Off the Grid With Karen and Grid: Micro Hydro...When it Rains it Roars
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มี.ค. 2021
- When our dynamic duo have more rain than sun, they open a valve and flip a circuit breaker, switching their energy supply from solar panels to a micro-hydro system.
Sometimes, it rains a lot. Enough to spin up their turbine by late Fall, and keep it going until mid-Spring.
Sometimes, it's a dry year. But there's always been enough water to take over when the winter sun sinks low in the sky and trees shade the PV array,
In this episode, Grid explains how a small system like theirs is built from an existing water supply.
Nerd Nuggets:
-Supplier: APM Hydro, Grants Pass, OR.
-Materiels:
2" schedule 40 PVC pipe
2" brass gate valves
6 Ga copper wire, stranded
1/2 inch PVC conduit
Tristar T-15 45 controller
Amp meter
Heat dump (28.5V diversion unit, DL-23, 855 watts)
Breaker panel (2@15 amp)
2" pressure hose
2 quick couplings
24-volt Micro-hydro assembly (1800 PM alternator, custom)
Note: Wired to existing 24-volt battery bank
. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I stumbled upon your channel today I’ve already watched several videos. Your channel is a true diamond in the rough. You’re super informative and explain things so well
Thanks Devin. This afternoon we just finished filming a short piece on how our micro hydro unit is functioning after one year -and what we’ve learned. Stay tuned!
So very well done. Thank you for taking the time to explain in such nice detail. Going to try one of my own! Cheers and best wishes from Maryland.
Thanks. Do you live off-grid?
Nice basic video. Thx for sharing
Well done sir hats of for giving it a go, we’re off grid, mostly plenty of sun in Western Australia, I’ve often thought about this on our property as it’s hilly, and can collect a lot of bore water. 🇦🇺👍
Go for it!
Just a note about the power calculations: Since the flow rate was measured at the end of the 1000' run, any losses in that run are already accounted for and don't need to be subtracted. If you measure flow at the intake, that's when you'd need to account for losses. Cool vid!
Thanks for the observation. I measured the flow rate from the collection tank, which is at the top of the run, about 30 feet (elevation) below the dam. I should have been clearer in the video.
Excellent instructional video, really like the way you talk.
Subscribed and will be looking for more to watch from you in the future.
Thanks. More to come.
Nice simple explanation. Thanks.
Well explained, best video among youtube about this topic. Underated, I think u might deserve more subs. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the encouragement.
Awesome. Good luck.
Appreciate it. Thanks.
Amazing your system! A good sensation of freedom is not dependable on electric companies
very good video :) I enjoyed your explanations very much, thank you
Thanks. Suggestions always welcome.
Thank you for the work
Thanks. Where are you?
I enjoyed that....😊
Thanks Anthony!
Well done mate!
Thanks.
really nice set up there. good effort.
Thanks 👍
Really helpful video.
Thanks. Suggestions always welcome.
Nice system. An idea for an upgrade to your battery room. Instead of wasting the excess electricity into a wall heater, get a solar capable water cylinder, there are a few options on the market currently. Have your system, switch from charging your batteries when they are full to a direct capable inverter running a water cylinder. There by capturing the excess heat for washing and showers (its effectively a water battery). Newer systems these days are also multi energy capable, meaning some water cylinders can be connected up to installed air-conditioning and work as a heat exchanger. That means you can run smaller external aircon heat exchangers (because the water cylinder makes the smaller aircon unit far more efficient, which in turn means the aircon unit will consume less power when heating or cooling your house. I hope that helps.
Interesting idea! Do you have a link you'd be willing to share? Thanks.
@@offthegrid4036 www.mixergy.co.uk/
Hello, I am from one year in the future. Don't get your hopes up on that answer because he won't respond.
Brilliant idea to use a storage water heater as a dump load. Look at the following video from Gridlessness: th-cam.com/video/XyWQ3o6plY8/w-d-xo.html
@@offthegrid4036 Please check out this video from Gridlessness: th-cam.com/video/XyWQ3o6plY8/w-d-xo.html
Superb.
