Rain Gutter POWER #6 - World's First Rain Charged Phone!

Instead of the text message service promoted in this video, Quint BUILDs is now available on DISCORD! Details on accessing the server can be found on my Patreon page. If you want to discuss projects with others and get my input, that's the best place to do it.
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Prior videos in this series
Part 1 - How Much Power? • Rain Gutter POWER #1 -...
Part 2 - Alternator Rectifier Explained • Rain Gutter POWER #2 -...
Part 3 - Turbine Testing • Rain Gutter POWER #3 -...
Part 4 - Charging Station Electrical • Rain Gutter POWER #4 -...
Part 5 - Bell Siphons Suck! • Rain Gutter POWER #5 -...
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2nd Channel with engineering and coaching to help you learn:
/ @build2
Quint's Background: • Quint reveals his back...

[@joeprinsen1717]

I can just imagine your neighbours.."Honey, the mad scientist is out looking at his gutter in the rain again!".

[@captainnutzlos3816]

🤣😂👍

[@Mike-kr5dn]

They're asleep at that time

[@jasmijnariel]

Most people sleep on a rainy 5am .... he is out there, monitoring his inventions😂

[@d-boyzeighteenhundred]

If I was his neighbor I would probably think he is some type of crackhead 🤣 5 AM digging around in the gutter 🤣🤷‍♂️

[@cafloivedu]

He Is a man of focus, commitment, sheer will...

[@ahmadnasir9370]

shi Bar Tb t yang tidak bisa di ajak ke dalam Teks yang disalin akan otomatis ditampilkan di siniTeks yang disalin akan otomatis ditampilkan di sinister dan Teks yang q ik L akan otomatis ditampilkan di sini

[@jasmijnariel]

@@ahmadnasir9370 nooo idea what the fck you said... next time try english like all of us

[@glacialblueberry]

Such an amazing attitude to life! You seem authentic, down to earth, and just outright a good man. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm with us.

[@the_interim]

The scream had me laughing because my focus was totally stolen by that little thing 5:56

[@adnanabdillahghifari720]

It made me laugh too

[@artenroyal10]

In the middle of the night, my neighbors probably thought I lost my sh*t.

[@xaby996]

LMFAO

[@adnanabdillahghifari720]

6:00 😅

[@engineer_pirate_hunter]

Lmao, calibrated finger! Totally an engineering tool. I've actually used this tool as well.

[@GeoFry3]

That goes along with the calibrate elbow (torque wrench) and the safety squint (safety glasses)

[@matthewpollock9685]

I dunno, as an A&P (yeah, I'll be that guy), I gotta question the calibration of that finger. When was it last calibrated? I didn't see a cal date sticker.

[@benholroyd5221]

I'm a generous guy, I give people the (calibrated) finger, and they just throw it back in my face.

[@baikia777]

I've used calibrated finger all the time for cooking rice

[@DrexYiii]

Comment: posted 4 days ago Video: posted 3 days ago Me: "wait a minute"

[@vincenttaliercio8166]

The genuine laugh I had from the screaming needle = instant liked video. The rest is great, too, of course.

[@QuintBUILDs]

Wasn't sure anyone would notice but it cracked me up so much I had to do it! 👍

[@jclowe735]

I liked the video at the start.

[@LonelyRacoon]

Text gang !!

[@johnhenry3255]

Text gang indeed

[@ericbonanno5214]

Hear hear!

[@SeanHodgins]

Send some rain our way. Our rain barrels have been empty for weeks! Speaking of rain barrels. Mounting a few right below the gutter could be a great way to store and recapture the overflow in peak times. Like a potential energy capacitor. Also has the added benefit of watering the garden.

[@QuintBUILDs]

I wish I could Sean! It's raining hard here even as I type! And yeah, in retrospect some kind of storage like a water tower would fix all the problems I had early on. Wait until it fills and discharge on-demand at whatever power rate is desired. Though in some places storing rain water like that is illegal which makes zero sense to me. Hope you eventually get the rain you need!

