Post Apocalypse Job Search

It has been a couple of days since we've heard from Frank. I wonder if an increased police presence in the area is interrupting his activities.

 

Given that my supplies have increased exponentially in the past weeks, I am now considering hydro-electric power. My cave now has leather seating and bedding, and 12 volt electric lights and a surround-sound stereo system but even with a bank of seven heavy-duty batteries, my one solar panel cannot keep the charge sufficient to operate for more than a couple of hours per day.
I have a small stream that drops nominally 60 feet in elevation over a distance of 200 feet and believe that I can construct a flume from scavenged lumber. I have three 12 volt alternators but I do not know what type of gear reduction I would require to spin them fast enough to provide the necessary charge. I may can use a differential to provide the necessary multiplication of RPMs, I also have numerous pulleys and drive belts that may be configured to speed up the process. Devising a suitable water-wheel is something that I will require help with. I can possibly do some primitive electrical welding utilizing my battery banks and the heavy battery cable that I scavenged from the SUVs but I do not have a means of fluxing my electrodes as of yet, maybe beeswax? I am limited to what might be suitable for welding electrodes as well, brake lines, fuel lines, radio aerials, so far are the only suitable materials that i gleaned from the automobiles. I do have the fans and pulleys from the engine compartments that possibly, I can bend the blades to fashion a more suitable water wheel?
It is possible that I can reconstruct one of the engines to operate a charging system to assist in maintaining a charge during welding operations, but I only have maybe fifty gallons of gasoline fuel so it would not be a long-term solution to my charging needs.

 

Regards, Post# 563.

It's a pity that you didn't find a two stroke lawn mower among the stuff left behind by the wasp bitten zombie horde....you could have modified it into a steam engine electrical power plant.

Steam Engine Lawnmower - Push Along - Testing - LPG tank boiler - YouTube

Youtube have quite a few clips on IC lawnmower power to steam powered lawnmower electrical and drive shaft / pulley power transfer gadgets and gizmos.

Noise signature, boiler explosion and fire conflagration are probably going to be the biggest problems....but the potential to power your play station and TV are definitely there.

 

I don't know about that RightHand,in the South we learn to beat it to fit,paint it to match, and weld it to stay...just an every day thing down here!

 

Dang, you don't even know Frank in person & you hate him that much?

*hides his Suthern Butt before RH decides to make him one Too!!!*

 

This might help a little, Frank.
The output frequency of an alternator depends on the number of poles and the rotational speed. The speed corresponding to a particular frequency is called the synchronous speed for that frequency. This table<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">[6]</sup> gives some examples:
<table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th>Poles</th> <th>RPM for 50 Hz</th> <th>RPM for 60 Hz</th> <th>RPM for 400 Hz</th> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td>3,000</td> <td>3,600</td> <td>24,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td> <td>1,500</td> <td>1,800</td> <td>12,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6</td> <td>1,000</td> <td>1,200</td> <td>8,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td>750</td> <td>900</td> <td>6000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td>600</td> <td>720</td> <td>4800</td> </tr> <tr> <td>12</td> <td>500</td> <td>600</td> <td>4000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>14</td> <td>428.6</td> <td>514.3</td> <td>3429</td> </tr> <tr> <td>16</td> <td>375</td> <td>450</td> <td>3000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>18</td> <td>333.3</td> <td>400</td> <td>2667</td> </tr> <tr> <td>20</td> <td>300</td> <td>360</td> <td>2400</td> </tr> <tr> <td>40</td> <td>150</td> <td>180</td> <td>1200</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Key

• Rotational speeds are given in revolutions per minute (RPM)
• Frequencies are given in Hertz (Hz)

More generally, one cycle of alternating current is produced each time a pair of field poles passes over a point on the stationary winding. The relation between speed and frequency is , where is the frequency in Hz (cycles per second). is the number of poles (2,4,6...) and is the rotational speed in revolutions per minute (RPM). Very old descriptions of alternating current systems sometimes give the frequency in terms of alternations per minute, counting each half-cycle as one alternation; so 12,000 alternations per minute corresponds to 100 Hz.
Automotive alternators


Alternator mounted on an automobile engine with a serpentine belt pulley



Cut-away of an alternator, showing the claw-pole construction; two of the wedge-shaped field poles, alternating N and S, are visible in the centre and the stationary armature winding is visible at the top and bottom of the opening. The belt and pulley at the right hand end drives the alternator.


