In this video I show how my water wheel works to produce power. This is my new wheel the old one had been beat up pretty good over the years, I made a few improvements to the design. thanks for watching.
I like this idea. It need refining but so does everything when it starts off. I love the way RU-vid puts like minded people in touch. The world can only be a better place for us sharing our ideas.
There is always room for innovation...if literally half the money spent on elections were put toward green energy research, im inclined to think the world would better off for it.
I suggest using pvc pipe for the frame, low end plastic for the wheel, you will get a faster rotation using lighter materials. Also adding a splash guard under your alternator as well as a rain guard over it. Very good build using what you have available. Depending on your average wind speed there you may look into building a wind turbine (I've converted an average garden windmill (59.00 at lowes) into a wind turbine that produces 44v-215v depending on wind speed. My current project is a watermill generator. I like what your doing keep it up.
I like it. Of course it could be more efficient - you can say that about almost anything. The critical commenters have probably never made anything 1/2 as cool if they have ever made anything at all. Thumbs up!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost".
I see two things that can improve this design. One would be to angle the boards up slightly. About 1-5 degrees would be good. The other would be to add a 1 or 2 inch board at the end to catch the water and keep the power on for a bit longer. Plus, having the water hit higher up on the wheel (sepecially if it went over the top and ran the other direction) would give you more time on the wheel and greater energy output. Awesome system overall!
Brilliant. Inspirational stuff, right here. I have a 114 acre farm and one day if I decide to go live on it, three's a creek that runs the entire length of it. This will be happening out there.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost".
That's a great use for stuff most people would throw away! Good choice using a backshot design, too. Other than lubricating the bearings, the only improvement I could see making you more power would be making the leading edges of the paddles a lot thinner (like turbine blades). You're losing a substantial amount of water when the paddles pass the lip of the aqueduct. Making them more streamlined will minimize the splashing. Another potential improvement would might be a thicker wheel. With more volume between the paddles, the water will be contained for a longer time, getting more energy out of it. You might also want to move that alternator further away from the splash zone. A longer axle maybe?
Great project. Be careful with the battery storage. the batteries, while charging, off gas hydrogen gas which is highly explosive, especially if contained in an enclosed space, like under your tub. Think ventilation. Also think corrosion, from the battery acid. The tub lid is good to have under them but the tub lid should have ventilation to and from the outside. Mounting the Generator higher in the structure would better protect it from high water flooding.Cant wait to see the new design.
Nice job! Have you ever thought about adding another alternator to your wheel? All you would have to do is add another belt and alternator to the system and you could double your power. There are a couple easy ways you could also make this more efficient. 1) Make it so that you catch the water at the top so all the power from the water is used, right now your losing some of the power due to hydrodynamics. 2) You could make your pool a little deeper so it has a better supply, instead of using wooden boards use a green sewage pipe. If you made the pool larger you could tie it directly into the pipe with some cement/concrete. That alone would make your entire process easier and more efficient. Not to mention you could have a real valve to turn it off. Or keep it like it is, it serves its purpose and does what you want it too do. I am just an armchair quarter back, who wishes I had something similar running through my back yard. Cheers.
Who cares about laws? Those who don't want a criminal record and don't want to go to jail. Now I myself think that a person should be able to do what they please on their own land within reason, but unfortunately the government is trying their best to gain increasing control of our lives. That can be stopped if the majority of us citizens want it stopped.
You could have the water trough pass over the top of the wheel and fall down on the far side of the wheel. That way, the water's direction and gravity work more to your benefit.
@@johnkidd1226 but take into consideration that the stream is on a hill, so if he would take his water higher from the stream he would get it to land higher on the wheel. He only needs to move his dam higher up and build a longer water ramp - that way he could make overshot wheel system with the resources he has. He could also try to dam that stream better in which case he could make a little pond which has higher water level, and then he could take water from the top of that pond and it would land higher on that wheel of his.
I could make some smarty remarks as to how to improve this, but really - this is a good job of making a simple, reliable, workable power source on the cheap. Way to go....