Great video. 👍. Some day I want to buy a large peice of property with lots of land in a mountainous dense forest. I want to build a couple of small dams for power and water and a large dam to flood a decent size area to make a small lake or pond to go fishing and such. Im going to need alot of power for my small wood and machine shops. Along with everything else I'm planning to do such as a heated pool and a lumber mill. Probably around 5kw from the hydro. The solar and the wind would be more for backup power and such. Videos like this give me idea and alot of good information to help me plan things out.
thanks very nice
Thanks for sharing brother, I have no water I love making wind turbines, I guess it's all the same at the end of the day , cheers.
I like your adaptation from an E-Bike. Very creative. Now.... if only you could drive a pelton wheel with one of those things!
That is awesome. I just sold my house in the NJ suburbs and am headed to a remote spot to get OFF the grid and out of “civilization” that is VERY uncivil these days! I will reach out to you soon! Bless you and yours!
The most interesting hydro power collection is at the Empire mine State Park in Grass Valley, California. The largest to the smallest Pelton wheels are in their collection. People made little ones to put in their incoming city water lines to their house to get enough power to run a small appliance and many other applications.
Thanks for the info. Sounds like an interesting place to visit. Next time we’re in the area we will check it out.
Can you direct us to any on line info from empire mine?
Thx.
Well, Empire Mine is a California State Park. Technical information on the devices used is probably available somewhere, but I have no idea how to find it. A lot of the knowledge was likely lost with the passing of time.
Great system :)
Thanks.
Neat install, I'm using solar only as I don't have a stream or significant wind. December can be a challenge.
Bummer
Alternator with a decent gear ratio. 2:1 ratio you create plenty of power off nothing. Reverse a alternator into a motor. Spin once and it will go till you take away the main power cable. Add a differential to run 2 alternators off 1 and you'll double power. It for sure isn't a whole lot. But it will make a good enough amount of power. How I do it. But I run solar and hydro to
Nice !!
Thanks!
Nice video. My personal hydro system is making 250w right now. Coupled with 3kw of solar my power bill is reduced by $60 a month.
Thanks for the comment. Your own set up sounds like a nice installation. We have no power poles within 15 miles, so what we have is what we get.
@@offthegrid4036 Sounds like a fellow I filmed last year. His system also has 250w. The power company wanted several thousand dollars to run power out to his place. He is off grid in a yurt.
Need to capture potential energy. Upstairs storage is a great way of insurance and a secondary overflow generation system.
Awesome
Now thats some good baseload
Thanks for the comment. Sounds like you have some experience with hydro.
@@offthegrid4036 mostly videos and thinking some thinkering with a hydraulic ram pump. I live on a small organic farm in Germany and we have quite a few places where some kind of hydro system could be useful to supply baseload power for a greenhouse heating system.
Nice ❤️
Thanks 🤗
1hp system
Or 764 watts
His method are good and excellent.
He knows his thing
Very good short cut
Thank you Game Changer. You have an eclectic range of interests.
Hi, I'm from Argentina, thank you for this video! Could you give some more details, type of batteries You feed with the micro hydro, etc. Thanks!
Hello! We are able to meet our energy needs (cabin and guest house) with four 6 volt AGM batteries. They are L-16"s, which have about 400 amps each. We use solar during the day (when there's sun on the panels) and use the hydro overnight and during cloudy days. Everything is fully charged by the time we put the coffee on. I assume you looked at the "nerd notes" in the narrative. The episode on solar has more info about chargers. Let me know what else you need.
Nice work. What are you using as an alternator?
Thanks. 24-volt truck alternator. Fabrication by APM Hydro in Grants Pass
Interesting. That permanent magnet, self exciting, or need external excitation of coils?
What kind of volts per rpms does it do?
Sounds like you know more than we do on this subject. I really don’t know the volt per rpms. Suggest you check out APM Hydro (Grants Pass, Or).
Ok cheers, will do.
Thank you for that wattage formula. I have some land in central NH that has a stream on it. The flow is over 300 gpm and the drop is about 35 feet, so it looks like it would be worth while to install a Micro Hydro.
What part of the Country are you in? How cold do your winters get? In N.H. the temp drops below 0 F. I'm afraid that the pipes would freeze, even with the water constantly flowing.
Hi Kevin. Sounds like you have an excellent source of hydro; low head, high volume. We are in the Pacific Northwest. We don't get below 0 F, so it's not an issue. If you don't plan on using the place when it's that cold I guess you could always shut it down and drain the pipes.
