He has all that water 💦 coming down the pipe. He should put a big water tank 1000 gallons or more just above the turbines to keep the pressure high. He can also use this for his house ,without the need for bigger batteries to suck the water from the well.
The stream water quality fluctuates during the seasons and contamination can easily be introduced by wildlife and other sources. The well water is the same quality throughout the year and is expected to remain safe from contamination.
A 3” to 3” connection would be better. Then run the 3” PVC to the generator, a Y connector first in 3”, then you can step down to 2” to run into your existing setup. But if you want to change the internal setup with a nice curve inside the housing, sounds like what you need is to stick with ACPV to create the gradual curve inside the housing, if necessary, go from 3” acpv to a 3” Y pvc, back to two 3” acpv for the short run to the generator housing, and step down to 2” acpv which can be easily curved. 🤷
This is very educational. I’m basically dumber than a post on electrical stuff. Not quite but almost. I am a rancher and have 2,500 feet of 4” irrigation pipe I feed a field with from a creek. It only has 80 feet of vertical drop and drops to about 30 gallons a minute in late fall but about 500 a minute in the spring . I use one solar panel with 2 car batteries to Run my led lights in the cabin at the bottom of the pipe. In the winter the sun does not hit the solar panel for about 4 months. I have to charge the batteries with a gas generator. I just need advice as to whether I can charge my batteries with low a flow in the fall with only 30 gallons a minute. Can anybody answer my question plus what size generator do I need and where to purchase one. Thanks. Bill, twisp, washington
I found this formula on microhydropower's website: Flow (GPM) × Head (Feet) ÷ 10 = constant watts. Multiply by 0.024 for kWh per day. Plugging in your Fall flow of 30 GPM and 80' head gives 240 constant watts and 5.76 kWh per day. I hope that helps!
As Jon stated the basic hydro power calculation is (Head pressure in feet X Gallons per minute) / 10 = watts. In your case you can expect : (80' X 30gpm)/10= 240w. The actual power might be a little lower because of the friction loss on such a long run of pipe. The max flow on a 4" pipe that long is going to be around 450 gpm. That gives you the potential of 1350w at full flow. The equipment in the video is from Langstons alternative power: www.langstonsalternativepower.com They respond best to phone calls: 843- 319 -4830
QUESTIONS: 1) How do you combine multiple hydro turbines electric production and safely combine it for use? I saw something about rectifiers in this video, please expand knowledge on how to wire this. 2) Once you have multiple t output combined, How do you safely wire it to charge the batteries, without doing harm to the batteries or inverter if an existing solar system? How do you ensure that the batteries are not back-feeding to the hydro turbines? ie. Do you use one way diodes so power only flows into the batteries? If yes, please explain. I am wanting to install multiple turbines and tie it into an existing solar system, but do not understand how to safely wire them together, such that the equipment is not back feeding or damaging any other equipment. thanks this was a great video!
1. The charge controller will need to have multiple inputs. For example my EG4 18k has 3 mppt charge controllers. It does not matter what is making the DC power as long as its within voltage range. The PMA is making wild 3 phase AC. The rectifier is turning that into DC so the charge controller can accept the power. 2. I have 3 solar arrays connected to my system. If I take one of those out and replace it with hydro the batteries would charge the same as if it were all solar. The charge controller isolates the incoming power from the outgoing power. The hybrid inverters/chargers like the one in the video or the EG4 are able to safely handle voltages up to 500v per input.
The exposed bus bars are a little concerning but very jealous of this setup oveall!
To eliminate the tight bends. Use a pipe heater blanket and form the pipe into whatever shape you want
That could work. Its also nice to use flexible hose to make the turns.
@@DIYVolts ehh yeah . But big long sweeping bends would be best.
Idk at what point you get diminishing returns
Another great video, Seth!
Thank you. This install has worked well for the owner. over 800w can power most homes with hydro.
He has all that water 💦 coming down the pipe. He should put a big water tank 1000 gallons or more just above the turbines to keep the pressure high. He can also use this for his house ,without the need for bigger batteries to suck the water from the well.
The stream water quality fluctuates during the seasons and contamination can easily be introduced by wildlife and other sources. The well water is the same quality throughout the year and is expected to remain safe from contamination.
A 3” to 3” connection would be better. Then run the 3” PVC to the generator, a Y connector first in 3”, then you can step down to 2” to run into your existing setup.
But if you want to change the internal setup with a nice curve inside the housing, sounds like what you need is to stick with ACPV to create the gradual curve inside the housing, if necessary, go from 3” acpv to a 3” Y pvc, back to two 3” acpv for the short run to the generator housing, and step down to 2” acpv which can be easily curved. 🤷
Is this a re-upload???
This was from 2 years ago on my Land To House channel. DIT VOLTS will be getting some freash hydro content some time in 2025.
i was thinking the same, why would you reupload again the same thing
This is very educational. I’m basically dumber than a post on electrical stuff. Not quite but almost. I am a rancher and have 2,500 feet of 4” irrigation pipe I feed a field with from a creek. It only has 80 feet of vertical drop and drops to about 30 gallons a minute in late fall but about 500 a minute in the spring . I use one solar panel with 2 car batteries to
Run my led lights in the cabin at the bottom of the pipe. In the winter the sun does not hit the solar panel for about 4 months. I have to charge the batteries with a gas generator. I just need advice as to whether I can charge my batteries with low a flow in the fall with only 30 gallons a minute. Can anybody answer my question plus what size generator do I need and where to purchase one. Thanks. Bill, twisp, washington
I found this formula on microhydropower's website:
Flow (GPM) × Head (Feet) ÷ 10 = constant watts. Multiply by 0.024 for kWh per day.
Plugging in your Fall flow of 30 GPM and 80' head gives 240 constant watts and 5.76 kWh per day. I hope that helps!
As Jon stated the basic hydro power calculation is (Head pressure in feet X Gallons per minute) / 10 = watts.
In your case you can expect : (80' X 30gpm)/10= 240w. The actual power might be a little lower because of the friction loss on such a long run of pipe. The max flow on a 4" pipe that long is going to be around 450 gpm. That gives you the potential of 1350w at full flow. The equipment in the video is from Langstons alternative power:
www.langstonsalternativepower.com
They respond best to phone calls: 843- 319 -4830
QUESTIONS:
1) How do you combine multiple hydro turbines electric production and safely combine it for use?
I saw something about rectifiers in this video, please expand knowledge on how to wire this.
2) Once you have multiple t output combined,
How do you safely wire it to charge the batteries, without doing harm to the batteries or inverter if an existing solar system?
How do you ensure that the batteries are not back-feeding to the hydro turbines?
ie. Do you use one way diodes so power only flows into the batteries? If yes, please explain.
I am wanting to install multiple turbines and tie it into an existing solar system, but do not understand how to safely wire them together, such that the equipment is not back feeding or damaging any other equipment.
thanks
this was a great video!
1. The charge controller will need to have multiple inputs. For example my EG4 18k has 3 mppt charge controllers. It does not matter what is making the DC power as long as its within voltage range. The PMA is making wild 3 phase AC. The rectifier is turning that into DC so the charge controller can accept the power.
2. I have 3 solar arrays connected to my system. If I take one of those out and replace it with hydro the batteries would charge the same as if it were all solar. The charge controller isolates the incoming power from the outgoing power. The hybrid inverters/chargers like the one in the video or the EG4 are able to safely handle voltages up to 500v per input.