Absolutely amazing! I'm in east TN and have always wished I had a stream... I want to add my two cents if I may. You are 100% correct with the "gravity power" part and I'm just taking it one step further. That is solar power at it's finest. The sun heated lake/ocean/river water, it then evaporated and turned into a cloud, then it rained up on that mountain trickling down to repeat the process. Not splitting hairs here, this comment is aimed at anti renewable energy people that claim it can't be done and that we should purchase all our energy from Goliath energy companies that are without doubt destroying the planet and could care less about us. This "Off Road/Off Grid" dude is a genius in the fact that he's powering his shit with a hundred dollar investment until his batteries fail. Then he will just get a few replacements for another 20 bucks. Bravo sir!
holy rolling jeebus, you are rocking it to the max, apologies for sounding like a gushing schoolgirl but seriously man this is some good work, i doff my hat to you! youll excuse me if i take some of your ideas and run with them? i was looking at an expensive micro hydro turbine rig but i might look at this instead
I may be a little late since I stumbled onto your comment three years after it was posted, but there are several credible DIY sites Desertsun02, and GREENPOWERSCIENCE are two that I recommend with respect to solar power
You should let those batteries have some more airflow - unless you use sealed lead acid batteries, they vent a small amount of hydrogen when they charge
your set up verses the cost is great. What does it power? I bet at that location you could build a small dam and a turbine. That would run the complete house ac, heat, stove, oven and lights.
Very clever diy water powered electricity generator system done with a minimum budget & lots of recycled components and it simply works! Much respect to you sir...
Small improvements. Cover the alternator to keep it rain or splash out. Move generator up higher to prevent damage if water rises. Convert to overshot wheel from undershot by moving wheel downstream extending inlet Chanel Or rss as using dam .
This is good but If I may be so bold as to suggest that your problem is the height that the water is entering your wheel. Waterwheels are around 90% efficient if the water enters the wheel at around 90% of the height of the wheel. You would have a big excavation to make or as suggested dam your creek higher up and run the water via a few lengths of 5" PVC pipe and let it pour ont the top of the wheel( it would run the other way). A 6'0" diameter wheel ( over shot) running at 60 RPM with a 90% fill rate will give you 1Kw.... It as simple as that.... There are commercial units available but DIY works for me
I had thought about building my driveway up higher and putting a big pipe under it and running that higher on the wheel. There is a perfect spot at the other end of my property with about a 30 foot drop that would be perfect for a much bigger water wheel but at around 1500 feet away the voltage drop would be unacceptable.
Heavy gauge wire would fix that. How far do you need to carry the power and what are the voltages etc.... If you are using an inverter to bring the 12v UP TO MAINS VOLTAGE then maybe put the inverter closer to the wheel in a water proof shed or container then lead the mains away to the residence.
Off Road/Off Grid tramcar trev is right about sending electricity long distances... convert your DC voltage to AC as close as is practical / possible to the generator and send 110 volts AC long distance to minimize voltage loss. sending DC volts long distance is very wasteful and requires LARGE cable gauge wire.
Tramcar Trev Totally agree! Convert to AC as quickly and as high as possible. If you can send 240, you will lose even less. It comes down to volt-amp resistance. Amperes is the measurement of electrons passing a point. Higher voltage means fewer electrons in AC power. In DC, however, it doesn't. Convert to AC as quickly as possible!
inspectyerbooty AC and DC can be send a long distance with about the same voltage drop. It is way cheaper to increase voltage with an AC system than it would with an DC system to send power further. Why do you think power companies is sending power with thousands of volts down the line? Even if you have an 120 volt ac power, you will have a very big voltage drop if you would send power 1500 feet. The voltage drop would be so much that you could not operate most of the household items, but it would depend how many watts you are sending down the 120 volt line.
Awesome setup! I don't know why people keep suggesting to increase the head, he is restricted by the height of the water. To increase the water level would require a dam likely flooding half of the guys property.
Just for fun: this type of system mounted on two styrofoam pontoons tied off each bank side, like a raft. It can ride up and down with the rise and fall of creek. Center paddle wheel. Same drive design (maybe two alternators to balance weight on each side) Build box cover for alternator(s) and its mountings.
