Pelton wheel project

[norbie454]

Took the time to make the bushings that I will weld into the shield of the project. I have one photo assembled and one not so you can see the parts in detail. Will post more when I get the shield completed.

 

[norbie454]

The shroud is now fabricated and ready for machining. I hope to have it assembled in the next week or so. It is made from 10 ga steel a little riggid but should make a good solid base for everything to be attached to.

Fear of the unknown, is greater then fear of the event.
Norm David
1972

 

[o2batsea]

I'm lost here. What is the amp rating of that alternator? In order to get the max amps you will have to spin it at about 5-5500 rpm. With only thirty odd psi behind those nozzles I fear that you'll get not much from that rig.

 

[David Devuono]

I bought some LED lights from Costco. I think they are 2 watts each. I replaced one 13 watt compact floresent bulb with 3x 2 watt bulbs. No need to produce 360 watts to run six lights these days. You could have power to spare to run a small fridge. (I have a 65 watt 110V electric fridge. Approx 3 cubic feet.

 

[norbie454]

Question: does any one know if an alternator needs to turn clockwise or counter clockwise or does it not matter?
thanks in advance

 

[ihuntbear]

i built a water wheel for my camp.Alternator would not work.If the batteries went down below 9.9 volts the alternator wouldn't generate power.Alternator needs power to generate power.easier to use a 12 volt or 24 volt motors.you can buy off ebay really cheap.Also an alternator needs lots of rpm's .DC motors generate power as soon as they are started up

 

[norbie454]

Thanks for the info ihuntbear, if this does not work as you said that is a good direction to take.

 

[norbie454]

Project almost complete just have to build the cover and connect the plumming

 

[rScotty]

Project almost complete just have to build the cover and connect the plumming

Project almost complete just have to build the cover and connect the plumming

Fascinating project! Thanks for taking the time to take the pictures for us to follow along. I hope that we get a follow-up as it gets installed. It sure sounds to me like someone has done a bit of figuring out on the numbers. Seening things as definite as a 7 degree taper and and 11/32" nozzle orifice in a replaceable nozzle tends to make my head swing around and ears go up.

Did you find out if you can run an automotive alternator backwards? I don't see any mechanical reason other than the built in fan might draw air through backwards...not much of a concern without a hot engine nearby. Electrically I'd have to look at the way the field coil is energized to know. There's a variety of ways to make a generator. Basically it's an electrical coil spun within a magnetic field coil. This field can be either a permanent magnet or a field generated by the alternator itself. Short tutorial: All rotating generating devices generate basically make Alternating Current. Generators use a mechancially-rectifying commutator to get DC by mechanically timing when to pick up the generated pulse, and alternators don't bother to time the pulse because they have rectifying diodes to change the DC to AC. Depending on the design of yours, there's a chance that turning it backwards would reverse the output polarity....which would be OK magnetically except that the diode bridge common to all alternators wouldn't work. So how did you decide which way to spin it?

We are lucky enough to live near a fast-running stream; it doesn't have much of a drop but it would be fun to do more with it. Either drive a small high pressure pump or generate some power.
rScotty

 

[Jason14j]

It is about a 60 foot drop at 100 feet pretty steep.

How much volume, gallons per minute? Sounds like you have the potential to run more than a few lightbulbs. I've been into micro-hydro systems a while and would love to find some land with that stream on it.