Alternators are used in modern automobiles to charge the battery and to power the electrical system when its engine is running. Until the 1970s, automobiles used DC dynamo generators with commutators. With the availability of affordable silicon diode rectifiers, alternators were used instead. Alternators have several advantages over direct-current generators. They are lighter, cheaper and more rugged. They use slip rings providing greatly extended brush life over a commutator. The brushes in an alternator carry only excitation current, a small fraction of the current carried by the brushes of a DC generator, which carry the generator's entire output. A set of rectifiers (diode bridge) is required to convert AC to DC. To provide direct current with low ripple, a three-phase winding is used and the pole-pieces of the rotor are shaped (claw-pole) to produce a waveform similar to a square wave instead of a sinusoid. Automotive alternators are usually belt driven at 2-3 times crankshaft speed. The alternator runs at various RPM (which varies the frequency) since it is driven by the engine. This is not a problem because the alternating current is rectified to direct current.
Typical passenger vehicle and light truck alternators use Lundell or claw-pole field construction, where the field north and south poles are all energized by a single winding, with the poles looking like fingers of two hands interlocked with each other. Larger vehicles may have salient-pole alternators similar to larger machines.
Automotive alternators require a voltage regulator which operates by modulating the small field current to produce a constant voltage at the battery terminals. Early designs (c.1960s-1970s) used a discrete device mounted elsewhere in the vehicle. Intermediate designs (c.1970s-1990s) incorporated the voltage regulator into the alternator housing. Modern designs do away with the voltage regulator altogether; voltage regulation is now a function of the electronic control unit (ECU). The field current is much smaller than the output current of the alternator; for example, a 70 A alternator may need only 7 A of field current. The field current is supplied to the rotor windings by slip rings. The low current and relatively smooth slip rings ensure greater reliability and longer life than that obtained by a DC generator with its commutator and higher current being passed through its brushes.
The field windings are initially supplied power from the battery via the ignition switch and "charge" warning indicator (which is why the indicator is on when the ignition is on but the engine is not running). Once the engine is running and the alternator is generating power, a diode feeds the field current from the alternator main output equalizing the voltage across the warning indicator which goes off. The wire supplying the field current is often referred to as the "exciter" wire. The drawback of this arrangement is that if the warning lamp burns out or the "exciter" wire is disconnected, no current reaches the field windings and the alternator will not generate power. Some warning indicator circuits are equipped with a resistor in parallel with the lamp that permit excitation current to flow if the warning lamp burns out. The driver should check that the warning indicator is on when the engine is stopped; otherwise, there might not be any indication of a failure of the belt which may also drive the cooling water pump. Some alternators will self-excite when the engine reaches at a certain speed.
Older automobiles with minimal lighting may have had an alternator capable of producing only 30A. Typical passenger car and light truck alternators are rated around 50-70A, though higher ratings are becoming more common, especially as there is more load on the vehicle's electrical system with air conditioning, electric power steering and other electrical systems. Very large alternators used on buses, heavy equipment or emergency vehicles may produce 300 amperes. Semi-trucks usually have alternators which output 140A. Very large alternators may be water-cooled or oil-cooled.
In recent years, alternator regulators are linked to the vehicle's computer system and various factors including air temperature obtained from the intake air temperature sensor, battery temperature sensor and engine load are evaluated in adjusting the voltage supplied by the alternator.
Efficiency of automotive alternators is limited by fan cooling loss, bearing loss, iron loss, copper loss, and the voltage drop in the diode bridges. At partial load efficiency is between 50-62% depending on the size of alternator and varies with alternator speed.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">[7]</sup> This is similar to very small high-performance permanent magnet alternators, such as those used for bicycle lighting systems, which achieve an efficiency around 60%. Larger permanent magnet alternators can achieve higher efficiencies.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]</sup> Large AC generators used in power stations run at carefully controlled speeds and have no constraints on size or weight. They have much higher efficiencies, as high as 98%.
Hybrid automobiles replace the separate alternator and starter motor with one or more combined motor/generator(s) (M/Gs) that start the internal combustion engine, provide some or all of the mechanical power to the wheels, and charge a large storage battery. When more than one M/G is present, as in the Hybrid Synergy Drive used in the Toyota Prius and others, one may operate as a generator and feed the other as a motor, providing an electromechanical path for some of the engine power to flow to the wheels. These motor/generators have considerably more powerful electronic devices for their control than the automotive alternator described above.

