Let me start off saying that Im "scientificly" retarded. With that out of the way... I just spent HOURS trying to learn how to turn water power into electricity using basic things often found around the home like bicycle parts and a car alternator. I kinda get the concept of how to build my mini powerplant... But have absolutely no clue on how to take the power from the alternator... To the home. I know you can buy rather expensive converters to do the job but i wanna spend as little as possible. Its not that Im cheap but I've been on this "self reliance" trip lately and lack of spending is a big part of that. So if anybody can help me figure this out id greatly appreciate it.
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You would need a 12v- 110v transformer. They are not that expensive. Basicly a car lighter plug with an outlet on the end of it. I would use a car battery to store the power and transform it at the end of the circut. This will get you a little bit of power. It would be a good idea to build a transmission sort of thing in order to get the alternator spinning fast enough. They usually spin faster than a bike wheel. Like if you had a ten speed front gear set attached to the wheel and then a tiny gear attached to the alternator and ran it with a chain.
You really aren't going to make that much power though, are you trying to power a house? I estimate the car alternator to be slightly less power than each circut in a house. I could do the math but its close. So to run a clothes dryer you would need 2-3 car alternators and 3 batteries. Or a really nice alternator and still 3 batteries. Which all adds up to expensive maintenance making purchasing power from the man cheaper in the end.......father in law has it back again. Time to shine -
A gear set from a 10 speed was part of my plan. And my water source is a fairly quick moving creek. I plan to dam a section off and use pipes reduced down to increase the final velocity to help spin the alternator faster. As far as storage... I wanna find a couple used deep cycle batteries. Being that water is a constant running source and junkyards are plentiful... I feel i can do this rather cheap. My final goal would be to be able to have a fairly reliable power supply in the event of a long term power failure. Im slowly converting over to led lighting to reduce power consumption and trying to figure out a way to be able to constantly run 1-2 large appliances at the same time.Comment
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if you have enough head (water pressure) you could possibly power your whole compound with just water and a battery reserve.
Throwing a buncha stuff together will be cool and all but youll lose power through inefficiencies. youll most likely need an inverter, this will be the heart of the system as it takes your created DC and gives you (hopefully) clean AC. Cheap inverters kill electronics so beware, things like fridges, lights..simple inductive loads will be alright(you might notice a pulsation in incandescent lights, if the inverter isnt putting out a true sin wave)
anyway, check this video out and start hitting up boneyards.
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My power station plan is pretty spot on as far as generating the power. Where my knowledge falls off is making that power usable. I believe i can use the same method used to solar power a home... But i have not the slightest clue as to how its done. I've researched both energies at great length but they always start throwing formulas in my face and fries my brain. I just need somebody to explain it in the "for dummies" style.Comment
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