashion, the wrong color, banged up, or use too much water.
Randy Breckenridge says:

January 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am

Does anyone know what kind of motor is pictured? I could really use some coils like that. Anyone know where I could obtain coils like the ones pictured?