 

Water Wheel Electricity
make electricity with your water wheel
Making electricity @ your home or business isn't rocket science. Give me 10 minutes and you'll understand the basics of what is needed for making your own electricity from water and wind. Thousands of pages have been written on the subject , many of which require a Masters degree to understand so I'm just going to give you the basics here but enough information to take the wind or hydro power you now have and make electricity from it. This page isn't designed for solar power although the meters and charge controlers used will work well with solar power systems. It will cover how to roughly calculate your site's potential power, what generator to use, why you want a charge controller, power meters, and how to store/use this electricity. At the bottom of this page you'll find a diagram showing a system like the ones covered here made from only five wires for a simple 12 volt system. For example equipment I'm using equipment I use (and sell) because I've tried a lot of stuff over the years and these are the easiest to use pieces I've found and they work well together. You can web surf and find different equipment if you want, just make sure it all works well together.
I've never run across a web page like this one with all the basics needed on 1 easy to understand page so if you like what you see and want to help others find this information talk it up and please link to this page so it ranks higher on search engines.
You choose how to spin the alternator. I like water wheels and hydro turbines because if you've got the water they make electricity 24 hours a day but wind turbines and even human powered bikes can make electricity with this simple system.
An alternator is what you'll use to make the electricity. Alternators like your car has can turn on (making electricity) or off (not making electricity) but aren't very efficient. Permanent magnet alternators ( PMA ) are more efficient at turning the potential power you have into electricity but make electricity whenever they spin.... they always make electricity when spinning- a point to remember later... Low RPM permanent magnet alternators are the best because they make more electricity at lower speeds but are more limited in their electrical output at the higher end. PM (permanent magnet) motors with a diode can also make electricity but unlike a low RPM permanent magnet alternator (PMA) they need to spin really fast (up to 9000 rpm) to make the power. All alternators, even your car's, can make high voltage if not hooked to a load like a battery; a subject to be discussed later on this page. These are thealternatorsI use for most customers. They may not have the highest power ratings but are probably the most efficient making the most electricity for most sites.
The second thing about alternators and the fact you need to understand is that even a 12v alternator will make over 100 volts if it isn't connected to a "load", on most small systems, a battery is the load. A 12v alternator can charge a 24v or 48v battery but the alternator needs to spin faster to reach these higher voltages.
Imagine that your 12v alternator is a pump and the faster it spins the more water (or watts) it pumps and it pumps at higher pressure (or higher voltage). If it pumped it straight up a pipe it would pump it up well over 100' (or 100 volts) before it reached the end of it's abilities but at 100 feet (or volts) something would probably break or burn out because the system wasn't designed for that much pressure or voltage. What if at 13.6 feet up the pipe we put in a huge water tank ( battery). It would hold the water level (voltage level) at about 13.6 feet or 13.6 volts for a long time until it filled up. The water tank (or battery) is your "load" holding the voltage around the desired 13.6v. But once the water tank is full the water would keep going up making higher pressures (or voltage) unless we put a switch box with a valve to send any water (or electricity) over 14 feet (or 14volts) up the pipe out a hole in the pipe so that the water (or voltage) can't get over 14 feet (14 v) protecting the system from too much voltage. The switch box would be called a load controller and it reads your battery voltage and when it sees the voltage getting too high because the battery is full it sends the extra electricity to a load dump which like the hole in the pipe 14 feet up dumps extra water (or electricity) away. Most systems use electrical heating elements for the dump load to dissipate the extra electricity as heat. Sometimes you may use electricity from the battery lowering the voltage and the controller switches back to sending the electricity from your alternator to the battery refilling it for you.
In this very simple example voltage is like water pressure. The higher up the pipe the water goes the more pressure created. Watts are like water volume. A watt is a watt just like a gallon is a gallon. It may be under more pressure (higher voltage) but it's still 1 watt. Amps are a measure of the total flow (watts / volts = amps) through the wire or pipe. Higher pressure would move the water faster increasing the total amount of gallons (or watts) moving through the pipe and higher voltages (higher pressures) will move more electricity through a wire. Too much power will burn a wire out.
If you use a 12v battery the system will settle at about 13.6 volts. With a 24v battery the system will settle at about 26.8 volts until the batteries get full and the extra energy needs to be dumped. Most of the charge controllers I sell can be set for either voltage (even 48v) protecting your battery.
You want to make sure that you get a good PMA (or altinator) because it is the heart of your system. There are a lot of junk PMA's out there and even one major name brand that is bad about burning out so choose carefully, The PMA's I sell and use on my turbines are the best PMA's I've ever used. Also these examples are very basic and ignore Ohms (resistance) ect so... if you choose to get your different parts for your system from different places be sure that they will work well together.
In review.... The faster you spin the alternator the more electricity it will make but low RPM alternators (also called PMAs) start making electricity at much lower speeds than a car type alternator or PM motor and will make more power since their more efficient. Your load (usually a battery) will keep the voltage at the same level as the battery once the alternator is spinning fast enough to reach the same voltage the battery is. When the alternator is spinning faster the battery will keep the voltage at the battery's voltage. A charge controller (go here for charge controllers ) acts like a valve or switch that sees when the battery is full and sends the extra electricity to a dump load like a heating element and back to your battery when it needs more electricity.
