I was pushed into getting my water wheel working by a bunch of critters that built a dam across the outlet of the marsh on my land. I live 140 miles away, and was gone for about a week.
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So I had to cut a trench across the dam and put in a pipe. I planned on laying a pipe first, but they built it while I wasn't looking. It also isn't where I wanted it. They raised the water level about 2 feet, giving me about 23 feet total. But it will take a lot of pipe to capture all of the head from here. So I figured I would just use what is here. I was building a 2 foot water wheel for here, because I had a 2 foot cable spool. Now I have 4 feet of head here, but nowhere else to put a 2 foot water wheel. I threw it together with as many scrounged parts as I could, and got about 4 volts into a 12v 25w sealed beam. This was after the 12v 3w bulb got very bright and then burnt out. Finally I have some thing to show for all that work.
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I have a lot to do before it is ready to start charging my camper batteries. After about 2 weeks of running, it froze and split the generator pulley. I found a chain and some sprockets, but that will have to wait until spring. It is just too cold to work now. And when it starts to warm up, I really want to start building a house. (But this is more fun.)
Rod.