Fieldlines.com || Make your electricity from scratch!

Front Page - [Homebrewed Electricity-- (wind) (solar) (hydro) (steam) (controls) (storage) (mechanical)] - Classifieds - Site News
Everything - Newbies - [Remote Living-- (housing) (heat) (light) (water)] - Reviews - Diaries - Our Products

portable hydro
By snowcrow, Section Hydro Posted on Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 01:08:51 PM MST
Looking for light weight and small portable power plant!!!

I'm looking for an alternative way to charge my e-bike while riding the wooded trails. I will be towing a small trailer for camp gear and portable power.
At present I am using (4) 12v 12ah AGM SLA batteries in series for 48v (36-lbs). In the near future I'll be going with NiCd batteries (12-lbs)
A 12v unit would work ok, but I would rather have 48v, thus I could charge it directly with a C-40 (in diversion mode) to limit the load of extras on my trailer! I only need 150 watts at most.
If anyone knows of a portable hydro unit, or has built one, I'd be interested your thoughts and ideas!
Blessings, Snow Crow

portable hydro | 10 comments (10 topical)

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by ghurd on Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 02:35:08 PM MST

How about if I don't know of one, and never built one?

The problem, as I see it, is pipes.

Not likely to find 150W in a short drop, so need a long fall, meaning pipes.
Pipes need transported and sealed.

The 150W at 48V is C/4. Seems quite a bit high for SLAs.
The NiCd-Dude may give a max charging amps for the batteries you may find yourself using.
G-
Ghurd.info

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by Bruce S on Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 11:01:47 AM MST

G-
You are correct C/4 could very well end up at just that. C/10 is best, C/5 okay for what is called "Fast" charge.

SnowCrow: I'd be very interested in how well your bike works out.
48Vdc bike motors seem to be a very good rating for use to get both distance and speed. We've had the e-bike which has a 48Vdc motor rated at 550w, which is more a function of keeping it "legal" in the city and not need a license. Using a borrowed delimited controller, we were able to push the bike well up to 45mph, not khp. Okay but battery distance was severly shorted. I'm pushing it with 4 NiCd packs similar to the one that blew up.
The new sets are setup at 14.4Vdc and rated for 20Ahr. The voltage drop normally seen when starting on either SLAs or the 12Vdc NiCds isn't there and even though the packs are bulky can go a good 5 miles further at 1/2 throttle . The battery charger works okay with it as well. Measurements show that this arrangement has the NiCds much closer to the SLA battery voltage when they are fully charged.

I did return the e-bike to it's normally limited controller. Tires are street types, and insurance would not pay if I modded it :-(.

Cheers
Bruce S

[ Parent ]

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by snowcrow on Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 06:56:12 AM MST

I don't know how I came up with 150 watts? 50-60 watts should be plenty if its charging overnight.

Yes, I'm going to keep mine stock 48v @ 25amps as well! I can't go that fast on dirt roads anyway and I'm happy with 25mph. My normal cruising speed is about 12-15mph and that gives me good range, about 25mi @ 8-10wh/mi. I could go farther but, I'd rather not be pushing my 80-lb bike up any hills :? If anything I would like to increase the amp-hours, in the form of NiCd batteries, replacing my SLA and lighten the bike some :>

About these 14.4v @ 20ah packs you speak of, are they sub-C cells? What are the dimensions, weight, and discharge rate of each pack? I know the NiCd sub-C's will out last all Li packs as far as the number of charge cycles goes, as long as you don't mistreat them. NiCd are as much more tolerant of partial charging than Li packs, thats why I've on using NiCd over Li. :)

I hope to have some pictures my ride posted in the coming weeks. All I have right now is a picture of the donor bike frame, posted below:

Bought a now Campagnolo crank set for it, with the high ring gear being 52 teeth, instead of 48 teeth. I had to do a little belt sanding on the pivot point of the rear suspension to enable the chain to get by it when shifting into high gear :? The 52 teeth make a big difference in keeping up with the hub motor at higher speeds :>

Blessings, Snow Crow

[ Parent ]

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by snowcrow on Sun Mar 29, 2009 at 08:47:00 PM MST

Well...I haven't found anything small enough to be biked into the woods.

I'm looking to maybe put a hub motor on a bob trailer and use that wheel as a waterwheel. Just make some strap-on fins that go around the tire, like snow chains. I'll also have to do some waterproofing of the hub motor.