Kyle A - If you go to about 3:30 you can see the bicycle chain/gear connected to the water wheel has two sprockets. He is using the smaller of the two. Simply move the chain to the larger one and you will spin the alternator faster. You can prove this to yourself if you have an old 10-speed. Move the chain between the front gears while spinning the cranks at a consistent speed. The larger gear will spin the back wheel faster. The opposite will be true for the back gears. Try it and prove it to yourself.
Looks shady water wheel needs to be bigger and you need more generators on the belt . A better inverter and better batteries that are the same . Get them out of a big rig truck they have 3 batteries. Power the whole house like it was hooked up to the pole. You dont have to live like that with a water supply like yours .
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost".
The amount of power you can get from the system directly relates to the height of the water before it hits the wheel if you wanted to ramp up the amount of power you get out of this getting the water to hit the wheel from higher may help a lot
hi, love the way you run high voltage at the source, then cut it down at the end , higher voltage travels better with less drop!, allso if you want more torque so you can run multiple alternators use a larger wheel and wider, plastic barrels cut to 1.5 feet wide paddels work awesome! keep up the great videos🖒i rang your bell! ps i tinker with electricity also, and am a ham radio operator😎
Just fuckin move or get a better job so you can afford to get electricity line extended to your property. If im ever living off of a stream for electricity ill know ive hit rock bottom. You all are pathetic.
No work where i grew up so i saved every penny i made earning 7 bucks an hour as a dishwasher. Bought used car for 1,000 bucks, packed my clothes in it and moved where work was abundant. And guess what... i have electricity and i dont worry about it. You alll want to live like this pathetic man because you have a terribly low self image and probably are depressed and or withdrawing from life but i came from that precise mental state and just set goal after goal for myself and continue to do so. You get electricity from a trickling stream you are setting yourself up for one shitty life ill tell you that right now. Good luck being such a vagrant bum
I have a creek and I also have Springs that come out of the ground I've been trying to figure out a way to make that water turn into energy and I kind of had it in my head but this just explained it so simply. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or some special engineer to fabricate this. thank you for sharing
I've been doing some research, a marinea alternator for boats is what I'm going to use, most common they have external voltage regulators but you can get one with them built in! They are double insulated to avoid shock, they produce a lot more amps as the battery banks for boats are much larger than what they have in vehicles, they are in closed compartments on boats so they run cooler having heat sinks built into them! There are a lot more features to this type of alternator that give you the upper hand they are made to handle damp conditions and even salt as the oceans are salty! So my creek is pushing 1,100 gallons a minute and I only want to use this set up to charge battery banks that will run electric car fans for GEO thermal in my greenhouses, barns, bunker, and a walk in cooler for produce which will work with flex pipes buried in my underground water table that has ice water! I will use solar to power the rest and work on more water wheels as I get the first one perfected.!
I am a big fan anything about alternative power source. Here in the Philippines we have intermittent supply of power. Since 2011 I’ ve been using 1000 watts solar panels connected to 8-100 ah deep cycles wired parralel/series to produce 24 volts. This set up allows me to harvest around 2000 watts per day. This month I installed 1 kw grid tied inverter connected to 4-300 watts panels. On this set up, I can harvest around 2500 per day. When I watched your video I got excited because I ve been thinking about this idea. There is a creek adjacent to my yard like yours and could potentially provide me with added power source. I live here on remote mountain part of the Philippines where grid power is not reliable. I can build the wooden wheel and the bicycle sprocket, however, the alternator is the one Im not sure what to do. Do you do anything with it like installing a controler to regulate voltage output? Or Can I use any alternator right out of car or truck? Please respond using my fb messenger: Don Peping from Hermosa Bataan Philippines. My profile is the one with me and my wife and a boy on water buffalo as backround. Thanks
Really Great Stuff... Love It Thanks for sharing :-) Some suggestions 1) Depending on how much of the creek is yours and what the drop is, you could potentially build several of these along the line of the creek to convert as much of the energy as possible. 2) The bucket shapes have big lips, which defect some of the water and wastes the energy. I'd try to find a away of having a "lip" to catch and scoop up all of the water.