If the water is kept flowing, it won't freeze. We collected water from a spring at over 11,000 ft in Colorado Rockies, where 0 degrees F was a warm day, ran it through a 1 inch plastic line on or near the surface and it never froze up but, we never turned it off. It served us for drinking water. We didn't bring it into the building it just ran out there on the porch a d down the slope to the creek. We could have put a little Pelton Wheel on it but, the 2 or 3 gpm was pretty low flow and a low pressure because of the length was long and pipe small and we had loads of Public Service power available.
I like your video
Thanks! Suggestions welcome.
Just came across your quest for more watts…in case I want to go big….and try a larger wheel….do you have links to your new set up?
My creek experiment is DOA…so now I’m going solar pump storage and see if I can get 3 to 5 hours of 300-500 watts ….with a Harris unit….love your beer making 316 ss fittings…makes for sweet connections.
Hi there. I worked Jerry Ostermeier at AMP Hydro, Grants Pass, Oregon. Amphydro@gmail.com
Adding several large tanks fo the feeding ofthe hydro would be the cushion for when loads shift .
Good idea. ….but getting those extra tanks up the hill could be a real project.
@@offthegrid4036 Use 55 gallon drumor icb totes.
Os verdadeiros defensores da ecologia não são grandes cooporações com discursos falsos e sim "pequenos" cidadãos com criatividade e sabedoria. Parabens
Obrigado pelo seu comentário. Passos de bebê em uma longa jornada.
Awesome, do you have any use for clothes lines for drying clothes (indoors and out) during the winter a basement furnace room can work very well for drying clothes
Thanks. We use a clothesline when the sun is out. When it’s not we use a drying rack (see “Dry Your Clothes in the Rai” episode. Unfortunately, we don’t have a basement. But a great idea.
@@offthegrid4036 Sir, in the area i live in eastern Iowa there is normally a dam in each town on a river, and these dams need to be producing energy what a waste. Brand new river dams and the very old ones as well with no power generation. There should be laws and funding, very clean energy being wasted. Yes sir, the clothes lines for me is a fun activity. In city or country. Basement furnace room very dry and warm, and has great air circulation in the winter, i could dry out a couple washing machines full at same time down there, hanging up on clothes lines, and they would be all the way dry in about 12 or 18 hours. I have not used my clothes drier at all in a year. Electric bill went down a bit. Neighbors i have in the city are ok with the clothes line i hang up, i try not to be a nuisance with it. I would like to do rain water harvesting for washing all my work clothes. Another idea would be clothes lines park, with hundreds of clothes lines for free, rather than laundromat with all those driers wasting energy.
Great video and thanks. Two questions : Who is playing that wonderful music and could we get a report on how well your system is working now?
Thank YOU for the kudos. The music is from a library of clips available from PowerDirector, the software program I use to edit and produce the videos. I’ll see if I I can look up the title for you. However, it probably belongs to the app.
@@offthegrid4036 I'm new to making youtube videos and would like to know a few things about how you edit and produce the videos. So far, I've only been able to upload videos from my camera through my computer to youtube. I don't know how to piece different clips together to make one video out of several clips. Is this software you mention the means to accomplish that task?
Yes. If you have a Mac, Apple has an excellent video editing app. I have an iPhone, which takes most of the video, but a Dell computer, thus I purchased Power Director. Good program.
Just a thought here to save power all the way around. Instead of having the charge controller dump the unneeded current over to the heat sink, make that power work for you. Have it send that power to a relay bank that works to send that unused power to a heating element in a hot water heater. Then, have the relays switch back over to normal power for the heating element when there is no excess power being produced, but the water heater wants to turn the element on. That seems like the best use of that temporarily unneeded current. I know it would be a bit of work getting the relays set up just right, but it's definitely doable, and would let you use all the power instead of spinning some off as heat. Maybe run the water heater only off of it. It would limit the amount you would have and when you would have it, but it would be a totally "free" source of hot water. If the water heater is a smaller 6 gallon, or a bit larger, version from an RV, you could have a tri-source water heater. It could run on gas when needed, off the inverter on 110 if needed, or burn the excess 12 volt DC if needed (I'm assuming that ~ 12 - 14 volt DC is what's coming in and what's hitting the inverter and heat sink, that is).
