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Homebrew Generator
By Bryan1, Section Homebrewed Electricity Posted on Fri Dec 17th, 2004 at 11:32:03 PM MST
Homebrew Generator

Hi ppl's,
I found out about this forum thru a link from electro-tech and I can't believe I haven't found this before. Anyways I live on an 85 acre farm in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia and I don't call my farm Upps'n'downs for nothing.
Although we are only 500 metres from the grid it would cost about $150,000 to get a measly 40 amp single phase connection. So I have installed a 24 volt solar array for the house that runs perfectly and I'm currently setting up a seperate solar array for my shed. Now with the hill in the middle of my property and the dams over the hill I'm contemplating on making up a hydraulic rampump to pump the water over the hill and I want to make up a water turbine to generate power on the way down the hill before filling the front dam. Having found on some posts people have made their own generators both for hydro and wind power so would it be possible to provide some links to projects where I can learn some info and start building a generator. By the way I'm a fitter/machinist by trade and have a machineshop in the shed so machinig componenents will be a breeze.
Cheers Bryan1

Homebrew Generator | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by ghurd on Fri Dec 17th, 2004 at 04:57:44 PM MST
(User Info)

I recommend clicking Otherpower at the top left.
It gives a good overview and lots of specifics without being overwhelming.

Then come back here and search for 'TDM', 'Maytag', and 'F&P'.
Those were what go me to understand what was going on, without scaring me off.

G-

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by Ungrounded Lightning Rod on Fri Dec 17th, 2004 at 07:30:33 PM MST
(User Info)

Now with the hill in the middle of my property and the dams over the hill I'm contemplating on making up a hydraulic rampump to pump the water over the hill and I want to make up a water turbine to generate power on the way down the hill before filling the front dam.

How high is the hill and is the delivery end of your pipe lower than the input end? I'm looking for three numbers:
- Height difference between the output water level and the highest point on the pipe run.
- Height difference between the input water level and the highest point on the pipe run.
- The approximate altitude of your land (at the input water level if you want to get picky. B-) )

The reason I'm asking:

If the highest point on your run is less than 30 feet above the input, and the output is lower than the input, you'll be ahead to design your system so it runs as a syphon, with the ram just as a self-starter. Once the air is out of the pipe the falling water on the down side pumps the water up the up side, very efficiently, and you can get a much higher flow than you'd get from the ram alone.

If the output is significantly below the input you can use the extra drop as head for your generator, making usable power from water energy that would otherwise be wasted creating turbulence and erosion at the pipe outlet.

Meanwhile, if you've got enough head and flow on the supply side of your hill to run a ram, IMHO you'd be far ahead to use that to power a genny at that point and ship the power over the hill in wires. That separates your use of water for energy generation from your use of it for irrigation or whatever, letting you control each separately to match your needs. (It's also probably more efficient, unless you're moving the water a very long way and your load is much nearer the outlet than the inlet.)

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by Bryan1 on Sat Dec 18th, 2004 at 01:38:18 AM MST
(User Info)

Thanks for the quick replies in the next few days I'll take some photo's from the hill to both the inlet side and the discharge side. My wife's guess it's about 300 feet from the input side to the hill and about 250 feet to my front dam where I'll be setting up the genny. Now for the input I'll be sinking a bore and I have to clear all the build up from the springfed dam so this is a longterm project but I'm looking at the possibilities and benefits first aswell as learning about making my own genny as opposed to buying a motor to use.

Cheers Bryan1

[ Parent ]

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by Ungrounded Lightning Rod on Sat Dec 18th, 2004 at 02:48:32 PM MST
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My wife's guess it's about 300 feet from the input side to the hill and about 250 feet to my front dam where I'll be setting up the genny.

Three hundred feed UP AND DOWN? That's a rather high hill.

What I'm looking for is the distance vertically between the input and output water levels and the highest point in the pipe. If you go sideways 300 feet and up ten feet, then sideways 250 feet and down fifteen feet, the numbers I'm looking for are ten feet up and 15 feet down. Are those the numbers you gave me? (The phrasing sounded like walking distance / pipe length, rather than altitude.)

Bear in mind that you can run the pipe around the hill through a pass rather than over the highest spot, even if that means a slightly longer run. So it's the height of the pass that matters, not the height of the hill's peak.

Horizontal distance matters a little bit for a different part of the design process, since the friction limits the flow rate for a given size pipe. But a long run just means you need bigger pipe for a given flow, or get smaller flow for a given pipe size. The vertical components of the distances are the main factors affecting your plumbing design. Water is HEAVY. Pumping it takes LOTS of energy.

[ Parent ]

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by Bryan1 on Thu Dec 23rd, 2004 at 08:31:14 PM MST
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Hi I finally got round to taking some photo's of both sides of the hill, and I added where the main Dams are in 2 of the photo's.

To the right of the front dam just visable is my 12x11 metre shed behind the trees

Just to show perspective the gum tree on the left has a base diameter of about 6 foot

This photo is taken to the left as the 2 rocks can show the angle and the road down the bottom is the rear of my place, this is where I'll be placing the bore as I know theres a good supply of water a 100ft down. As you can see from the photo's it's not a small task I'm undertaking. I plan on placing a 20,000 gallon tank on the top of the hill and a 2,000 gallon tank 1/2 way up the rear part to pump the water in 2 stages. Anyways I hope everyone has a merry Xmas and prosperous new year Cheers Bryan1

[ Parent ]

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by Bryan1 on Wed Jan 26th, 2005 at 09:18:39 PM MST
(User Info)

mmmm it seems since my last post before xmas the thread has not been replied too, any I placed a few photo's to show the height of the hills so if anyones interested I'm keen to give a few more details into my project

Cheers Bryan1

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by Bryan1 on Sun Mar 13th, 2005 at 03:33:59 AM MST
(User Info)

I managed to come across an old water alarm that's actually an enclosed peltier wheel
so I'm in the process of fitting bearings and seals rather than stick with the bush's currently in there. I'm planning on making it a 25:1 output ratio and installing an alternator on the output shaft so when I'm pumping water to my front dam I can charge my battery array in the same process. In the next few days I'll put a few photo's up.

Cheers Bryan

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by pyrocasto (pyrocasto at hotmail dot com) on Sun Mar 13th, 2005 at 08:36:13 AM MST
(User Info)

This is the first time I've seen this thread and I must say it looks like a fun project.

A few things I didnt see which I may have missed, is the flow, and how tall the hill is. You can figure out how much power is possable with that, though remember your ram pump will only pump like 1/10 of the water going into it up.

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by mcgivor (theprefessor@hotmail.com) on Thu Mar 24th, 2005 at 01:33:04 PM MST
(User Info)

A hydrolic ram is a great idea, I have a lot of information on them from books done in the 30's-40's. And some plans, on how to build them, I also made a few improvements on the one I made.

Re: Homebrew Generator (3.00 / 0) (#10)
by keleyu on Tue May 17th, 2005 at 08:08:13 AM MST
(User Info)

it's the height of the pass that matters, not the height of the hill's peak
My homepage: gadgets flashgames

Homebrew Generator | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 editorial)

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