Powerspout Turbine - Tasmanian Micro Hydro Power Station In mountains

This is my mates PowerSpout hydro setup, there is much more to the system including solar panels, evacuated tubes for hot water, wetback fire place & thermal mass by way of a 200L Copper tank with dump load from battery/hydro/solar. Very cool little setup.
Powerspout - goo.gl/oCBgRj
MorningStar MPPT Charge Controllers - goo.gl/bXx62n
Trojan Batteries for sale - goo.gl/LrZdCg

[@mrhydrohead]

Love it. Thanks for sharing

[@HBPowerwall]

Me SHARING - what about your massive project my god - watched it from the beginning - then you made us wait a few months to see it finished....I LOVE YOUR WORK lol

[@TheBloke]

Nice setup thanks for sharing.

[@daviddavids2884]

thanks for posting. some thoughts, mainly for your subs. a continuous 100 watts is nothing to sneeze at. many folks do not understand that, at any given a moment, the rate of energy consumption in a home is Low. energy storage is Needed in order to handle the, occasional, high-wattage loads, like an electric range, etc. whenever the battery is fully charged, there will tend to be excess power available from the pma. up to a point, that excess power can be used, by sending it to a high-resistance dump load, such as a water heating element. cheers

[@joemc111]

Nice video, watching in FLORIDA USA.

[@scottfoster2487]

I you can make a small pond above your intake you will provide a more stable year round water flow. Great little system.

[@jcreswick]

now to find a house with a stream.....thanks for the video!

[@HBPowerwall]

Would be awesome lol That's my buddies setup.

[@VITATTA]

LOVE WHAT YOU ARE DOING. USA

[@HBPowerwall]

Cheers, Thanks for letting me know :) That hydro setup is my mates, not mine - fingers crossed I get a bunch of new footage in a few weeks to give a lot more detail on the setup.

[@1943L]

Does the 90degree bend into the turbine reduce flow/pressure? Nice little system.

[@bosdad7]

very nice, wish I lived near running water.

[@HBPowerwall]

That property is so nice - has so many natural resources can't wait to buy the plot next door :)

[@pandjnixon]

Nice !

[@HBPowerwall]

i love that area of the world pitty it's so far away from where i live.

[@clorahcoezy]

I'm an interested guy build an 50.k.v.a hydro in the Solomon lslands I saw this movie ...s o great to see

[@pandjnixon]

The objective when a drought starts to arrive, is to select the correct nozzle diameter to match the water flow at different times of the year, so as to always get the water to back-pressure right to the top of the penstock, with as little as possible overflow at the penstock intake end. A pressure gauge at the bottom of the penstock will have a maximum reading, when the penstock intake is overflowing at the top. The pressure gauge monitors the back-pressure altitude inside the penstock. If that maximum pressure reading on the pressure gauge at the bottom, starts to drop off, it means there is no longer any overflow at the penstock intake end, and the available water flow at the intake end must be decreasing from lack of rain, which means its time to fit a smaller dia nozzle, to still extract as much power as possible, by still harnessing the total available head, even though the wattage will be less, because of less available water. (But of course the wattage generated, will still be more than if you didn't reduce your jet diameter to a smaller size.) The greater the head, the more work that is done by the available water powering the turbine. Selecting the correct size smaller diameter nozzle, will restore the water to back-pressure right up to the top of the penstock again, with the goal being, to have as little as possible water overflow at the penstock intake end. When the water is again overflowing at the penstock intake end, you will discover that the pressure gauge will actually give a slightly higher reading, for the smaller the nozzle size that you use. This is because a reduction in flow rate, means less friction in the penstock, that will in turn yield a higher dynamic pressure. The static pressure is normally the highest pressure possible that is obtainable in your penstock, that can be obtained by turning off the valve completely at the turbine end, unless you create a temporary higher pressure, by turning off your valve at the turbine end, too quickly, which could cause the penstock to burst if you are too severe !, (unless a safety valve has been fitted) and so the smaller the nozzle size that you use, the nearer to the static pressure your gauge will read. The ideal arrangement is instead of having swappable jets, is to instead have a spear valve jet, which can be easily adjusted daily, to fine tune its cross sectional area to match the available water at the penstock intake end, by slowly opening it whilst watching the pressure gauge, until it starts to lose pressure, and then slowly closing it again until the maximum pressure is obtained, and then close it no further, which means the penstock intake will be just overflowing very slightly again at the top. When designing a micro-hydro penstock, depending on the terrain, you could look at sacrificing up to 50%, but preferably much less, of your static pressure in penstock friction, so that your dynamic pressure would be about half or more, of your static pressure. If you can afford it, use bigger diameter pipes for your penstock, and your water friction will drop, and therefore your dynamic pressure will increase at the turbine, thereby giving you more power for the available water. Also the steeper the penstock the cheaper, which is better in terms of investment dollars per watt, to build it.