Or, instead of that, maybe, in the winter, have the heat sink in your home. The extra radiant heat would be appreciated and make the fuel load on your other heat sources reduce by a bit. It wouldn't be a huge amount, but it would help. Then, in the summer when you wouldn't want the heat, move it back to the outbuilding.
Just thoughts on ways to use the excess. You might as well use all of it that you can in ways to benefit you.
Thank you for taking the time lay all this out. You have a quick mind. We actually thought about how we might take advantage of this “free” energy. Unfortunately, the utility shed where we collect, convert and store power is 75 feet from the house. The cost/ benefit of a 24 volt wire run to the house to use intermittent low amp power for a resistance heater just wasn’t there -~ especially after the guy who built our alternator cautioned us about the reliability (safety) of low voltage heaters currently on the market. Our water heater is a propane-fired demand water heater, so no way to tap into that unless we replace the heater for something like what you suggested. But you’re right, there’s GOT to be something I can do with that energy besides heat the utility shed. We continue to think on it.
Very nice system. How does the actual power produced compare to your initial calculation?
I'm stating the obvious here, but if you upsized the diameter of the pipes your friction losses would be less.
We get between 7-8 amps at 24 volts, continuous. ...and you are right, largely er penstock would have a lot of benefits.... but the 2” was in place for water and, rather than add another 1000 feet of PVC pipe, I went with what I had. Fortunately, amperage generated meets all our needs.
Great channel - We are off grid in Panama and would like to replicate your system. Can you help with the sourcing of the power units?
Thanks. Check out APM Hydro in Grants Pass, Oregon.
I have question for you????
What do you think, if make cycle system just using the same water again and again and again all the time ?
Thanks for great video
I hope you will succeed in the future***
Thanks for your idea. I’m not sure how it would work, as the water has come down the hill, dropping over 150 feet in elevation. To use it again, I’d have to pump it up the hill - which would take energy I’m using for our house. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your idea. If I am, please explain your idea in more detail. Thanks.
How many amps were you able to produce on average?
Eight amps at 24 volts, 24/7.
Супер!!! Привет из России!!!
Put your dump load into an electric hot water tank, so atleast you benefit from the excess energy 👍
Very nice. I live in a city where I have everything I need... I just don't want to pay for it. lol So far all my electric lawn care equipment is solar powered including my golf cart. Working on more power generation as well as water harvesting.
Good for you! Will be interesting to see what you do with water harvesting.
@@offthegrid4036 So far a have a large pool filtration tank I'm using to catch water. I'm allowing my mosquitos to lay eggs in it so they won't lay them elsewhere. My 10 goldfish were supposed to feast on the little guys. But I only have one big one left. Still looking into that. I plan to get about 4-6 large plastic barrels piped together sometime this year as my current tank overflows often.
Nice video and thanks. Two questions : Who is playing that great music? and it's been almost a year.so a report on your experience so far would be nice.
Hi there again. I just came down the hill from checking the system. It’s working great, not one problem since we first started it up early last year. Good thing, too, as there is snow on our solar panels. This morning i checked batteries and our little turbine charged them up to “float”. And that’s after using computer, modem, lights and washing machine. We’re very happy with it. Were you suggesting a video update?
@@offthegrid4036 No. I was just wondering if it still worked. I saw you mention you live in the Northwest. We moved to Marysville, Washington from Texas in March 2020. Are you in Washington?
No. About 200 miles south, in the Siskiyou Mountains
Very nice project, not sure if the amount of power generated justifies the cost and the time spent in most cases. Though your case is probably an exception.
6KWH a day, its a fair amount of free energy to use.
Nice job man! I run recycled batteries using solar and hydro. There so many items people throw away that create electricity.
Thanks Andy. Can you tell me about the recycled batteries you use?
@@offthegrid4036 I honestly use 36 car batteries inline.
It's easy to clean a battery add a little acid and distilled water to make them useable same way auto recyclers do it. But I also use a breaker box to the house and a decent regulator.
th-cam.com/video/IpsxtLnNKUk/w-d-xo.html type of deal. Using different salts and acid with new water can restore batteries if done while in a charger.
