Energy to go: the world’s smallest hydropower plant | Eco-at-Africa 

500 watts, enough to power a village? does the village run on a few lamps?

No need for mass production to bring down the price..just sell it once in China..

Housing Designer: Aquakin Form: Ergonomic Discus Color: Graphite black Lighting: tranlucent LED-Circle Outer diameter: 22 cm Inner diameter: 12 cm Height: 6.5 cm Connections 2x Speed Charger USB Port (1.5A) for charging external devices Output 5 V Micro USB Port for direct charging on Blue Freedom Portable Aquakin Transmission Shaft connection with Turbine Blue M10 Turbine Designer: Aquakin Form: Hydrodynamic Color: Ultramarine blue Rotor blades: Blue M10R01 Diameter: 12 cm Height: 6 cm Generator Capacity: 5 W Operating mode: Synchron Generator Output power: max. 5 W Nominal voltage: 15 V Battery Capacity: 5000 mAh Technology: Lithium Polymer Design: Stick Hardcase Voltage: 3.7 V Dimensions Diameter: 22 cm Height: 5.5 cm Weight: 690 g

Now you just need a portable source of flowing water to complete the kit!

the magic is; every time the stick comes loose, we make another sale >:-D

This is the first new solution for hydro-power I've seen in years. No moving parts (meaning nothing under the water surface that if there's algae or barnacle growth the bearings will seize up.) I can see using a larger one on a sail boat, or having a set of impellers. You could have different impeller sizes depending on the wind. The thing about sail boats is they have a fairly narrow speed range, so 10-11 knot winds you're going 5-6 knots, drag something in the water and lose a knot, At 12-14 knot winds you're still going 5-6 knots but dragging an impeller does nothing(except generate power.) At 18-20 knot winds, maybe you're going 7-8 knots, your sails are reefed and an even bigger impeller, generating more power, still doesn't slow you down. The way sailors do this now is with a folding prop - that doesn't spin as well as a non-folding (but minus 1-2 knot) propeller or they use a completely separate device that drops in and out of the water. Most hydro-generation mechanisms look like they'd soon be fouled. They're big and expensive, I always see the project announced, sometimes the device place in the water....and then.... nothing.

My Dad told me about an estate which had a ships turbine in the South Esk river that generated electricity for all the workers' cottages. In the 1930's.

I'm from Africa. People would steal this from the riverbank along with the stick it's on in rural communities.

Based on the two lithium batteries (2500mAh x2 x 3.7v) in the turbine pad, we are looking at around 20 watt-hour system... for $340?! I think solar power might be better.

Генератор свободного потока. Это конструкция 1925-1935 годов, но она самая перспективная. Не нужно строить плотину. Большой респект вам!

My brother was an electrical engineer and he was a strong advocate for hydroelectric power. He took me to see the fish ladders at some dam in Oregon. I never looked into hydro, but now I can see what he was talking about. It just has not caught on. Thanks for the video.

O man this is awesome I've never seen this before good idea.

Brilliant idea!..Kind of similar to what private sea going sailing vessels use to generate power when sailing.

Works great in the Sahara desert as well.

Why don’t we hear more about this?

if you left that for an hour in germany rivers it will charge your phones and laptops.. if you left it in the philippine river for an hour, in just 5 mins, it'll be stolen.. 😂😂

It'd be handy for campers and boating cruisers. But that $340 price is absurd. Solar makes far more sense for most locations and won't go away in a drought. I wonder if they're shaking down charitable organizations working in Africa.

Wonder how many will drift away never to be seen again

With those dimensions you can expect around 10 W of power. I also wonder how long does the propeller last in a fast-flow stream which usually carry a lot of debris.

It’s not expensive nor complicated to build very efficient Aqua Tech. I saw a video of washer converted Into a turbine connected to a converter that powered a house for 16 years.

HI I am looking for something like this a bit larger , off grid cabin and will link to a charge control .Needs to be completely submerged as temp will drop to -45c . Has to be run of river , no head pipe .

What a incredible ideas from these guys...! It certainly comes handy for the poor communities around the world. Love the ideas.

500 Watts? An entire village? That's about as much what my computer consumes when in full load....

Next time make a telescopic fishing pole with a battery in the handle. place handle between the rocks and your away.

Permanent magnet motor as a generator. 2 field magnets move the 3armature magnets. Add 12v120v ac inverters and transformers to 240v you have a full scale Power plants. 28.8 kw

Cool! Just make sure you don't drop your phone in the river while setting this up.

the idea isn't new, but i'm very happy to see more and more companies pushing out clean energy products. there are some youtube videos where people build water powered generator themselves, but no on this nice portable & small scale. please don't compare it with solar/wind products, because this can run 24/7 day and night .