[@HBPowerwall]

Thankfully never totally run out of water to keep her spinning. There is also Solar panels & solar hot water to back up this system. Currently, the power generated is 4x the daily usage requirement and excess is dumped into a large water-filled copper thermal mass inside the home reducing the need for wood heating also.

[@pandjnixon]

Nice ! Powerspout is the best choice of micro-hydro unit that's made anywhere in the World, in my opinion !

[@richysee]

A very nice system. At this late stage have you considered getting an Elgin Coanda screen for your water collection. One source is Langstons Alternative Power. I imagine that there are better sources than the US. I suggest you look up the theory behind Coanda screens. :-)

[@HBPowerwall]

wow this video is old... My mate owned the property and filmed it - but sold the property before i could get there to take a look in person.

[@DavidZucaro]

Awesome setup. Do you think that the flow into the turbine right angle joint might effect your efficiency?

[@HBPowerwall]

it's possible how ever its still 3x more power than we need :)

[@davidperez-de4jq]

why do you cut one down if the other is high? So you dont over load the batterys?

[@recklessroges]

I'd add a hydrogen generator and compressor as a final dump stage, (for when the hot water is up to temp). That way you diversify your energy storage, (and can heat/cook/wash with gas while the batteries are being replaced.)

[@HBPowerwall]

Cost outweighs the gains - just dumps to a spar bath now :P

[@Hyperious_in_the_air]

very cool. do you use this to charge an off-grid battery bank for the home? does it end up recharging the bank completely when left overnight?

[@HBPowerwall]

There is so much extra power battery power is only called on for the toaster and coffee pot in the morning. batteries are 10 years old and on the worst possible day the max discharge is less than 5% . There is solar and hydro attached then a thermal mass dump load for excess

[@paulhaze228]

When you calculate head, does it matter how long the pipe is from collection point to where it is harnessed? If you have say 30 metres of head but over a distance of 300 metres does the low gradient mean the internal resistance of the pipe affect the pressure obtained at the outlet? Or does the kinetic energy still build up to an useful power generation level if enough water is flowing? Any advice gratefully received.

[@HealthSupercharger]

Yes the longer the pipe the more loses you have, so ideally try to minimize the length of pipe and choose your site with steeper terrain. But the losses are small, so as long as you don't have 3000m long pipe you should be fine.

[@darinmbicknell]

Love Microhydro! Small differences in elevation can provide a decent amount of energy. THERMAL mass for the win! Is he going to recycle some 18650's and upgrade those Pb cells?

[@HBPowerwall]

Hell no, he's smart .. hahahah

[@scummyinoz]

Gday love it any chance of a look at the hot water setup? cheers

[@HBPowerwall]

+SCUMMY InOZ I'm still trying to get back there get more footage sorry.

[@PM_Anthony_Albanese]

Glad to see someone making their own. Good thing you don't show where it is or show your faces or Hydro Tasmania would probably have it destroyed, or send you some legal "cease & desist, this is our monopoly, how dare you" sort of letter...

[@whorayful]

Your mate sounds very much like motorcycle vlogger known as as bigkev from up in NSW. Is this where he has disappeared to?

