Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Finally escaped The People's Republic of California
11,314 posts, read 8,653,285 times
Reputation: 6391
Advertisements
Would a simple water wheel attached to a car alternator turn enough rpm to charge a battery?
Any thoughts? Sounds like an easy power source, but I'm probably missing something?
Yes it can, but the flow has to be sufficient to get the alternator up to speed. Do a web search on pico water power. The subject is a lot more involved than it would seem at first glance.
You can use gearing to attain sufficent RPMs as an alternator has to be running at around 2300 RPM to generate AC power.
You can start with a large gear on the wheel shaft, say a 1-2 ratio, (1 turn of the water wheel = 2 turns of the gear), step up your RPMs to a small gear, say a 1-50, take a large gear from the shaft of that gear and do the same thing until you go from 1 rotation per minute of the waterwheel = 2300 turns on the alternator.
You could hook to an old car generator from before alternators and run it straight and get DC power so you don't have to rectify the charge to charge your batteries. They produce power at any RPM, so are much simpler to set up.
You will also need a voltage regulator just like your car to produce stable power at 12 V DC.
Can it be done? Yes
Do you need to do some research and know how to hook it up? Yes.
Any auto mechanic that works on the electrical system of automobiles could do it because the system would be the same.
You will still need to convert from DC in the batteries to AC house current unless your house is wired for 12V/24V DC, but that is another thread.
GM alternators have a built in voltage regulator...
One problem solved.......
Yep, A voltage regulator is basically a resistor, but not all alternators have them so when you post on a widely read board, you just cover the basics, not specifics.
I know quite a few folks that have used car generators hooked to a waterwheel or windmill to produce power for cabins or water pumps or whatever, they work fine.
Alternators are AC and have different requirements. If you know how to hook one up in your car, the only real other consideration is your power source to turn the alternator, and the requirements to make it work.
I know it can be done. I don't know how it is done, but the local farmers around here used to use a car generator powered by the water in the irrigation ditches to run their pumps that put the water out on the fields.
Steady flow without chance of flooding would be pretty important.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
