what size of magnets and wire

[homsted]

Hi,

I'm new to the board, but have been reading the site for some time now.

I have a cottage that uses PVC panels to charge batteries, and I have a fairly large river in front. I would like to try and build a simple alternator/generator for some micro-hydro power. It will be different than the ones I have read about so far, and I am unsure on what size of magnets and wire to use. I'm guessing that the more powerful the current of the river, the larger (stronger?) the magents I can use. But, how do I know what size of wire to use for the coils? Is there a simple relationship? Or does it depend on the amount of current I THINK I will get out of it?

As you can probably tell, I'm no expert in electricity either (though I'm learning). If you can recommend some basic reading, or a source of free information on the subject, I'd appreciate it. If there's no response, I'll just try to duplicate one of the projects on your site, and then experiment after that.

Cheers! Love the site, and the way of life.

Homsted

[JW]

Hi Homsted,

 "As you can probably tell, I'm no expert in electricity either (though I'm learning). If you can recommend some basic reading, or a source of free information on the subject,"

 Nice spelling...

Anyhow you should look into some of the nomenclature by that dude from the UK.(its not free, but not prohbitivly expensive either, besides its considered referencable material) Cant think of the name just now, ummm, its the scraigwind guy, damn it why cant I remember... Anyway use the google search feature(hopefully it has the spell check feature, I think it does) here on the board,

 for ScraigWind.com or something close to that.

 That is some really good reading for WindTurbine design, batt banks, invertors and diode rectification on most examples worked on here and thru-out the board. The whole encholatta... .

 Also the 9-coil by 12-magnet(24 with dual rotors) ratio will lead to some interesting search results.

 Often-times, when the higher output currents are desired from a wind-turbine, 'the coils are wound' with several strands of smaller gauge wire(this is often reffered too as, so-many[2,3,4 etc] 'strands of wire in-hand') instead of using a super large gaugewire, usually when 3000watts or more are desired from a wind turbine. That('the wind-turbine') is usually about 100ft in the air and over 10foot(ft) in blade diameter, 'to produce that much power in watts' Have fun.

JW

 

[TomW]

Hugh Piggott? [spelling?]

[Hilltopgrange]

http://www.scoraigwind.com/

[JW]

My favorite pic from the Guemes Island 2007 meet.

 

 My Wife would never be so attentive. She just points at things when there broken. Taps on the counter and 'states' get to it Mr. Thanks for your inside look DanB. Nice speeding ticket by-the-way.

Actually, I think this pic topps, Woof's pic in the Russian cab.

JW

[homsted]

Thanks JW and Hilltopgrange!

Will take a look at ScoraigWind.com

Cheers!

Homsted

[Gary D]

  There is a small hydro section on his site. I'll post a link later on. It depends on the current how fast your machine will turn at. If you are willing to do a prototype, try keeping the diameter at about 3 feet to have higher rpm's. This will save you on magnets and wire later on. The larger the diameter, the slower the unit, equals more magnets, wire, and cost, or gearing up with its issues.

  You can then widen the final unit at the same diameter to capture more watts. Once the prototype is built, build an alt. similar to Dan's on Scotty's hydro(in the link). With a test coil of a given number of turns, you will get an idea of the size wire and final turns needed to get your desired voltage. You'll want the wire size the thickest you can fit in for higher amperage to your battery bank.

 The links below, hope these help. Thinking of a paddle wheel arrangement here, if your thoughts/designs are different, please disregard.  Gary D.

http://www.otherpower.com/scotthydro1.html

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