[@kalleemony9930]

@@QuintBUILDs The problem with letting everyone store all the rainwater they want is that it limits the amount of water that makes it into underground reservoirs, which are important for everyone. Sure one or two people keeping a barrel behind their shed isn't going to do much, but imagine if people who owned large areas of land completely blocked out the natural water cycle for themselves. It would be potentially catastrophic.

[@travisk5589]

Here in California. It's illegal to store or hinder the flow of rain water that falls on your house. You are not allowed to use rain barrels although a lot of people do. Keep in mind that its the government's water, not the people's.

[@travisk5589]

@The Tired Horizon Google also says that Biden won fair and square, that China didn't make the Bat flu, etc etc.

[@AJMansfield1]

@@QuintBUILDs Another main reason for policies like that is the health hazard posed by open-topped storage barrels, as the standing water creates an ideal environment for mosquitos to breed.

[@designerd77]

Literally laughed out loud at the 6 minute mark

[@MyrKnof]

yea that was fuckin' great! :D

[@nithinsimon6074]

😂

[@jclowe735]

I had to go back to it but it's funny and I laughed as well.

[@TekniskM]

Me too!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@davidvickers8425]

And when he turned into needleman and smitty "nailed it" from monsters inc at 2:10 mark "go get em, mr soloman" dude is a genuine laugh. awesome.

[@ddaniels]

I'm a hydroelectricity engineer in British Columbia and we deal with a lot of the same problems you are going through Quint! As soon as the marble bag came out I thought you end up with some differential head problems 😊. As for overflow - need a bigger reservoir!

[@astrocar7748]

A bigger reservoir would be nice, but how about this as a possible solution. Send the overflow into a secondary reservoir (a rain barrel). Use a bell siphon again here to feed it back to the same charging station (no need to make another one). The siphon can either be triggered manually when there is no rain, or when it reaches a minimum fill level and the other siphon is not currently pumping. Thoughts?

[@Rednax42]

My immediate thought too: add a reservoir at (near) gutter height to store all the wasted water (energy) from rainy days.

[@sfcar]

i feel like capturing the water in a small reservoir then using that to feed would result in much better pressure, and less stress on the gutters. its the same as charging the battery bank instead of the phone directly

[@asleepawake3645]

A water tank would be perfect! A water tank could also double as water storage to water the lawn on dry days. It'd be awesome for those two storey homes. Now if houses are designed fro the ground up to cache rainwater, they'd have gutters with self cleaning grilles so big debris doesn't go in. Half the success is designing soemthing that doesn't need to be maintained so often

[@abinjosephkk8611]

I especially liked that falling guy cry when pushed debris into the outlet of the siphon. Good edit.

[@lexscarlet]

@6:00 Oscar winning sound editing choice

[@Debbiebabe69]

RIP that blade of grass....

[@IdiotF0ol]

You need to put a very small hole in your overflow so that your gutter eventually dries. Gutters aren’t meant to hold water permanently and a dry gutter will have a better chance of naturally clearing itself out than one that has constant moisture in it. I’ve done aquaponics and the Bell siphons used there always have a means to fully drain in the event of power loss because you don’t want standing water there, either. A simple hole at the lowest point of your overflow self seals when there’s enough water, if the hole is small enough, and doesn’t negatively impact ebb and flow. Just a thought.

[@voltcorp]

indeed, and if this was in tropical weather it'd be a health risk for the whole neighborhood

[@brett567]

Technically anyone who lives near a hydro electric dam has been charging there phones off rain the whole time....