Thanks. Useful info.
I live in rural part of Washington! I understand the struggle and to recycle
I'd like to know about the tank size and where did it come from?
Hi Richard. We have a 700 gallon ABS tank purchased from a local farm supply outlet. Water comes from a spring 100 yards beyond and 30 feet above the tank. We are working on an update on how the hydro is performing. If you haven’t already, check out our episode on getting water to the house. It has more information. .
that is too dang cool... NOW i just need to find property with flowing water year round.
Thanks. Good luck in your property search.
Could you make a series connection with two Pelton Hydro wheels to double your energy output?
Good thought. Unfortunately, I’m limited by the volume of water I can drive through my 2” pipe. One unit seems the right fit.
@@offthegrid4036 why can't the discharg water from the first unit go through a second unit, i thought you said it was a 2" pipe, meaning the discharge from the unit you already gfoes through the second unit, isn't that the same amount of water?
Hi Butch. The pelton wheel is spun by water pressure, which is created by the 100-plus foot drop from our collection tank to the micro hydro unit. Once the water is discharged from the unit it no long has sufficient pressure to drive a second turbine. In some months we have surplus water and could add a second unit. We’d simply have to shut the second unit down when supply from the spring decreased. Note we need some surplus water at all times for the house. Given the cost -and the fact we currently generate all the power we need, we have not taken this step.
I suppose you could use some old Recycled egg carton boxes inside the main box to try quieting down even more
Thanks for the suggestion. I wonder if this might attract field mice? Unless the noise drove them crazy, the combination of wood pulp and the protection of a steel box might represent an attractive new home.
What if I want to calculate meters instead of feet. How do I do that?
Good question. I’m sure there’s a formula out there… maybe you can convert meters to feet and do the calculations?
(30L X 160m)/10.... Please clearify what the number 10 represents? Thanks
Hello Raphael. Good question. The number 10 is a simplified (probably over-simplified) way of factoring in the efficiency of the nozzle, pelton wheel, alternator, shafts and bearings, etc. to calculate best case installed efficiency. While it is widely used, it is only a rule of thumb to help laymen (like me) determine if their site might be worthwhile. If you'd like more information I would direct you to APM Hydro (apmhydro.com). Jerry Ostermeier, the owner, has one of the best sites I've come across. His narrative walks you through the whole process, for site evaluation to installation.
im from Minnesota, do you have an idea of who i could call to get started on installing hydro electricity at my farm?
An internet search will turn up quite a few. Two companies I worked with were Canyon Hydro (slightly larger scale than I needed) and APM Hydro. Canyon is located in Washington. APM in Oregon. I went with the latter. Site has lots of useful information to help the novice. We were able to install ourselves. Hope this helps!
@@offthegrid4036 thankyou much for the response.
really informative and well done video but i was waiting for the end results also :(
Hello there. If, by end results, you mean how our micro-hydro install worked out, then check out the episode giving a one-year update. If it’s something else, let me know and I will try to respond.
Thanks. Look for the next episode, where we give a one-year update on how it all worked.
is water freezing a problem?
Excellent question. Where we live it doesn’t get cold enough to freeze moving water. In winter, we usually run the turbine 24/7, so the system doesnt freeze. If we have to be away during a hard freeze we shut down the turbine (to avoid problems we can’t immediately remedy) and open a diversion valve that keeps the water flowing. through the pipes. So far, so good.
6:13, 10A at 110V is 1100W not 280W that your turbine makes or am I missing something here
Turbine is 24 volts.
Hopefully it doesn’t freeze up in winter.
Hi John. Temps get down in the teens, but as long as we keep water moving through the system it doesn't freeze. If we leave, we shut down the hydro and divert the flow, so water continues to move.
fyi. at 6:18, what does 'ten amps of power' mean? a current value by itself means Nothing.
You are correct. The turbine is 24 volts. I covered this in the first episode and assumed viewers had watched it. I neglected to follow up in the second episode. My apologies.
Q tal trocar estes canos e caixas e registros etc
Por uma roda d'água?
