Growing on the cheep

I have given this idea some thought and want to toss it out there and see what others think.
The initial setup would be a lil pricey but it will pay for itself in the long run.
For those of you that have a small stream running through your property this should work well for you. If possible bottle neck the stream so that the flow speed is increased at the mouth of the bottleneck.
Next build a water wheel to spin around using the force of the water.
hook your water wheel to a low speed wind turbine say 600 watts and you use a 1" pulley. If your wheel is 8' in dia. that should be a considerable ratio 96:1 (?) Then take an electrical tester to see how much watts is being produced. As long as you never go above those watts you will never run out of power. Hook to a battery bank to charge when lights are off.
as long as that stream flows you will never run out of power you can even get 12 volt heaters to heat with in the winter time if using an out building.
So far that':jointsmile:s about as close to free as it gets as far as i have been able to think of or research for indoors.
Thanks
Gate

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Originally Posted by Gatekeeper777

I have given this idea some thought and want to toss it out there and see what others think.
The initial setup would be a lil pricey but it will pay for itself in the long run.
For those of you that have a small stream running through your property this should work well for you. If possible bottle neck the stream so that the flow speed is increased at the mouth of the bottleneck.
Next build a water wheel to spin around using the force of the water.
hook your water wheel to a low speed wind turbine say 600 watts and you use a 1" pulley. If your wheel is 8' in dia. that should be a considerable ratio 96:1 (?) Then take an electrical tester to see how much watts is being produced. As long as you never go above those watts you will never run out of power. Hook to a battery bank to charge when lights are off.
as long as that stream flows you will never run out of power you can even get 12 volt heaters to heat with in the winter time if using an out building.
So far that':jointsmile:s about as close to free as it gets as far as i have been able to think of or research for indoors.
Thanks
Gate

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That could also be used to irrigate a small patch with 12 volt pumps.:thumbsup: Props to ya on that idea!

you could also get a power inverter . I got a 750 watt for $50.00 us and they have 1000 watt inverters for a lil more. a 750 watt inverter hooked to a battery bank of 4 batteries at 12 volt at about 400 rpm will run a pump 330 GPH 1 amp ,water heater fish tank style and 400 watt light system.
total system should run about $1500.00
water wheel $500.. for wood and bearings
200 for belt to run pulley
and $700.00 for a 800 or 1000 watt wind turbine..
I suggest a low wind speed turbine. Thats easy for the wheel to spin as well as
low rpm to watts ratio..
:D

Why bother with a wind generator, why not a heavy duty alternator? That is all you need, not the wind part.....$100-200???

Actually I have the water source to do that and have thought of it, more to run the pump for the above part as we pump up from the source to get effect....water course from spring fed source. Runs 9 months a year every year and some years never dries.

The reason I said wind turbine is they can produce electricity with less drag so they are more efficient. My rebel 800 will start to turn in a 3 mph wind and charge my battery bank in a 5 mph wind. versus an alternator that needs to spin at a higher rpm to produce juice and needs a battery to start a trickle charge. without a trickle charge the alternator is no good a wind turbine requires no live battery trickle charge. It will charge from a completely dead battery. most batteries are considered dead at 10.5 Volts wind turbines will charge a battery from 1 volt. already done it. I just don't have the stream and wind is unreliable. the only alternative I have is Purchase a grid tie inverter ( a special type of inverter ) and plug it into my wall and run my electric meter backwards and build up credits from the electric company so more lights can be used.
Just some food for thought.