Actually NO IT'S NOT Knowledge is not Power and anyone that says "Knowledge is Power" DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT Watch, i'll prove it to you Little Experiment , right here right now 1. Want to be a millionaire ? Of course........ right ok, LET ME GIVE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE - You can save $1 Million Dollars in 8 years - Here's how ... 365 Days in a year So.. 8 years = 2920 Days - 1,000,000 Divided by 2920 Days = $342.46 per day (let's just call it $350 Per day , ok) SO THE KNOWLEDGE IS THIS.... IF YOU SAVE $350 A DAY , EVERY DAY , FOR 2920 DAYS (8 YEARS) YOU WILL BE A MILLIONAIRE THERE YOU GO.... NOW... GO AN DO IT You know what's gonna happen... YOU'RE GOING TO FAIL Thus proving.. KNOWLEDGE IS NOT POWER Then you'll ask me shit like - Martin, but how do i save $350 a day, it's not possible Thus proving YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT Thus proving KNOWLEDGE IS NOT POWER KNOWLEDGE IS ..........*POTENTIAL POWER* ok but on it's own it's completely useless UNTIL YOU MEET CERTAIN CRITERIA THEY ARE - YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE - YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE KNOWLEDGE - YOU HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO APPLY IT - YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO APPLY IT - YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY APPLY IT - YOU HAVE TO APPLY IT CORRECTLY - YOU HAVE TO VERIFY THAT YOU RECEIVED THE DESIRED OUTCOME NOW... YOU DO THAT........ AND YES, POTENTIAL POWER TURNS INTO ACTUAL POWER and you will see an instant result But, Knowledge on it's own is not power Prove me wrong hehe
I really liked this video. It's a good lesson on employing a simple resource, when normal energy sources are not available. sometimes I think it's a little funny when "good ole boys" explain some things. They throw in a little bit of personal technological talk, "this here thing with that there doodad" and some of the town's history. Good job using available components.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost".
I never dreamed that there were so many smart people that watch RU-vid videos! As of this date (10-17-18), there have been approximately 1500 comments and over half of them must be hydro-electrical engineers. The other half are probably just as knowledgeable, but pursuing their degrees in safety engineering. I'm sure that some are pilots and geologists (judging by their posts on videos of that genre), but are glad to offer their expertise on this and other humble videos. We are all fortunate that they share their precious insight, but if does cause one to wonder how they manage to hold such prestigious occupations and still share knowledge with all of us.
build another waterwheel either beside or behind, depending on GPM. outstanding American ingenuity. this is what I have been screaming for for years to be installed in our major river systems. sure, not a 100% solution, but, it creates zero emissions and NEVER runs dry. I live close to the Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi river's. rock on brother.
@@mtnmotoadv not all dams do that also most damns create a lake or pond and such this here does not it takes a fraction of the water without creating a lake or they calling it a reservoir
@@mtnmotoadv There's over 80,000 dams in the US and over 90% do not make electricity. They merely hold water for agricultural use, flood prevention and the like. Unfortunately, most of those dams are viable for energy production but simply aren't being retrofitted probably for funding reasons. www.energy.gov/eere/water/hydropower-resource-assessment-and-characterization
Seems to me the setup you have is working pretty good. Why don't you just install a second water wheel about a hundred feet up from that one in the flow line. If you really wanted to get fancy, you could do like a lot of guys and add in a 5 kilowatt solar array. They should give you roughly 5 to 8,000 watts of usable power. Your biggest problem then would be a bigger inverter and charge controller. Would probably have to supplement your batteries too. But the water wheel you got on the cheap so why not just do a second one and double the output power going to the batteries.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost".
💡If you make a wind mill out of an alternator, and put it in the top of the tallest tree, study up on ratios to build the prop the right size so you can have high rpm even with low wind speed, and still get another 110 input in your house, so your 220 on natural power could potentially make 440 if inverted. be sure to build a housing around your alternator to protect the windings from the elements and debris.... Great job 👍🌀
Gvfdsg Gfdgdf what country is that so I make sure I don't ever move there my guess in somewhere in Europe. Here in America we've got our problems but thank God we can still speak out against anything we want even words of hatred if you so choose although I wouldn't do that . But to live in a country where you can't be self sustaining is completely wrong and fascist ....
