Water wheel generator

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Duncan Holmes
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Duncan Holmes »

Andrew Croft wrote: Fri Jun 29 2018 22:54 -
back on this again :giggle:

I bought the bloke at the fishery this solar charge controller (20A) https://www.amazon.co.uk/JZK-Intelligen ... B071ZZ2S84

works great, it charges his leasure battery no bother and the usb ports charge phones at 5v 2.5a. charged a nearly deed battery (125ah) back up to 'medium' on his battery tester. but ive been scratching my head trying to find out what the "load" terminals will pump out. I know it gives out 12v but ive not got a clue at what wattage or amperage so ive no idea what cree led light bar would be suitable as they go in to 75 watts for a decent one :sad:

the load terminals take power from the battery, not directly from the solar panel via the controller.

they look great for small use, but obvious chinese cheap so not ideal for big applications or more than 40v worth of panels, would be great for boats on the cheap.

also how many batteries do you think you could link up together to get a charge ? I think only one but the guy at the fishery thinks he could get away with a few. im not so sure though :giggle: I think just one. especially with just that one solar panel :shrug: it kicks out about 14-15v in direct sunlight, 12.5 in the shade.
In the absence of any other manufacturers data, I would assume 20 amps @ 12v on the load.

As for lights, go for as small as you can get away with, a 75W light will pull 6.25 amps @ 12v.

Your 125 amp battery has a useable storage of 62.5 amps, assuming its in good knick, so 10 hours of use to use the storage.

BUT, if you want to do that regularly you have to have enough solar to replace the amps you use. The solar panel is the limiting factor. (See my earlier post)

You can rig as many batteries together as you like in parallel, which will keep the voltage at 12v. How long it will take to charge will be determined by the size of solar array, quality of the panel, integrity of the connection and the amount of solar energy from the sun. Angle and orientation of the panel will also effect.

The voltage of quality panel will stay relatively constant ( provided you don't throttle the flow of amps) when it is exposed to daylight, the amps will be the thing that changes with varying light.

Think of the battery as a water butt, the bigger the volume the longer to fill, the more sun (or more panels) the quick the fill time.

What is the Wp number on your solar panel and I can probably give you some better figures.
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Andrew
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Andrew »

Duncan, your the man :thumbs:

Not got a clue about the wp thpugh. Absolutely nothing on the panel indicates its output and the frame and backing is rivited on :sad:

Guess it will just need to be trial and error and see how it goes. Ive no tools to measure it.

At least we can charge phones without running the petrol geni :laughs:
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Duncan Holmes
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Duncan Holmes »

Andrew Croft wrote: Sat Jun 30 2018 12:45 -
Duncan, your the man :thumbs:

Not got a clue about the wp thpugh. Absolutely nothing on the panel indicates its output and the frame and backing is rivited on :sad:

Guess it will just need to be trial and error and see how it goes. Ive no tools to measure it.

At least we can charge phones without running the petrol geni :laughs:
Wp will be around 150 per m2 of cell area for that type of panel. What is the cell dimension and how many on the panel?
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Andrew
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Andrew »

4ft by 2ft :smile:
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Jellybait »

DavyMc wrote: Mon Oct 16 2017 19:40 -
Off the same supplier Duncan, my pal was wondering about panels on the boat roof for keeping a charge in the engine starter battery.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-Portable- ... 2437874309
slightly off topic !! but do these chargers actually work ? would they recharge a car battery ? could they be stuck to the outside of the shed window and connected to a motorbike or buggy battery 12v ? would they stop a battery going dead from lying around ?as in keep it topped up ?
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Watty
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Watty »

I reckon running a poly pipe from up near the water surface of the dam, down the weir so the other end is well below the top, start a syphon effect and you should get a great amount of pressure out of the pipe and you can direct it onto your generator.
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Andrew
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Andrew »

Watty wrote: Wed Jul 11 2018 08:35 -
I reckon running a poly pipe from up near the water surface of the dam, down the weir so the other end is well below the top, start a syphon effect and you should get a great amount of pressure out of the pipe and you can direct it onto your generator.
Thats a good idea. Specially since the overflows been bone dry for over two weeks now. One the lads up there thought about the syphon when i as musing over the idea.
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Re: Water wheel generator

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Andrew
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Re: Water wheel generator

Post by Andrew »

Chris b wrote: Thu Jul 19 2018 12:17 -
Seen that on facebook few days ago. Cool idea but look at the price of it :afraid: below it is another product for $11 a wee 12v 10w turbine https://www.amazon.com/Yosoo-Turbine-Ge ... 00ZCBNNOC/ looks ideal for the end of a syphon 🤔

only 5w less than that big fan
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