Gear
Get the gear you need for the Challenge
The core of participating in a KidWind Challenge is the construction of a small, functional wind turbine or solar structure. While performance matters, the most important part of construction is the process and what you learn from tinkering as you build.
Our partners at Vernier have a great list of KidWind Challenge Products to help you get started you can really use gear from anywhere!
The best projects are the ones that teams build from stuff they find in the closets and basements. We love crazy stuff like Tinker-Toys, K’nex, Legos, scrap wood, PVC pipes, popsicle sticks, bike wheels, 3D printed parts, poster boards, fabric scraps, building “junk”, balsa wood, etc.
We have broken down the materials into the following categories. Power Measurement, Wind, Solar and Loads. Most of these links will take you to our partners who sell these products. Happy hunting!
Wind
Basic Turbine Building Parts
All the parts you need to build the basic PVC turbine! Except for some PVC!Advanced Wind Experiment Kit
Great turbine to explore wind energy basics.Simple Generator
Build your own generator and power it with the wind, water whatever!Competition Wind Tunnel
This is the tunnel we use at all of our challenges.
Solar
2V Solar Panel
Awesome and rugged solar panel.Solar Panels
Takes you to a page of solar panels for use in solar structures.Solar Fountains
Amazon has piles of solar fountains that you can hack and use for projects. We like the ones where the panel is not connected to the pump.Solar Kits
Our friends at Brown Dog have cool solar kits and lego electrical circuits.
Load
Water Pump
Low voltage water pump works with 2V panels and turbines.DC Motor
Great motor to use with solar panels or turbines.Holiday Incandescent Bulbs
It can be great to contrast LED bulbs with incandescent bulbs to show just how inefficient they are!Holiday LED Bulbs
We love holiday LED bulbs to use with solar or wind projects as you can cut the strings up and hack away.Mini LED Lights
These mini LED string are great to hack in your solar structures. Cut at attach to your solar panels!Geared Motor
Awesome geared motor that works with low voltage solar panels.
Power Measurement
Energy Sensor
All you need to collect voltage, current power and energy data! This is what we use at competitions!Resistor Board
You always want to test your turbine or solar panel under a load.Simple Multimeter
Simple, cheap multimeter to measure voltage and current.