[@NVM3]

He should add Free Rain Energy on his tittle :)

[@heathgoodrich670]

Yeah, was looking for this comment hahahah

[@shadowfightertips6921]

You are not wrong but you don't have to say it

[@michaelsorensen7567]

But not a rain *gutter*

[@stevebabiak6997]

Canadians don’t call the power company the “hydro company” for nothing …

[@GadgetAddict]

While I've enjoyed watching these videos, it's totally put me off the idea of using rain to generate electricity lol With so many challenges and such little output, I'd rather just use a hand crank generator.

[@QuintBUILDs]

Yeah, literally any other energy source around the home will likely do a better job! 😂 But at least I showed it's not impossible, just horribly impractical.

[@ba_charles]

I had the idea of putting turbines at the end of Seattle's massive storm drains, but it looks like it would just flood the city.

[@mrwess1927]

@@QuintBUILDs impractical on small scale..... What if this was applied to a warehouse that is really big?

[@donuteater3353]

@@mrwess1927 It'd have to be the size of an aircaft carrier

[@Dragonofshame]

@@mrwess1927 impractical on a small scale, but on a large scale it works great. In fact it's my town's main source of electricity: hydro electric!

[@loganjoy-koer5936]

I always love watching a fellow Oregonian getting power from the sky trying to soak us

[@bjornmacintosh4954]

Oh that sound effect of the stick falling down the pipe made me gut laugh! that was awesome!!!

[@QuintBUILDs]

😁

[@bjornmacintosh4954]

@@QuintBUILDs I came back for second watch, had forgotten about this comment, and the stick falling sound got me again :) haha, sooo good. :)

[@LITTLEEXPERIMENTCHANNEL1]

I love how you make this fun and educational. Keep adding the funny interloods and comic noises. It totally works for your audience. Nice work 👏 👌

[@wackamack]

the amount of energy you used to blow out the debris from the gutter could have charged your phone twice

[@Mike-kr5dn]

Well the blower could be 600 watts, if he cleaned it for 10 minutes = 60 Wh of energy. That would charge an iPhone 11 five times.

[@Lad140490]

@@Mike-kr5dn well, 600W x 0.17h roughly equals 102Wh, not 60. But... 😀 you're still right!

[@Mike-kr5dn]

@@Lad140490 yeah I see it now lol. Thanks

[@foxbonesmulder]

Interesting that this was uploaded two days ago, just got the text this morning! Glad to be one of the first to witness the next step on the project, though!

[@CallaOrion]

Could be it was uploaded two days ago in preparation for release today

[@QuintBUILDs]

@@CallaOrion bingo. It gives me one last chance to look it over before publishing. That's also when patrons get to watch it since they help fund the experiments.

[@Pierce-zp5dr]

Quint BUILDs: Finally after six years I can play flappy bird.

[@Scanlaid]

5:59, that scream 😂😂😂😂 I am still laughing

[@stormmontpelier8681]

Great Job! After this journey I was as excited as you were to see those blue lights! This was all something I had run through my own head over the years being from SE Louisiana and so often facing power outages after major storms. Especially the recent Hurricane Ida, we were without power for almost three weeks. It was a little disheartening to learn no more power could be produced from such a system. But all the knowledge I gained simply watching the process was invaluable. Thank you so much

[@mikefochtman7164]

Love watching you tinker around with stuff like this. If the overflow water seems wasted, you could add a large 'storage tray' somehow on the end of the gutter to try and capture a few extra gallons before overflowing. Then as the rain lessens, the 'storage tray' would drain back to the gutter to extend production time. And since your roof is inclined, how about adding a cleat/rail about halfway up to divert half the water to a similar setup that is higher? Higher overall head means although you'd have half the water, you'd get more than half the output from this second system. Or maybe divide the roof into thirds? Or fourths? Could do a whole cost-benefit of the optimal number of sections where each section benefits from slightly different available head. lol. Just kidding with these ideas, I know the capital cost of a second turbine would far outweigh things, but it's fun to speculate on paper. And I was glad to see the caption about the issue of 'peak power' capture. Wind machines have this problem as well. If you size them for the 'highest expected wind', they operate almost the entire year at far below capacity. Again, love the content and how well you present things.