Let's discuss load dumps which are simply small electric heaters. You need some way to dissipate the extra electricity your charge controller sends away when the battery is full. If the dump is too small to burn off all the power voltage will rise maybe damaging your system. If the load is too large your alternator will act like a brake on your turbine or water wheel. Most load dumps can be hooked together allowing you to use several together to burn the power level you want. So,,, You want a load dump that is between 120% and 150% of the maximum power level your alternator is likely to produce. Simply figure a realistic maximum power output for your alternator when used @ your site. Click here for some ideas on how to do this. Now to figure how large of a load dump you need.
Example: If you figure your system will make about 200 watts you will need a load dump that can burn at least 240 watts 200 watts x 1.2 (120%) = 240 but not more than 300 watts 200 watts x 1.5 (150 %) = 300 watts In this case I'd either get a 300 watt load dump designed for your system's voltage (12v or 24v or even 48v) or hook three 100 watt elements together… either way you've got the correct size load dump for your system. If in doubt use a slightly larger load dump. I sell load dumps and charge controllers on this page.
Since ohms add another level of complexity to this subject I'm not going into using odd-ball heating elements. Yes you can use almost any electric heating element, even a hot water element could do but due to Ohms (Ohms is a measure of electrical resistance) we're not going to discuss the math on how to choose the right size. Instead let's keep it simple.
Ok, Spinning the alternator makes the electricity, the charge controller tells the electricity where to go and the load dump burns off the extra electricity to protect your system. Most people with small systems feed the electricity to a battery or batteries to store it up or a small grid tie inverter. To keep things simple I'm going to use 12v for this discussion although higher voltages like 24v and 48v systems can be a tad more efficient.
We all want a bunch of big giant batteries to store up a lot of power but that usually isn't the best choice for most small systems. Batteries have a little resistance to being charged and tend to last longer and charge more completely when charged at the correct rate. Batteries will charge at a much lower rate but will not last as long (long story why). A basic rule of thumb is to charge a 12v battery with at least 1 amp (12 watts) for every 20 hours of reserve capacity. Ok,, I know I lost most of you with that one but it's easy. Look at the sticker on the battery. If it says 300 amp hour reserve or capacity 300 / 20 = 15 so this battery likes to be charged with at least 15 amps. So... 15 (amps) x 12 volts = 180watts so this is a good size battery for a system making 180 watts. You will still get many years of service from this 300 amp battery if you only charge it with 5 amps (62 watts) but for the most life from your battery charge it with the correct amount of power. Most people with small systems ignore this rule and are happy with their results as long as they don't try to hook up a bunch of huge batteries to a tiny system. Also different types of batteries like to charge at slightly different voltages (example: most 12v gel type batteries like to charge at 14.3 volts) and a decent charge controller will let you adjust the charge voltage slightly to match your battery's appitite.
As you probably know voltage drops over long wire runs and this is especially true with low voltage systems. If there is more than about 70 feet between your alternator and your batteries you will probably want to run 3 wires (3 phase) instead of 2 wires ( DC direct ) which is easy to do with a rectifier close to your batteries. A rectifier takes the 3 wires coming off the alternator’s plug and makes it into 2 wires to hook into your charge controller or can be hooked directly into your battery. By using a 3 phase wire run you can use smaller less expensive wire to minimize voltage drop on longer wire runs.
Battery choices: A 12v car battery will work but tends to not last very long when cycled down a lot. Better are the deep cycle batteries boats use and can be found at most auto part stores. They last longer and can be drawn down further without risking damage to the battery. Golf cart batteries are an even better choice and the best but most expensive choice are the specialized batteries used by professional solar and turbine installers like L-88s.
Once the electricity is in the batteries you can either use it as 12v or 24v DC directly from the batteries. Or you can get an inexpensive modified-sine wave inverter at most truck stops, online or even Wal-Mart and plug most 120v AC things into it but you don't want to plug very sensitive items such as a plasma TV or a desktop computer. A pure-sine wave inverter cost more but makes "cleaner" electricity good for all electrical stuff in your home.
If you are looking to feed the electricity directly to the local grid there are "grid tie" inverters available like those made by Outback and Sunny Boy which require contacting you local utility and using an electrician for the instalation. There are smaller grid-tie inverters on E-Bay that don't require an electrician to hook up but local utilities don't like these units so use at your own risk.
Oh yea, I almost forgot power meters. Not required but they sure are nice, especially an amp meter. Automotive meters work well but there is nothing like a big LED display to let you see how your system is doing. Good meters will also help you see any problems like leaves in your water turbine. Remember: Amps X Volts = Watts and watts are what it’s all about. Watts are the actual measure of energy. So if your meter shows 14 volts and 22 amps (14 X 22) = 308 watts of pure electricity flowing where you can use it. Nice.
You can research the heck out of the subject and maybe end up with a more efficient system but a small system (less than 1500 watts) designed like this one is pretty darn efficient and will last many years safely making electricity.
You've talked the talk, now its time to build the darn thing and make your own electricity.
Note: I spend at least 5 hours on the phone and email each week with people who want to pick my brain for hard won knowledge about how to do this or that with no intention of actually purchasing from me. I need to feed my family too so please do not contact me unless you are interested in purchasing something from me. I realize this is a little rude but I've got to feed my family too.