Tão simples muito eficiente , produz o mesmo resultado,
Além de ser lindo ve-la funcionando
Tudo pela metade de tudo até do Discurso
Porém esse projeto não deixa de ser maravilhoso
PARABÉNS
Oi. Obrigado pela sugestão. Uma roda d'água seria mais bonita, mas tudo que eu li diz que uma roda pelton (que na verdade é uma roda d'água, dentro de uma caixa) é mais eficiente para uma pequena fonte como a nossa.
@@offthegrid4036 Valeu parceiro
O q eu sugerir é q uma roda d'água
Digamos convencional
Se recarrega aos poucos
Produzindo muito torque
Velocidade baixa , ou seja baixo desgaste
E não precisa de pressão
No caso sem a necessidade de tantos , canos conexões, valvulas
E entrega o mesmo resultado ou mais pq trabalha 24 hs
Sem supervisão
Embora repito
Seu projeto é muito bacana
Esta de parabéns
@@offthegrid4036
Quanto a vazão de água
Uma roda de 1.70 cm × 35 cm . Cubas de 10 litros
Te daria muito torque e 35 rpm ,
Na conversão 10×1 + 10 ×1 = 3500 -- 30% =2450 + perdas por atrito = 1900
No seu país a frequência é 50 HZ , então Seria mais viável
Pq seria energia eneterrupta
obrigado pelo detalhe ... obviamente você sabe como isso funciona ... e eu irei manter as informações que você forneceu para referência futura .... meu problema é que minha mola está a 700 metros da cabana ... e é absorvido pelo solo enquanto desce a colina. Portanto, eu coleto a água morro acima e uso canos para movê-la morro abaixo, de modo que meu gerador fique mais perto da cabana. Dessa forma, tenho menos queda de tensão. Nesse ponto, parecia mais fácil usar a pressão da cabeça criada para girar uma roda Pelton. Atenciosamente, Grid
@@offthegrid4036 Ok valeu Seu trabalho é muito bacana
I get a bit over 900 watts with 147' of fall in a 1/4 mile, using 3" piping, and about 90 GPM, with a Harris hydro. Grid tied. As I type this, it's down there putting 760 watts into the grid, (low water right now) turning my meter backwards, and my utility has a 100% net metering plan: I get back every watt stored in their system, no matter when I withdraw it or how long it's in there! Off grid for 28 years previously, I like to think of my utility as a battery: with infinite capacity, 100% efficiency, that never needs replacement, and takes up no room. Going into winter, I will start using up my current 9,000 KWH credit, as my consumption overtakes my power production. I haven't paid a power bill, except for the $5.00 basic fee, in over 40 years.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. Amazing you can get 90 gpm through. 3” pipe. Finally got enough rain here to crank ours up last night.
What size orifice are you using?
@@offthegrid4036 I don't want to mislead anyone, but I think I did the math years ago and the figure 90 GPM sticks in my mind. Fusion welded HDPM pipe, no fittings enroute helps. Today I noticed the dynamic pressure was 55 PSI, and I was putting out a hair over 30 amps, at 26 VDC, so 780 watts. I am PERMITTED for 90 PSI, with my state Water Resources board, maybe that's where I got that number from. It is classed as a "non consumptive" use. The rancher below has the actual water use rights.
@@offthegrid4036 Just eyeballing it, 3/8", 2 of them. Max flow I use two 7/16" jets. Real low water, and I have to go down to 1/4"
Thanks. I will experiment with nozzle size. I have only one, good for 7 amps with existing nozzle and a lower flow rate (small spring).
what does a system like this cost?
Hi Butch. The power unit, meaning the pelton wheel, alternator, amp meter, breakers and charge controller cost me about $2000. But that was over two years ago, before supply shortages and inflation. PVC pipe and wiring were separate and cost would vary depending on distances. Check the narrative for this episode for more details. Best, Grid
I was not able to understand, where waste water go after running turbine?
Sorry I was not clear on this. Take a look at the video and find the photo of the pad I poured to hold the power unit. Note the hole in the center of the pad. The power unit sits on top of this hole and after spinning the Pelton wheel water is discharged through this hole. It flows into a creek bed and down to the river. Hope this helps.
@@offthegrid4036 thanks, Do you think it is possible to pump back water to tank if possible? I’ll be working on one project in September to test this theory if work . Other option is , We have agricultural land and need water pumped out from ground to use , I’m planing to use that high pressure water to run turbine to recover some of energy while still can water for irrigation and cattle etc .