[@corynewell8892]

Would a water storage container be more practical then a whole second overflow?

[@KertaDrake]

Just putting a large tank on a few bricks, and linking it so it will drain into the main reservoir would work as long as you have some idea of what the maximum possible amount of rainfall could be in the area. It could still cause overflow issues if the tank is too small or an unusually large amount of rain occurs, however, so it would likely require some experimentation to determine how large a reservoir would be needed.

[@l0gic23]

Nested experiments... Love it. And yes, thanks for following up on the rain gutter product along with providing the price paid.

[@fururian]

The streams of this video will consume more energy than these things will generate in a million years

[@QuintBUILDs]

😂😜👍

[@guyh3403]

Wow, all those efforts you go through. Hats off sir!

[@twc9000]

I admire your persistence. Great video.

[@wesc7983]

ive really enjoyed watching this project, and even your youtube chops, develop over time. great job all around, sincerely.

[@peterw1534]

Loved it when you tried to catch that pine needle and it went screaming all the way down! Lol! 🤣

[@chrisstowe7204]

I really enjoy the format of your video this time! Keep up the good work!!

[@Geoff_W]

Just found this channel and this is a really cool project! This system is also a great example of the law of constraints!

[@mspacone]

That was awesome! Very nice work.

[@goldbornmusic2025]

Your dedication to the experiment is out of this world! Much respect to you, my good man👍

[@SuperDeinVadda]

That scream when the needle fell down really made me chuckle

[@lucasimark7992]

Did you think about rainwater collection? I’m working on running my washing machine and watering my garden using collected rainwater!

[@jasmijnariel]

Exactly, i commented in the other videos... a big 50.000l tank above ground (the top of the tank leveled with the roof) and endless power all year round

[@Dragonofshame]

Illegal in many places, likely including where he lives.

[@lucasimark7992]

@@Dragonofshame interesting. Where I live you are unlimited if you only collect rain from your roof

[@jasmijnariel]

@@Dragonofshame ridiculious... just because its free! We run showers , toilets and laundry machines on it

[@aphilipdent]

@@jasmijnariel some areas consider it theft from the water company

[@AnthonyNaslas]

Thanks for the text! Love the video!

[@JmonteroArg]

This system is lacking a ram pump to store extra water for later usage 😁

[@Scottx125Productions]

That's what I was thinking. Not a great power source but if you had a large reservoir you could use it to supply extra power if solar energy is particularly low or draw is high.

[@TangoFoxtrotWhiskey]

I want to see this addition!

[@ooglek]

Hahahaha I love how much effort you've put into so little electricity! hahahahah love it. Keep it up!

[@r.p.4683]

Solar charging battery, how much really comes from the water system? should close the box to get an accurate result.

[@seckora]

That was my exact question..... He is showing the voltage intake on a sunny day.... He needs to do this with a battery back up that doesnt have a solar charger

[@EgonFreeman]

The bit I really like here is somewhat understated, but applies to every kind of renewable energy solution: the fact that they're unstable and very interruptible, and so require some sort of long-term power storage to provide usable power (in usable quantities over sensible time). This is a very important point.

[@lars0334]

Youre underrated man! Youre videos are so informativ! And on a genius lvl love it

[@BuddyBurlison]

This project I've been following since you posted the first one! I keep thinking to my self what I would do if I was doing the same. Love watching these

[@3v1Bunny]

this is actually a thing I loved seeing an update on

[@jackiechan8840]

Love this. Great editing too.

[@tobybay769T]

What, I've never thought about this potential energy being stored in your gutters. You are a genius. Will definitely utilize that energy the same way you do! THANK YOU VERY MUCH

[@amandelx]

Such an enjoyable journey to watch, thanks for your content!

[@JustAnotherShadowX]

I love this project, it seems like such an incredibly fun thing to tinker with

[@alaninnovates6353]

I've been waiting for 5 months, and now I get something amazing...

