Discount Thames & Kosmos Wind Power 2.0

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List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $33.62
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The Windturbine kit was worth the money and well designed. My 8 year old enjoyed putting it together with me, and learned about reading installation instructions using the drawings. That said there was some confusion, on my part, when purchased in that they indicated the kit would also make cars. The same parts are used so you get the Windturbine OR cars. Also there should be no expectation that you could actually charge a battery (to run a electric car) from the turbine (powered by a fan). It's all the turbine can do to light a LED, however it does prove it works. The kit is a good tool to teach gear ratio's and mechanical assembly, as well as how the wind can produce electricity. I'd strongly recommend it.

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Very interesting science kit, though a little hard to put together by an 8-year old. I thought that one of the 6 possible vehicles can be built together with one of the windmills, but it turned out that it's either a vehicle or a windmill. So to charge the battery using windmill one needs to dismount the vehicle and put the windmill together.

Extremely fast delivery though, despite Super Saver's Shipping.

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I have been looking into Wind Power, so I wanted something that my two kids (girl-10 and boy-12) could build to better understand how a Wind Turbine works...It took less than 45 minutes to build and the kids learned how to follow detailed directions and how Wind can produce electricity.

Great learning tool!!

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I bought this for my 5.5 yr old son, my husband, and I. We all enjoy exploring alternative energy. We already had the Air + Water kit, so we were somewhat familiar with the connectors.

Pros:

-the tools included help a lot. Our son finds the pliers very helpful when putting the little red pieces in. (Not the intended purpose, but just as useful)

-the turbine is of decent size (around 3 ft. tall)

-it has multiple gear ratios to experiment with

-the book includes tips, ideas, and some basics about wind, turbines, generators, motors, and such

-once bored with the wind turbine, it can be disassembled and built into something new

-it's a sturdy kit -the connectors fit together quite well

-good quality

Cons:

-the pictures are tiny

-nearly impossible to get the turbine to charge a battery, as suggested.

-some of the pieces like to pop loose when switching gears on the turbine

-it takes a lot of wind to light the LED outside

It was easy for my husband to assemble. It took around 20-30 minutes at slow/average pace.

Our son still requires help with figuring out which holes to put things in. The pictures are very small. So, it's not so easy for him to figure out alone. However, he was able to assemble the glider with minimal assistance. He had no problems disassembling the turbine on his own. The tools really seemed to help a lot.

As suggested, we tried the turbine with some stand fans. We had to put it on the easiest gear in order to get the blades to move at all. Of course, on the easiest gear, it does not produce enough electricity to power the LED. So, that was a bit disappointing.

Outside with a light wind, it would move on the easiest gear, but not on the medium gear. We finally had the chance to try it on a moderately windy day and did get it to move on the middle gear. The light came on intermittently. Yay!

Some things that our son enjoyed exploring with this kit were:

-Impact of gear sizes on resistance and energy output

-Impact of fan location on turbine (fan height and distance)

-Importance of turbine location outside (the turbine barely worked up against our house, but worked great three feet to the side)

-Blade angle and turbine angle

-How a motor can be used as a generator

Overall, I would highly recommend this kit. This kit has been a lot of fun for our family and I would definitely purchase this again. If you are looking for another great alternative energy kit, I also recommend Snap Circuits Green Alternative Energy Kit.

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We bought this for the school science fair and it worked great. Very good instructions. Easy enough with a little help that two fourth graders could build it with a little supervision. Large size. Inspired them the work harder on their project after building it. ( They got an A+) Actually works as a wind turbine. Battery power option for self turning display model LED lights up if it is plugged in and can actually charge a battery if put in the wind and built correct. Just an over all great product. Would not hesitate to buy from this company again and will for the next science fair or when I need a cool gift.