It never cease to amaze me how people can invent and create amazing items this is just mind blowing

For the price, I'd go solar. Not everyone has a river in thier backyard, but the sun's everywhere.

why cant you make it a bit bigger and pair up with a battery. come one.

This is a great idea. I bought a Waterlily from Canada. It is a little larger and has a flywheel effect when spinning. Waterlily will work in water as well as wind. Well made.

For campers, nothing beats a foldable solar panel. Even on an overcast day a foldable solar panel which is meant to be a 40w panel will still produce enough power to charge your phone easily and even slowly charge up a laptop within around 3-4 hours and when you have proper sun a 40w solar panel can run a laptop without any loss to the internal laptop battery.

How many knots does it need? I'm living on a sailboat and was thinking it would be brilliant to throw out, and just collect electricity as you are sailing.

Brilliant! God bless you. from Manila, Phillippines.

I'm german and it feels strange to her translating the own language in english

Correct me if I’m wrong but, isn’t it just a motor shaft connected to a wire connected to a propeller? Of course their is the battery and circuit board but those don’t cost much at all to make. That thing is worth probably $120-$180 at most

Журнал "юный техник" 1960х годов. Новое , это забытое старое.

Hi, do you sell already larger models and how much they cost? Can you send a link where to buy this product?

This is a great example of what's wrong with the German innovation system: the procedure, paperwork, taxes, and all the ridiculous expenses, make the final product SO expensive that it doesn't make sense eventually from the consumer perspective. 300EURO?! Seriously?... it should be 100 Euros MAX.

300 euros per unit? The PCB in it costs about 20 cents, the plastic shell is uneeded, and the alternator is probably $1. This is a $2 product. Where the remaining $298 EU comes from I cannot tell you.

yeah Africa is where they need WATER!

How much is the price in 2020? Where can it be purchased?

Why transfer the mechanical energy up to be converted with a horrendous loss in one of those rotary cables when putting the generator in the end device would be more efficient and would be cooled too.

I feel bliss every time i see free energy.

WOW, $340 that's a lot!

What happens if the stick doesn't hold or you simply drop it in the water?

Thats so awesome. Would love to have one of those. I am in to renewable energy. Have just installed solar on my house. Greetings from Andreas on Off Grid Sweden

You guys are onto something. Well done and keep up the great work 👍👍

I love how they say "we want to provide this or that for xx group of people" oh yes, and also generate significant money for our pockets.. that too. ( nothing wrong with that at all, I just think it's funny how they refuse to say that making large sums of money is also a major design goal.. lol)

If I attach this to the back of my boat, I will have unlimited energy!

“Immense power”

Laos ( 2010) has a small metal one that cost £30, weighs 15kg , that generates mains voltage , put a few stones in the stream to funnel the water & a bit of flex & you can get the TV to to run

so bigger version is capable of 500W enough to power the whole village? Zimbabwean village?

Ok that looks like good execution. Actually convenient to use in the middle of nowhere.

Clogged by branch in 10 minutes..

Saw one under 50 dollars for phone cord but can't find it anywhere anymore help if you no what it is called where to get one

Drag it behind my sailboat! Love it

Brazil: Congratulations! It's wonderful ‼👍👏👏👏👏👏

These ain't new, they've been around for years and years, I think it was tesla who came up with the idea for generating unlimited free energy, I think it is called the tesla hydro turbine

Great work.remember crocs are curios hungry fellows

You're paying for the idea. Any half-witted DIYer can piece one of these together with salvage. Sure, it won't like pretty but it'll cost at most $40. The price is insane

Four YEARS later Y T recommends this to me.

A small float or pontoons (inflatable) and rudder would hold it in place.

Yes you can take it anywhere to charge your phone! Just add a fast moving stream... and stand there holding it, making sure it doesn't hit the bottom or some twig floats past and stops it spinning... Africa has sunshine lots of sunshine. Its everywhere too. Streams are not everywhere....

Great idea but ridiculously expensive, why not make use of the toilet flush to recover the energy lol

We NEED much more of this kind of invention..

I bet the power output is miniscule.

Same concept, but why not put this behind a sailboat, and save the power to a battery on backside of the sailboat? Tie battery to the sailboat's total battery system. Constand 5 knots avg speed x 24 hrs/day. How many watts can i get from 1?

Only €299 ?!?!? What the f*ck?!?! - I spend that much for electricity for my household of 4 for 6 months. The thing is made out of plastic, I cant imagine it would last more that 3-4 years under daily constant use as the plastic will degrade over time due to thermal expansion. Even if this would be made of molded aluminium or powder metal the seals would needed to be replaced every 2-3 years to ensure water tightness. Again €299 ?!?!? and it will generate maybe €30 worth of electricity over it's lifetime. TOTAL JOKE!!!

