500 Watt Hydro Power System in Virginia (Overview)

This video gives an overview of a 500 W hydro power system in central Virginia with a spinning, no-clog water intake.

[thadhaines]

Very cool. My favorite part was the non-acknowledgment of the presumably healthy wood spider guarding the electronics hut. Also, I have a new respect for the humble golf ball, somehow overlooked by electrical and mechanical engineers since the 1600's.

[emmetmyers]

I got to say for anybody doing this use your three phase and run it all the way up to where you're going to use it.
That higher voltage 3 phase is going to get you less voltage drop and less line loss, better yet step that three phase up in voltage. For even less line loss.
I see this quite often in small generators and windmills where they switch to DC right at the base of the windmill or right above the generator.

[landcruiser]

The way he was talking I thought for sure we would hear, "and once we reach 1.21 gigawatts the power goes into the flux capacitor."

[gordonagent]

Sir, I watched this video with no knowledge of the subject but I was just amazed at the clever approaches you have utilised in this build. You alternate use for golf balls is simply genius. So well done

[ohm]

Lot of infrastructure for 500W but as a fellow maker I fully understand half the fun is in the building of our contraptions and rarely the end result itself! Keep up the good work! I had to chuckle at your use of golf balls throughout!

[arjovenzia]

Love the engineering going on here. the self cleaning grate is great, seen similar things, but I like this implementation the best. Very well thought out, the use of natural infrastructure is great. Tree suspension bridge system is beautiful, and the rock mount of the turbine is pretty excellent. Im running a solar array here, all salvaged, n the 3-800w I get through the day is more than enough for everything bar the aircon and oven. I have them on grid. The only shortfall is the crappy old batteries I have, but its mostly enough. If the batterys run dry, its probably time to turn the computer and lights off anyway, go to bed. I have a fail-to-grid switch, so I dont loose anything, but its a sting to hear that click and know your paying for power again.

Possibly the only upgrade I could recommend, look into a low frequency AC Inverter. Dump those newfangled switch mode units. Sure, they are HUGE and HEAVY, but for a fixed installation, that's no big deal. Not only is it very good quality AC (nice clean sine), but the real take home advantage is standby power usage. On my PowerJack 3000w, no AC load draw is about .11A. On my 600w switcher, its about 1.5A. No load. 36w for doing nothing, sheesh..The efficiency gets really good at about 400w, but either side of that, its pretty rubbish. n it gets HOT. The LF inverter, is very efficient on just about everything. Has a massive surge rating (12000w I think), has no problems starting my air compressor, fridge, mill, etc. doing a full english fryup breakfast on the 2400w electric pan is a breeze to the inverter, batterys dont like it tho.

I must warn you, the ‘PowerJack Brand’ isnt rally a brand, more a type designation, there are quite a number of manufactures. I think its based off a 90’s German design. On one hand this is good, there are many spares available. You can build your own from parts. I have seen such things using rewound microwave oven transformers to get away from the heavy shipping costs. You can get very cheap ones, very expensive ones, but from china, get what you pay for. I think my 3000w unit was $380 USD, with $100 shipping. Given a local equivalent was about $1500 im pretty happy. Its run no sweat on 45°c days, for 2 years now. Still have the switcher if I need it, but best upgrade to my system yet.

[MrRickvs]

Very ingenious layout and use of a gorgeous piece of land! Enjoyed you video tremendously and can't imagine the amount of painstaking work it took to lay out your system. I tip my hat to you sir.

[benreg]

I haven't built hydro power before; but from design perspective the capacity of the stream to generate more with or without diverting the water, the effort seem more than needed for 500W.

[pekarna]

I don't think it's overengineered. This is how home-made stuff looks like. Realize there's no (mini)dam where the water would get cleaned just by having the gravel, sand and mud simply fall to the bottom. Also, it is all in the open, i.e. things are falling to the whole system. It's not a compact concrete building. That said, I think it's a simple working solutions to individual aspects of the task.

Also, he doesn't have a big hill around, and the stream seems to be seasonal. So, 500 W seems legit.

[loughkb]

Nice setup. And props for not overstating the power. Thanks for showing the voltage and current too. It bugs me when someone just shows the voltage measurement and says something ridiculous like "Here's my 5KW system". Ohms law calculation shows you running at around 425 watts just then. So totally accurate claims in this vids title. Good job!

[bartdepauw]

I would use a tradititional waterweel in this case : plenty of water available and only 2 m high interval needed to generate 5000 W. No problems with dirt in the water when using a top load waterwheel

[iridium]

So over engineer for 500 watts, could be more simple, but if it works for him and his happy, congrats to the builder.. it will qualify for a Mega Projects Discovery channel series...

[BrokenLifeCycle]

Your rotating intake screen is a good substitute to a Coanda screen. Sure, it has moving parts, but it's a necessary mechanism to keep the intake clear of large debris without frequent maintenance.

[jamest.]

That could be a really nice system, 6" would made more power, and the 4x2" is a bit restrictive, I'd go with 3" right to two nozzles, 2 x 2" does not equal tge 4" capacity, but I'd still like to have a system just like it! Ifi dam up my spring, I maybe could get 1kw for about 8-12 hours, then gave to let the pond refill, but it would be well worth it when the sun hasn't been out for a week! Being off grid you need multiple means, and as many backups as possible! Nice system!

[HotKooks]

For the first few minutes im like... woah! 12 miles of pvc later... yikes

[clivelee]

A most interesting and ingenious set up, particularly the filtering arrangements, however, a huge effort for only 500 Watts, thank you.

[aukanmeister]

Fun hobby! If I had a creek on my property, I bet you I would tinker with hydro power! :-) Keep posting! Any updates on design, or problems is always interesting. A project like this must never stop ;-) Seems fun :)

[ChileExpatFamily]

Very nice to see the OVER KILL on the intake. I think that it is always needed and is over looked many times and causes problems in the long run. Very nice set up.
I would like to do something like your set up with some modification here in Chile.
Right now I am off grid with solar only. A little bump in my power in put would be a bonus worth having. Jim

[oneam]

“NO I CANT STOP YELLING AINT YOU SEEN MY MOVIES” 😂🤣😂

[BiswajyotiMukherjee]

Damn the location. I would love to stay in a place like that after my retirement.