[@HBPowerwall]

Sorry, he's just a buddy - Alternates between Brisbane and Hobart

[@whorayful]

No worries, just a familiar sounding voice. Brissy to Hobart, nice work if you can get it :-)

[@vkvijay177]

Could you please tell me that what is its head and discharge, and how much power you are generating?

[@HBPowerwall]

Sorry buddies setup a few thousand km away but if he is ever here i'll ask the question :)

[@Jimmeh_B]

he said in the vid!! 5.5Mtrs head "currently using about 1L per 1/2 second"

[@MrDingaling007]

55meters of head is good, hard to find property like that.

[@HBPowerwall]

I've been looking locally for years can't find a property that has a 12 month stream even at a reasonable price :(

[@Barskor1]

So why is no one using large intakes with descending size pipes? It is essentially a dam in a tube and makes amazing water pressures.

[@HBPowerwall]

Yes that route has it's place - but not needed here, not even using the second jet

[@Barskor1]

@@HBPowerwall Thanks for responding, so what kind of place would it be called for?

[@HarryL2020]

a poor frog got a beak when it jammed my nozzle, I with I closed the hydro whilst I was getting a filter ;(

[@PS-Straya_M8]

would you ever change over to solid state batteries?

[@HBPowerwall]

Not in the near future

[@dtec30]

hmm wonder if you could do something similar with rain water from the roof ?

[@HBPowerwall]

for sure, but you'd need a lot of rain for sure!

[@dtec30]

was thinking maybe 4 ibc's 2 up 2 down and solar pump water to the top 2 and let gravity charge batteries overnight that sort of thing

[@6969smurfy]

yea, don't think you would like the results! 4 IBC's maybe 1200 gallons max. I'v been wondering if storing 77,000 gallons up on my hill in worth it? & that's only like 30' of head...

[@HBPowerwall]

it would make for a fun test - pumped hydro excess solar pumps water up the hill - then some smart Arduino to sense when power from the panels is 0v to open water valve if the voltage of batteries is

[@dtec30]

pete wrong link it was to ebay motors not powerspout website want the link aprox $1600 usd for pelt unit

[@MultiTomtom23]

Nice setup...why exactly is the second valve closed!?

[@HBPowerwall]

no need for it at the time.

[@MultiTomtom23]

HBPowerwall ahh okay...Thx for the quick answers didn't expect that *lol*...would you get double the wattage if the second valve was opened!?....or would it just be 25% or lower...or even double =)??

[@HBPowerwall]

To be honest not sure, it's a buddies setup - i've never even seen it in person

[@MultiTomtom23]

HBPowerwall okay...would have been interesting... I appreciate your honesty...someone else would maybe just told me some bs =)

[@HBPowerwall]

i still can :) lol

[@HarryL2020]

by my calculations you should be getting at least 100-160w

[@HBPowerwall]

Calculations don't take into account enough factors :)

[@rehmanabdullah4873]

Sir you used two charge controler. Can we use one charge controler ?

[@HBPowerwall]

one is a charger the other is a dump load

[@MrJFoster1984]

Any chance of getting in contact with your mate when we move to Tas soon as we are looking to utilise a micro hydroelectric setup using the same manufacturer as they have. Maybe an exchange of email address? Cheers Jerry

[@HBPowerwall]

I live in brisbane and this property has been sold :( Also it was a buddies not mine... BUT would have loved the chance to buy the place for sure... but wasn't told till the deal was done

[@MrJFoster1984]

@@HBPowerwall Would still be interested in speaking to them if they are willing? Cheers

[@paulanthony873]

Is it council approved, lol this is Australia where everything is banned unless you can provide engineering reports and 20 policies to cover every occasion to obtain insurance

[@HBPowerwall]

+Paul Anthony theres no grid connection at all :)

[@thedummyspit8814]

Councils only have the power you give them. Say nothing and they dn't know shit. I understand you were joking, although what you said is true but I learned years ago tell them nothing you don't absoloutley have to.

[@Jimmeh_B]

Pfft.... insurance. The biggest scam of all time! and fuck the council!! Don't tell em shit :D