Advice on new off-grid hydro system

[sammyadams]

Any advice on hydro system for off grid weekend cabin appreciated.
Bought this place last year - came with 3 sears diehard marine batteries 12V system and a 300 watt inverter
gas generator used to recharge batteries
house loads are low - LED lights, LED TV, radio, DVD, etc -
range, fridge, and water heater all propane
the inverter then runs to a regular AC panel with circuit breakers - wired just like a normal house but with no grid power

I have a stream with 30 gal/min in dry months with 60-70 foot drop
will use about 750 feet of pipe - planning on 2 inch pipe
Have been looking at the Powerspout BE 24 V - although have also looked at all the other major turbine makers - don't really have the time to try to put something together myself
Will have a 325 ft wire run to a power shed that I have placed to house the batteries, inverter, controllers, etc
then another 30 feet from the inverter to the AC panel

The batteries are less than a yr old - I was going to add 3 batteries and change it to a 24 volt system so that I can cut the 325 foot wire run to 10 gauge UF wire - (which I may still place in conduit since I cannot imagine how I am going to bury that cable thru dense vegetation up a hill)
I have recently puchased a xantrex prosine 24 volt 1800W inverter (would like to add small microwave, coffee, vacuum, etc)
until I have the hydro system going, I was going to get a 120 AC input -24 volt charger so that I can charge the batteries with the exisiting generator thru the AC output as well as have that for back up
I was planning on using the C60 charge controller with a dump load

I am not planning on leaving the turbine running when not at the cabin

I've been doing a lot of reading on various sites but would love any input or comment on my design/project
I think I feel fairly comfortable with everything - my biggest uncertainties are with the wiring - wire gauges, circuit breakers, shut offs, etc

[dnix71]

A couple of solar panels and the controller set to float the batteries low, just under 14 volts, would keep them from going sour if you away for a month. If you charge them above 14 they will need water more often, if you don't charge them, they will lose capacity throught sulfation.

I'm not sure 325 feet of 10 gauge will carry much current at 24vdc. I used UF to replace conduit in the back yard at home because ants were nesting in the conduit and shorting out the irrigation pump. You don't have to bury it deep if the voltage is low.

[BillBlake]

Sammy,

If they were Platinum Diehard Marine batteries built by the Legendary Odyssey people -
a month without a charge would mean Little if they were full and had no drain on them when
you took off. Hidden away (nice and cool) I might add.

Guess I've seen just a tad too much rip-off and the dark side in my time.
The first thing that goes through my head is how long does this stuff hang around when
your gone. You talk about disco-ing the turbine when you leave. Can you take it with you
or is that not realistic?

A fellow I know is setting up a remote vacation (and some weekends) cabin.
He asked me for my 2 cents worth and I suggested a cheaper 'dummy' battery bank with
some 318 pound Rolls 5000 Series batteries (mamma's) buried nice, neat and clean
for the real show.

Solar enough to keep everything up with some trick wire (that we are working on) going to
the hidden battery bank. If that doesn't pan out he may have another option to keep his
generous sized storage batteries up when gone.

The cool, buried temperature should help a lot. Getting a maximum amount of Ah discharge out
of the hidden bank is not necessary.
It seems that a somewhat over-sized bank can have a number of advantages.
This guy doesn't plan on playing that sorry run them 85% dead song on his juke box.

He plans on taking in a fuel efficient, quiet compared to most, Yamaha Generator with him.
2,000 Watts should meet his needs. If he was there all the time it would be different.

When it comes to 12 Volt systems I follow the RV crowd which I also play at. When it comes
to 24 Volt systems it's time to run after the Yacht crowd. Those boys have some real nice toys
including 24 Volt Universal Battery Chargers that seem to be a good 10% more efficient than
any 48 Volt deal that I can find. Soon I have to run after the Golf crowd to see what their
latest 48 Volt goodies are doing. Last time I looked they talked a good game but
the efficiency figures were too hard to locate.
It's a technique that seems to work in a number of situations.
Jump into a high dollar hobby to see what they have. At least mentally. 

Bill Blake

[hydrosun]

the 2 inch pipe will lose 12 feet head at 30gpm over 750 feet. the 10 ga wire will lose 4.5 volt at 6 amps (180 watts from 30 gpm and 60 feet head and 50% efficiency.) you can alos use the bare wire for the negative leg to cut the losses to 3 volts. An off grid partime cabin can be easily run on this setup. if you intend to live there full time in the future you might consider some efficiency upgrades. A harris hydro would put out more power because it is adjustable to better match the water used. So you could use more water when available. but then you would want a bigger pipe. I've found 4 inch gasketed sewer pipe is about the same cost as 2 inch poly pipe but takes more work to install. Running the hydro at a higher voltage and dropping to your battery voltage with a mppt solar controller will mean less lossed in the wire and closer matching of pelton speed to produce more power. But like I said before the design you have will do the job you outlined.
Chris

[FoolAmI]

I've been reading up on the PowerSpout peltons and the litature says you should always use a MPPT controler to minimize voltage loss.        These turbines also seem to be capable of fine tuning adjustments to the "roter" by using shims so I'm not sure that they are lass efficient than a Harris unit.