The wheel on the bob trailer is only 16" and should charge the battery pack easy. If not, I can always re-connect them for 24v (via a switch) during charging process if need be.

Here is someone bike with a bob trailer, so you know what I'm referring to:

Blessings, Snow crow

[ Parent ]

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by Bruce S on Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 08:02:24 AM MST

Snow Crow;
I know of this type of bike as well. Ride one locally for the Tour de Cure annual fund raiser, except for its color being blue.
The "bob" trailer is a well known item and I'm pretty sure it's also well documented for being very useful to carry battery sets for long distances.

Back on topic :-)
Yes, my packs are the Sub-C packs reconfigured of course in a 6 batt per set. I will hopefully get you more data, with regards to weights.
My diesel has decided that it needs attention so it may be a day or two.

They are replacing 4 12V18Ahr SLAs that weigh in at 80lbs :-( and subjectively speaking the NiCds are a whole lot easier to carry all at one time.

I'll also post what the charger is rated at. It came with the e-bike along with 4 12Vdc 10Ahr batteries that didn't last 3 months.

Knowing how well most "bob" trailers built I'm pretty certain you could have 2 - 3 times the battery cap that I have for our e-bike. Using the "bob" trailer has the batt holder, you could build up sets in full 14.4Vdc packs and attach in a 48V set. I currently use 12ga stranded wire to attach all stacks, and then 10ga going to the controller. Have a look at the exploded battery pic I put up earlier. Its basically the same setup only much smaller amperage size.

Are you planning on using both hub motors? the 1 on the front fork & the 1 on the "bob" trailer?

Cheers
Bruce S

[ Parent ]

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by thirteen on Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 09:25:21 PM MST

portable hydro, with some research maybe you could make one that is made from the parts of your trailer. Parts that work for more than just one thing. Just some ideas

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by nunyabeezwax on Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 08:32:03 AM MST

I saw this a while back:
Bucket hydro

NunYa

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by snowcrow on Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 07:28:23 AM MST

Thanks for the link :) With a 98' of head it's not exactly portable, but that does gives me an idea for something I want to do at camp :> 60 watts 24/7 is not bad, thats 1.44kwh/day, or 10kwh/week :> I think if I spent the money for a real pelton wheel it would be worth doing it for camp!

Thanks again!!

Blessings, Snow Crow

[ Parent ]

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by Ungrounded Lightning Rod on Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 07:24:42 PM MST

You might consider a reel or two of lightweight cloth hose to bring water down a cliff or long slope. Lightweight, suitable for high-head, low-flow. (I've seen this in hardware stores recently.) Then you could divert water from a mountain stream and use a pelton.

I'd put a big screen and funnel arrangement at the input (if I couldn't find a coanda trash screen). And a pressure gauge and valves on the jets in the turbine. Cut off jets until the pressure is max to get the hose filled pretty much all the way to the inlet for max head. All the large parts could be made of lightweight plastic (like PVC with a sun-blocking coat of non-toxic paint) and weighted with stones to keep it in place.

Downside is this would mostly work in mountains - which is a poor place for electric-biking. B-(

Then again, mountain passes are about the only place you've got an easily-tapped "wild" hydro resource with enough power available to charge your bike.

Re: portable hydro (3.00 / 0) (#10)
by jlt on Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 08:04:46 AM MST

I believe if you were next to a fast moving stream. you could make . something work . i would try to find .a ecm blower moter from a furnace ,they make a good high voltage alt. 48 volt at only 250 rpm. hook it up to a 5/8 braided rope .and then add a few props along the rope also put a few floats on the rope ,to keep it from sinking.mount alternator from a log hung out over the stream.look in my pictures files to get some idea what i am trying to ex plane. i think that you could make some props from plastic pipe."ecm motor 's generate 3 phase ac so you will have to rectify to charge your batt's

portable hydro | 10 comments (10 topical)

Menu

� create account
� How to use the board
� FAQs
� search the board
� Google search the board

Login

Make a new account

Username:

Password:

Total Views

��116 Scoop users have viewed this posting.

Related Links

� Also by snowcrow

You must be a registered user to post here. It's easy and free, and the link is on the upper right side of your page.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Postings are owned by the poster, but may be deleted or moved at the ADMIN's sole discretion. The Rest � 2009 Forcefield.
You can Email the board ADMIN here. PLEASE include the username you signed up with!