No point. He said that he can stop the wheel from turning if he connects a high load. The ultimate limit on his power production is the water supply and overall system efficiency.
Darryl, it all depends. A forklift battery will take more power to charge than a deep cycle golfcart battery that has the same amphour capacity. Minimum amps required is 20amps or higher amps just to charge a forklift battery. But you have to make the battery ''boil/bubble'' good once in while to stir up the electrolyte and this may take up to 80 amps of charging power. Low charging amperage will kill those batteries and they need a lot of water. They are pricey and repair and replacing cells is still expensive.
I like this kind of project; the fact that it was done and works is significant regardless of the efficiency. A longer race would help reach the top of the wheel and setting the wheel in some kind of frame so that it could be raised out of the way in a flood could help protect the investment, but it's wonderful as is.
That sounds like a cool idea. Then LED everything. Think he'd have to have two separate systems tho for that, kind of a pain. To run his appliances he needs more power.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost".
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost".
~~~ I remember watching this video years ago and it was great back then . You are a very wise man.. ..this should help me out even if for just thinking. Thank you so much my friend....GOD'S JOY.
We built some of these in Congo Africa but used an over-shot wheel and made the drop a lot more by extending the water troth much farther upstream and thus getting more height for the water to drop and thus a lot more energy creating a lot more electricity and allowing a larger wheel or a higher pulley ratio. The big problem here ( in Michigan) the gistapo EPA or DNR or DEQ ( department of environmental quality) will come to your house and tell you to remove the obstruction to the stream or you will find yourself paying a big fine or going to jail.
Why are you so contemptuous of regulations protecting natural resources? The problem with some people is they don't care what happens downstream. You might want to read up on the mess created by unregulated industries before Nixon (a Republican, hard to believe today) created the EPA. Yeah, this guy is only one person but the problem you individualists ignore is that when you have millions of individuals who don't give a damn it adds up.
Yeah right. Using a part of the water in a small stream to fall over a water wheel, obstructing no fish or anything else, will pollute the world. You must be one of THOSE liberal tree hugger.
Mike Misch Ok, so enlighten us as to how you know this setup isn't affecting wildlife. You must be one of those Trump supporters who rely on "common sense" and "intuition" rather than facts and evidence.
this is a bit stupid , u can make easy a higher rpm , if u use the whole water weel as a gear , with a long stretch , maybe u get than 125 rpm to 600 rpm , with our stuff
I wonder how it is today, after 9 years Since you've shown to be a resourceful man I bet you had implemented some of the great tips folks had left here on the comment section. I'm also gonna leave my thoughts, even though I'm sure you have already done some improvements on this nice project of yours You could either place it further down, so more potential energy becomes kinetic energy and then electricity or you could place some sand bags in order to make a little dam, increasing the water flow and thus energy generation
You might want to relocate your dam and your whole set up to nearer that waterfall. The higher you make the water drop, the more energy you can extract from it.
Yes it has taken everything down the creek before and I've had to re-build. I'm working on a better design that attaches to the bank and can be raised and lowered by pulling a lever. I'm also moving the whole thing to a better location that allows a larger overshot wheel. There will be more videos soon.
Giving the voltage without the current really provides no useful information. With a head of three feet and a water flow of, oh, 10 gallons/minute (I'd guess) The theoretical maximum amount of power produced is: 10 gallons/60 seconds = .17 gallons/second 1 gallon weigh eight pounds, so that's .17 x 8 = 1.4 pounds/secon of water 1.4 pounds/second dropping 3 feet produces 4.2 foot pounds of energy per second. One foot pound of energy/second x 1.4 = watts So 1.4 x 4.2 foot pounds/second produces a theoretical maximum energy production from your rig of 5.7 watts. You'd have to operate your rig for 175 hours to produce a kilowatt hour of power --- that's 7 days of continuous operation, and you're probably getting half that in actual power output. So yes, you DO need additional sources of power!
This is soo simple. I love it. It does what it has to do for the least amount of money spent, mostly recycled parts and no worries. I always want to over engineer everything.
Mikey McMikeFace I know. In school we were taught how great he was but now as adults we find out he was a cut throat thief and Tesla was the the real genius.
