Summer Project help

[JamesMC]

Hello all,
Thank you for this forum and I apologize in advance for my questions. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the generator and what size is needed (hopefully to provide full house power if possible)

Here is the goal, I am hoping to have a family learning project for my kids (and me) this summer about renewable energy. we have a cabin/house with moving water for hydro and good wind as well. We want to see what we can come up with by trying to use one or both options. But like I said the generator part is driving me nuts. I just want to purchase the generator off the shelf ready to go so we can play with the other parts and see if we can reach our goal. I found a generator head at Harbor Freight [CHICAGO ELECTRIC 7200 Watt Continuous / 10000 Watt Peak Generator Head]and I was hoping someone could let me know if this is something I could use? or could you direct me to something.

Also, I am sure there are some great posts on this forum that would answer everything for me, but after a lot of reading I have not found them yet. could you point a few out you think would be helpful?

Again, thank you so much for the forum and the help.

[DamonHD]

Hi, welcome, and someone who knows what they are talking about will be along shortly!  B^>

Rgds

Damon

[MagnetJuice]

Welcome to the Forum James.

That generator head that you mention from Harbor Freight is designed to run at a steady 3600 RPM and the output is 120 or 240 AC volts. The output voltage is proportional to the RPM at the input.

You can use wind or water power to turn it. Wind power is not going to provide a steady RPM. You can gear it up so it can run close to 3600 RPM with full wind. However, you will need to take the fluctuating AC output and rectify it to DC, store it in batteries and then feed that to an inverter that will convert it back to a steady 120 or 240 AC volts.

If you have enough water flow (about 15 HP), you can gear it up to run at 3600 RPM and can use it as is, without the need to rectify it to DC.

I think the first thing you need to do is to determine how much usable waterpower you have.

There are other generators out there that run at lower RPM, I think they are better choices.

You are very fortunate to have good sources of water and wind power, take your time learning about it so you can use that almost free power.

Ed

[SparWeb]

You might be looking for something like this:

https://www.powerspout.com/

There are other choices and a variety of hydro designs, but maybe a good starting point is all you need.

You can also just get started in wind by getting a cheap turbine from e-bay.  You won't get a lot of power and it won't last very long (maybe 2 years) but it's a start and it allows you to figure out the basics, set up the ground-based power distribution you will need anyway, and proof-of-concept that wind is worth doing at your place overall.  If you're prepared to invest some money with the risk that it doesn't work, then it's a fun option to try out.  If you would risk a bit of both time AND money, then you can jump in with both feet, and do a project like a Hugh-Piggott 8-foot DIY turbine.

For wind and hydro, I think you've come to the right place for pointers and suggestions to make a project of your own.  There's a steep learning curve and I can say all the other stuff about being prepared for setbacks along the way. But it's really satisfying when you get it right...