[@Firefox991gaming]

You should have all your gutters fill a water tank that is mounted at a height just 6" from the gutters. When the tank gets full then flow it through a turbine that is mounted 8' below. I think this would be optimal energy output.

[@IngensViator]

That's .. genius. You don't touch the gutter, but can play around the water tank instead. No need to mess with cleaning much

[@elliotmarks06]

One of my dreams is to have a completely off-the-grid DIY cabin as a getaway spot. Though I am a long away from that point in my life, videos like these make the idea of DIY renewable energy a reality!

[@jonesmartins]

The effort you put into these videos is definitely inspiring

[@levonkarayan487]

Great work Quint! Thanks for making a video of your engineering project. I haven't gone through all the series, but have you considered a surge tank with an overflow rather than having to make all the work arounds on the actual gutter. Thanks for making the videos!

[@hemantkumar-ls8wu]

I am seeing your video and genuinely I am really impressed. Keep up the great work 👍👍👍

[@bluesky7704]

I love this vid because I actually considered this gutter electricity concept in my mind space and here a video from someone who actually created it.

[@Frank-ih9ew]

Might need an overflow bucket with a bell siphon of it’s own… I’ve heard of bell siphons but never knew exactly how they worked. Thanks for the great explanation on how they work. Whoever thought up that idea must have blown their mind to see it actually work the way they had planned. Amazing!!!

[@verven999]

Amazing video as usual keep recording

[@danmichelucci]

Good job on the videos! Keep them coming!

[@bradfoster7771]

The scream added at 6:00 strait had me dyin!🤣

[@snepNL]

I had this idea a couple of days ago. Im happy someone with some bigger brains did it.

[@stef2198]

Your wife and neighbours must think you are bonkers! absolutely brilliant project.

[@JamieBainbridge]

I'm glad you finally got a system automated and working. I know how that free power feels, I love charging my laptop and phone powerbank with the solar then using it free that night 😎

[@AidanCGaming]

Wow almost 400k subs? Dude you deserve it! I think I subbed at 67k? Just remember seeing the air compressor video and I knew you would continue to make good content, always look forward to watching your videos! Keep it up!

[@lukealsmith]

You should totally invest in a webcam and continously stream your bell siphon and turbine! I'm invested in this project! Also, can you store the overflow in a tank and run it down to the turbine on demand? Using the power stored by the turbine to switch a solenoid valve to release the water in the tank. This is a great project!

[@tncheung2473]

I have waited this for long!!!! Love it

[@joshfoley8862]

I really love your optimism and good humor!

[@IanB22]

This is the greatest video - OMG so amazing

[@calvingreene90]

You could make a large shallow reservoir that accepts only from the overflow and flows back through a lower hose with a one way valve. A ram pump would allow a higher reservoir but would only save a portion of the water.

[@leexgx]

Intresting way to install gutters (usually they are supported from The underside not nailed on directly into wood) with the filtering problem just use that fine mesh all the way across the cutter, smaller bit won't clog up the jet it's nice seeing this setup of yours but a drain pipe diverter into a water collection barrel (that get your head pressure up and would continue to make power after the rain stopped as it would be capturing all the rain water until its full) would accomplish the same thing without having the mess with the gutter and having extra holes in your gutter (still would install the mesh over the gutter to filter out the larger debris)

[@Yoda19611]

Awesome series of videos, as all your videos are!

[@yoloparrot447]

Awsome work, it seems and it is easy because of how you explain it!

[@nicreel-peel4743]

In Cali we had channels that had screens, and they had water wheels that powered the scrapers to keep them clean lol

[@the_interim]

I use calibrated finger to cook rice.

[@Moondoggy1941]

Boy I cannot wait to try this in the SW.