This is amazing for camping or if you live near a river or creek. The water will always flow 24/7, no matter the weather, condition, time. It’s literally more reliable than wind or solar. There is much potential here. Too expensive at first, but this could become affordable eventually. 500watts is a lot of power for low voltage usb-lights so yes it can power a village. Do some research on solar lamps in Africa. A hand crank generator 60watt is about $300 for comparison, but those require energy (from you). No other type of clean energy can be so consistently reliable 24/7

I built one of these years ago with less than $5, I still think mine is better lol.

Seen this twice now great idea simple and effective.

300 Euros, ? OUCH,! it's Plastic.!! Blue Freedom cost more than the cell phone it charges... Nice Idea, but, there's not a lot of Freedom there.. The price gives me the "Blues"

you can have never ending electric with this. 1- Dig a small river in your garden as long as 15-20 meters deep a meter. 2- Pipe down for water recycle and cement the river in your garden. 3- Put water pomp to recycle the water and let that river run. In this way you dont need to be near to river or running water because you have one in the garden and you dont waste water because the water will be recycling all the time. you got electricity non stop.

Looks to be about the right size for survivorman type adventures in the backcountry. What is the cost going to run for the average joe ?

I notice that they carefully don't say the power output of the device shown. with only the kinetic flow in the creek, and the tiny area, it can only put out a few watts- ten if you're lucky, maybe enough to charge a cellphone. A 500 watt turbine is much larger, about a foot in diameter for a high-head design, and needs a significant investment in a feed inlet, delivery tubes, valves, and electrical conditioning equipment with charge controller, batteries, and inverter.

Думаю в одной (державе) это расценят статьёй ПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ПРИРОДНЫМИ РЕСУРСАМИ . А так идея отличная 👍

500 watts is great for a small need, but it won't be able to run a refrigerator, stove, microwave, etc. It would help light the house however. Nice thing about this is works 24/7 whereas solar only during the day, wind when there is a strong breeze. Biggest problem is DEP, if they would allow it.

Ahhh...now you can charge your cell phone in the shower every morning!

kindly give us a link WHERE to BUY it?

I don't see it giving a significant amount of power out. It's just a kid's toy.

solar costs about $0.50 per watt but is not 24/7, so if it makes 1 watt it needs to cost about $1.50 to be competitive.

I'd love to find out who these entrepreneurs are getting their funding from. I got a bridge in brooklyn to sell them.

excellent. we need these type of technologies, and encourage many to argument these ideas.

How about dropping these into sewage pipes? RIvers are hard to come by in cities.

Great concept - as for Cost-------- QUALITY COSTS MONEY only issue i can see is that eventually water ingress could be an issue - a unit that could produce an output of 1 Kw at 12 volts would be perfect for a remote more permanent type install for use with solar panels and wind turbines a DC output is ideal as there is no synchronizing issues as long as Voltages are the same thru batteries which will act as capacitors taking up the differentials.

Be nice to add to a boat when on the go! Recharge house banks or charge small electronics such as laptops, tablets and phones!

I'd eliminate the battery and have the hydro generator charge a cell phone via a DC-DC converter, but solar has a much lower cost per watt, no moving parts so it's more reliable and durable, and far more places have sunshine than moving water... for example, Sudan that was mentioned in the video.

$340 when the turbine with voltage regulator can be bought at less than $10 with free shiping. So you pay more than $330 for the plastic enclosure and cabling? These are not german enginners, they are simple scammers!

You can make it even better - force the body to rotate in the opposite direction to the shaft, by shaping the body in screw style. Could effectively double the output. Your welcome :)

03:33 That looks like a lot of maintenance!

If I were going camping for a couple of days, I'd find that a spare battery pack for my mobile would be cheaper and less bulky. If I were powering a small community, I'd want something bigger and more powerful. You get steady wind in more places than you get flowing water. If I were doing an energy audit, I'd be wondering how long this device would have to be running before it generated more power in total than it took to manufacture it. It has "gimmick" written all over it.

Much too expensive for dark africa at 4000 rands get a solar panel !

This device is so simple in its conception yet has the potential to solve so many energy problems in the most undeveloped places, for a vast number of people, while being environmentally safe.

So many negative people on here. I don't understand that. This seems like a viable concept that down the road could be hugely beneficial to people in remote areas currently (unintended pun) dependant on fossil fuels for electricity . Why not be positive?

Where can we get a small hydro generator?? how MUCH

... there is a drought coming tomorrow. :)

Should be looking into the peltier effect using rivers too cool the cold side and focus light with a large lens onto the hot side

With all the BILLIONS of Dollars spend on Africa. We could of build them number of power plants.

Great job! I'm moving down by the river tomorrow.