@@hallhouse5098 Edison is regarded a genius ONLY in the US...the rest of the world knows what a douch he actually was... And so do the assorted patenting offices btw.
Use a pipe to convey the water to the wheel, then you can draw the water from further upstream and get more pressure and hence a higher flow. Make the buckets on the wheel higher capacity and feed the water at the top so that the wheel turns the other way, that way you use the energy of the water's momentum too.
I think a small dam in conjunction with the pipe that you mention is the answer, that is if ecological laws permit. The dam would allow for more "pressure" to the pipe and control creek water height. There could even be multiple water wheels.
When there's an utility pole in your front yard, you are not _off the grid._ The grid is in your front yard. Now they're using drones in some places to do line inspections. Visuals are now more frequent in rural areas, especially in areas with older poles, severe weather, lines susceptible to trees, etc. In some areas, where inspections were only required every 5 to 12 years are now being done every 2 years routinely and after severe weather. Law enforcement is also using this as an excuse to search for pot farms. Drones now use much better optics and detection software. They're watching entire grows and seeing where everything and everyone is going.
Completely semantics. He is off the power grid. He's not connected to it. Periodic line inspections are the least of one's worries. I say this as a guy who has lived off grid. People still drive, walk, or yes - ride horses - by our place. Government satellites can take a pic anywhere at anytime, and the optics are god enough to see what time your watch says it is. So I guess nobody is completely off grid to your standards?
I have a recommendation to make if you don't care about just some suggestions that can significantly increase the performance of your system. The first thing is to make the most of the natural unevenness of the water with the idea of increasing its speed to the maximum possible since the authentic potential energy of Water in unevenness is to change it in speed. I also suppose that you changed the winding core of the alternator for a neodymium magnet or similar, leaving the diode bridge inside and therefore transporting the energy in the form of direct current. This has two inherent problems: the first as it happened to Edison that transporting energy in the form of a direct current is tremendously inefficient since the voltage drop in the cables is much greater. I recommend you remove the diode bridge from it and move it to the house and of course you will have to add one more cable since the alternator is three-phase, the next thing is that when a magnet is momtar the voltage is regulated by the RPM of the same and of course when You choose a load (A) to the alternator, this decreases its RPM and with it the voltage and of course the power (W) is the result of V multiplied by amps with which to turn into a vicious circle against you. And last but not least, NEVER connect batteries in parallel if you cannot increase the input voltage of the inverter, charge and discharge them alternately, but the best by far would be to store the energy at the highest possible voltage since losses in the power supply are minimized. combersion I hope this helps you, it is only for lending a hand not for criticizing or anything like that. Thank you
Nice setup but you are giving up a lot of potential energy with that water wheel setup. The water should be flowing over the top of the wheel for maximum efficiency.
Looks like it's turning too fast for the water flow, and not that much water is flowing. The wood doesn't appear to be treated, the wire spools are not I know for a fact. The way the wheel is designed the water should go to the back of each section, if so it would stop or slow the wheel down..
Build a v flume and run it another 300' downstream, off to the side. Tthat gets it out of the flood zone and gives you a chance at a overshot and real power
Yes, except that you have to have a smaller diameter wheel to fit under the available head, so less torque and not necessarily as big a power improvement as you'd hope.
Usually when installing a water wheel, the wheel tends to go with the flow of the river. But you seem to have the wheel rotating anticlockwise, I was wondering if there was a reason for this ?
Very nice. I know this post is very old but I just saw it for the first time so it's new to me. I probably would have mounted the alternator on the same side of the wheel as the house and a little higher. Although the belt is loose, they still rob power. The chain does too.You're probably loosing 2hp to the belt and chain. That's about 1500watts. If you could get your hands on some gears, that would be the ultimate. If you could get your hands on some old electric fork lift batteries, you would be in great shape. They have 1/4 inch thick plates. You can pick up a desulfator for about $20. Often times the forklift batteries aren't bad. Their just sulfated. They'll last you over 10 years once you fix them up with a desulfator. Some people have gotten over 15 years out of old forklift batteries. That's a great setup you got there. Just needs some tweaking. Hats off to you.