Not efficient to pump back up the hill. Would probably take more energy than I'm producing. And, in our case, we have an endless supply up the hill so no need. Re well pump, if water is being discharged into an irrigation ditch under pressure, then capturing that velocity to spin a turbine might be a good idea.
@@offthegrid4036 yes you are right . I’ve see your videos and for off grid it is idea situation. In our case we don’t have mountain or water source but ground water which is about 100Feet below ground . We did drill to gain access and used water pump to get water out . Instead releasing straight to land, would try to use turbine to capture some of energy. I’ll share video and efficiency once it’s working after installation. I’m not engineer but want to work out if stored water well above group , let’s say 1000-1200 Gallons and use that turn turbine, change batteries, then use same power to pump water from ground to tank above ground. It seems not logical but will give it try as well .
Thanks. Keep me posted,
Cool you have water to use for a power source.
Think I would ditch the gate valves in the plumbing unless you make a habit of always opening them up fully. The friction across the bottom of the brass disks will eat them away and cause the seats to fail eventually. Ball valves give the option of throttling if needed without that issue. Yeah I know. Everybody's a critic. I'll shut up now. :)
You are absolutely right. I have replaced two of the offending culprits….three to go! Thanks for the comment.
Independent is a good goal.
6720Wh/day is a pretty frugal electrical budget.
Compared to city living it is. But with LED lights, propane for cooking and refrigeration , fhere isn’t a heck of a lot of demand. A bit for the computer and modem, and occasional use of hair dryer (Karen) and coffee grinder (me). Plenty left to run an occasional load of wash.
You need a better marking pen!
Yep. And better handwriting, too. I’m working on it.
Sup!, the PV modules are not take advantage because it´s too many shadowidh due to trees or somethig else, I suggest you to trim out those trees or relocate the system at the nearest "tree free" space that you have, maybe you cannot use all 100 percent but will increase.
Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately, we are in a river canyon, with 100-plus foot Ponderosa pine surrounding the meadow with our PV array. In winter, the declination of the sun (low in the sky) plus tree tops, reduce the sun on our array. I like the trees, so we opted for hydro. The advantage is, it runs 24/7 and doesn't care if it rains (which would limit PV generation).
Install a tank and pump to send the water back to the dam. If the pump is in line it can be water powered.
Ah! A ram pump. Several folks have suggested this….and I’ve thought about building one just for the pleasure of learning about something else that doesn’t require electricity or fuel. But so far, I’ve been a slacker. My rationale: I’ve got plenty of water up the hill. But someday..
Laws of physics -- conservation of energy. You don't gain anything by doing this. Only energy losses and the cost of extra infrastructure.
Why not install the micro hydro above the tank so you capture the energy before you capture the water? That way, your usage of the water will not affect the power generation.
with micro hydro the energy you are capturing is generated in the fall, in this case from the tank to the turbine. The turbine must be as low as possible and the water source as high as possible for maximum power.
If you're going to waste your time calculating your power output, why not just convert your flow into (L/s) and your water pressure at the turbine to (kPa)
...and multiple them together. No "rule of thumb" necessary.
Power (W) = Flow (L/s) * Pressure (kPa)
Ouch! Wasting my time is not quite how I would characterize it. My rule of thumb calculation allowed me to determine if hydro was a worthwhile investment. It was. And it continues to be. Your formula certainly demonstrates your knowledge of the subject. I’m impressed.
@@offthegrid4036 the waste of time isn't estimating your power potential, it's using numbers (without any units... a pet peeve of mine) with an imprecise formula that looks like it was pulled out of a hat when the correct formula is just as simple to use.
...which is partially how NASA crashed the Climate Orbiter into Mars.
Granted... I'll give you a break since you're not launching $300M worth of taxes into outer space!
There are several books and government pamphlets on understanding water sources and watershed capacity. There is no need to reinvent hydro. You just need to get the information before you spend the money.
If the calculations are "too complicated to go into" fond somebody that does understand these calculations. That is less likely to be disappointing.
Turkçesi olsa iyi olurdu.
What language? Maybe I can translate and reply.
would be great without the music while your talking.
Your music is too loud.
Awesome
Thanks