[@AmandaHermosillo-om7dd]

As a fellow Beavertonian, I've thought about these videos about this a lot over the past 2 years. 5 words: "Let Bernoulli be your friend." You're losing a substantial amount of energy by letting that water bounce off your wheel. Print an enclosure for the waterjet and flywheel. This allows water exiting the flywheel to pull water through the flywheel (just like your siphon).

[@SC-fj2zp]

A more permanent solution to the caulk is using gutter caulk that is designed for heavy rain and the beating sun the only down side is that it's about 17 dollars a tube but then it would be a good time to seal up all of your gutters with whats left after the project but great video! And love seeing people use alternative solutions to get power👍

[@blaster-zy7xx]

Never seen anyone have so much fun with his rain gutters.

[@EngChagas]

This was the most awesome experiment I've seen on quite some time. Congratulations.

[@QuintBUILDs]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Ministrator03]

Have you thought about putting some sort of silicon around the nail entry and the open crease at the edge so you can still use the entire capacity of the gutter?

[@realmaxpower]

With your AC unit running in the snow it looks like your a grow op. lol. Thanks for the video. 👍

[@Debbiebabe69]

Or running a bit coin farm ;)

[@realmaxpower]

@@Debbiebabe69 I guess were from different neighborhoods. Lol. 😂

[@PMoney365]

You ar SO excited! It's infectious.

[@Trebseig]

Love it! How to improve, my suggestions: #1 paint protect the nail/wood iso lowering the water level. #put that mosquito screen over the whole gutter #3 replace the whole gutter by a monster gutter (placing a rain bucket directly under = losing hight) #4 place an extra ball bearing on the axle (it seems to wiggle out of balance).

[@39FORTYWATER]

I'm just smiling all the way through the videos...😁

[@yahipatakk]

This is what i call Satisfaction

[@jightning]

Love the sound effects

[@frostech3149]

that twig scream got me

[@calvinthedestroyer]

Very cool! now you just need tank to use as a revivor to save all that wasted power from the over flow :)

[@KasperLidegaard]

nice videos!, keep them coming, and great with the metrics !

[@MimeoTn]

Love your system

[@ygermino]

Hello. I come from the Philippines where it rains 6 or more months of the year and I am desperate to encourage a better way to harness energy from all that water. Got the wild idea and tried searching until i found your videos only to be more confident it could work and thank for proving it does. I am not an engineer neither techy that is why half of your video I had to fast forward especially when it come to all those mathematical formulas... but hey your work is ultra inspiring !!!!!

[@Grepoan]

This creation is spectacular. I would be excited to see it in action. If you know of any commercially (less than expensive) options, please let us know. For a question, I wondered why you put the spout to the side of the tube? I suspect that this was to trap debris falling down the water originally. But now that you have the bell siphon and the gutter side filters, I wonder if you could improve the flow rate out of the nozzle by funneling the falling water directly down and onto the pelton turbine from above? Or at least provide a curved pipe system to smoothly redirect the pressure-related forces towards the nozzle?

[@AdityaMehendale]

How can you be sure that the solar panel on the powerbank didn't trickle-charge it over the period of a few months? "Technically correct" is the best kind of correct :p

[@MyLonewolf25]

You could totally redesign the water wheel Portion to get a lot more efficiency and making a second generator optimized for high flow on the overflow side would be great! Also adding a “holding tank” on the main side to recoup help lost energy

[@aliasid6914]

You sir, has a great mind

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

Congratulations with the first rain gutter charger!👍🇺🇸

[@306champion]

You had one great rain related bit of movie history there, "Singin in the rain, Gene Kelly".

[@heffaynekoguy687]

5:57 oh my Jesus I was not expecting that lmao 🤣🤣🤣

[@MakerCuisine]

Incredible quint, i know it took a couple months but it is an amazing piece of engineering

[@xaby996]

If you wanted to save investment just route both gutters to the back side of the house and have a backup tank full of water that can run the generator after it rains which can also store the overflow