Can I charge a battery with this?

[jason12085]

Hey guys,

New to the forum.

I've been pondering building a waterwheel for sometime now. All I'm looking to be able to do is charge a deep cycle marine battery, though I'm not sure if I have enough water power to do this.

I measured my flow and head, this is what I got.

I had slightly more than 1gal/sec of flow and about 43 inches of head coming from a little waterfall in my backyard.

Any input is appreciated.

Jason12085

[richhagen]

The potential power of your system would be mass of water/ time multiplied gravitational acceleration multiplied by the height of the fall.  If you use Kg for mass, m/s^2 for acceleration of gravity and meters for height, then you get an answer in Joules per second, or Watts.  

For your situation:

 1 gallon of water has a mass of a bit greater than 3.78 Kilograms

 The acceleration of gravity is approximately 9.8 meters per second per second

 43 inches is equal to just over 1.09 meters

The potential power output is therefore:

 3.78 Kg/second * 9.8 m/s^2 * 1.09m = 40.3 Kg*m^2/s^3 = 40.3 Watts

I am not an expert on the efficiency of water wheels, but if you could manage 72% efficiency in the conversion of this energy into electrical energy that would be about 2 amps into your battery at 14.4 volts.  I don't have much knowledge about the efficiencies of water wheels, but the numbers do not seem out of the realm of possibilities for some modest charging of your battery.  Rich

[spinningmagnets]

Jason, I would encourage you to read all the hydro posts, start with newest and go back a couple years.

I think with your site specs you may end up being interested in a Banki or a Poncelet, though a standard breastshot wheel with square-ish buckets may be easier to build. (a 5' diameter wheel with water entering buckets at 3') Perhaps use the "Google search the board" function for "low head".

Gearing up a wheel to get higher RPM's at the gen will be inefficient, but inefficient Watts are better than nothing at all. Best of luck, and have fun!

[zeusmorg]

 Short answer.. yes.

  You could generate around 20W off that flow at a 50% efficiency. It would depend on how well you captured the energy that the stream is capable of.

[hiker]

             

                          http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_hydro.html

[tecker]

 Direct drive is the problem as the rpm is slow . Usually the fall is not radical enough to get power from this .On the other hand the the creek flows to some degree all the time . It's a low power device that has to be maintained Keeping one battery charged is better done from a solar panel and a small wind device .  

[jason12085]

Thanks for the info guys.  I looked a little more into the banki turbine and I just might go with one of these.  The creek runs down a VERY steep grade before it reaches the point where I would like to put the generator.

[tecker]

 Rate the flow to a large Drum (inlet wise) . Match the flow through to the incomming water and figure your head . Now your working with a 2 " inlet and a full drum .From there put a small devce in a 6" with female adapter  . Now just cut the nozzle into the 6" ,fit a small turbine to a male adapter and use a ball valve to feather the release. These componants you can get easly with a moderate money out lay . The rpm will be compatabe with bike generator parts .