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I want to put the people that upload this shit in a camp. It's impossible to find good info on youtube because of these pajeets.
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Not a book, but there's a guy who took a washing machine motor and turned it into a micro hydro generator. It's very neat.
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@Rayfield I would love a good book on generators and water wheels.
I've got one that seems decent on electric motors. I imagine it will be directly applicable to a generator.
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I can't remember that one specifically but that stuff always shows up when I search for microhydro stuff, generators, water wheel designs, etc.
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@Rayfield What did you search for to find this result xD So far I've gotten zero pajeet eternal energy devices (sounds like a tool for cultivating chi xD)
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That's the video that got me thinking about this last year! Those smart drive washer motors are pretty popular for diy hydro and wind setups. I'm wracking my brain over what would be the best solution for where I am so I'm trying to read and watch as many videos as I can before I commit to anything.
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@BowsacNoodle @Rayfield My dictionary of the middle ages actually has a section on waterwheels. Most of all the water wheels to ever exist were horizontal, but no designs survived until today (that is, written designs, many artifacts remain). On the other hand there are many historical schematics for vertical water wheels. Which used gears to mill at much higher speeds.
If I had to guess, if you measured the flow rate, and max elevation difference, you can derive the wheel radius. Then it is a matter of splitting the torch between speed (V) and reserved torch for Amps. (the split is probably dictated by what the engine is tuned to receive? Enough Volts so you don't burn the wires?)
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Depending on how fancy you want to be and how big the wheel and your water source, you could do something simple using cinder blocks, wooden posts, and hydraulic cement. Make a box with 4x4 lumber and rest the posts on these, submerged if needed. The weight of the wheel will keep it on place, and a small groove cut into the wood will keep it where you want it.
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@BowsacNoodle @Rayfield The secret sauce will definitely be minimizing friction. I think bearings would offset any disadvantages of weight, but I don't know what your options are for supporting the turning wheel.
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I've been thinking about overshot wheels lately because the efficiency is surprisingly high and I have plenty of flow (last year I measured roughly 800 gallons/minute) but not a whole lot of head (I can get 4 feet with little effort, 10-15 feet with a lot more effort and then 30 feet if I stretch it out somewhere between 150 to 200 yards).
low head propeller turbines are neat and would work well but I'd need a lot of large diameter plastic tubing for the discharge side and that stuff isn't cheap. A wheel seems like the cheaper but still very practical option and I think it could be aesthetically pleasing in a way.
depending on where it goes I could just pour some concrete or drill into rock and anchor it that way, plus I can weld stuff :think_bread:
I just keep seeing conflicting information on bucket design and wheel diameter and I easily get lost in the weeds on theory and reading when I really just need to get off my ass and start trying stuff.
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You're right. I'm starting to think that I've become allergic to any kind of experimentation or prototyping without lots of internet sources backing up the exact parameters of what I want.
For a decade now I've thought "If I can think of it, someone online has also thought of it and done it better, I just need to find their example/build plans and if I can't find it that's because I'm not using the right search terms" and a lot of the time that's true but it's also a license to be lazy and dismiss trying things that might be failures or might be hard :thinkdick:
I should stop doing that.
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@Rayfield @BowsacNoodle
Right, don't sell yourself short on creating your own design. It will almost always be harder to replicate someone else's design, than to implement your own.
Your design is based on, your strengths, your preferences, and your awareness of your available materials and tools. And, on your knowledge of the exact problem.
And, even if it becomes an iterative process, each step will yield valuable insight. Which, makes you a better creator.
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@Rayfield @BowsacNoodle
hmm, if it was my time on the line, I think you have more than enough theory. Build something easy, at a manageable size.
A small bit of trial and error will tell you a lot.
Hyper Space Pirate seems insanely productive, and he usually goes through many different prototypes and feature alterations before arriving at something he is satisfied with. And, I think that is the right move here.
Learning electricity, I've been noticing that equations are withing plus or minus 20% of good simulation software, which is in turn sometimes orders of magnitudes off of the physical circuit.
Rayfield
BowserNoodle ☦️
Phantom Palladium
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