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Calculate the potential power you have​

Ok, So now that you know how much water and how much head you have we can do some simple calculations to figure out how much power we can make. ​

Gallons per Minute Head Height, Waterwheel Diameter (feet)

​

First a few facts to help you picture what these results mean. ​

1 horsepower equals 746 watts of energy​

A 60 watt lightbulb needs 60 watts of energy to light up ​

A LED bulb only needs about 2 watts to run​

These numbers will help you picture what your calculations mean. A well designed overshot water wheel is about 80% efficient @ converting the water's energy into torque @ the wheel's axle. Since the wheel spins slow (7-10 rpm) and the alternator needs to spin fast you will need some gearing to speed things up. In addition to this your alternator and charge controler aren't perfect either so between the gearing and the alternator you will loose an additional 25%-30% of your wheel's energy so... total system efficiency will be around 55%. When using the following formula if you use .80 for the efficiency you will be measuring the energy @ the wheel's axle. If you use 55% for the efficiency you will get a realistic figure for how much electricity you will actually be producing with a water wheel.​

Or if you want to do these calculations manually the horsepower of your water wheel can be calculated by

# of gallons per minute x .000253 x height in feet x efficiency = horsepower​

So if you have 700 gallons per minute of flow and are using a 8' diamater water wheel and was looking to see how much electricity (55% total system efficiency) you could make it would look like this.​

700 x .000253 x 8 x .55 = .779 horsepower ​

So if 1 hp is 746 watts you could say .779 x 746 = 581 watts of electricity would be make by this water wheel which is enough to run nine 60 watt light bulbs for as long as the wheel is turning with a little power left over.​

If you were more interested in the power @ the wheel's shaft and the wheel is 80% efficient it would look like this.​

700 x .000253 x 8 x .80 = 1.13 hp​

So if 1 hp is 746 watts... 1.13 x 746 = 843 watts potential @ the wheel's axle.​

A thought to help you understand​

The constant (.000253) is the water weight in pounds divided by the foot pounds per minute. The height is the water wheel diameter so if you have 9' of head but are only running a 6 foot diameter wheel the height for this calculation is 6 feet. Most people use 12v batteries to store their electricity and an inverter (available @ Radio Shack, local truck stops, or online) to make the power into 120v AC. Since the batteries store up excess energy a water wheel making only 100 watts of electricity can run a 1200 watt microwave oven by using the energy stored over time in the batteries. ​

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Spencer@waterwheelplace.com 706-207-1080​

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Frank? you still alive & kicking?

 

It has been most relaxing around here for the past weeks; Mr. Ghrits now has a lady friend but she is a bit cautious. They have claimed a burrow beneath a large rock near the cave opening. Molly's children all left home to establish Possum kingdoms of their own, but she doesn't seem to notice or care.
I have had little luck in improving my battery welding skills but still managed to get enough electricity from my little hydro-electric plant to allow me to operated a dome lamp inside the cave for a couple of hours each evening, although most nights, I tend to fall asleep just after dinner and a bit of reading.
Apparently the invading authorities missed several of Thursday's pot plants and they seem to be doing well and my Gorilla garden is beginning to produce Cukes, squash, Tomatoes, the peas should start ripening soon but the corn was a dismal failure; apparently deer and racoons find it irresistible.
Dew Berries, black berries, and mulberries all have come into full bearing and I have dried buckets of them and also managed to ferment a bit of vinegar while attempting to make wine so I might try my hand at pickles now.
I have also discovered a hollow tree with a hive of bees living inside and need advice about how to rob the honey?
I have begun to collect jars that float down the river; I was always angered by the tendency for people to just throw their refuse into the river but now I am amazed at sheer quantity and variety of useful items I find, particularly after a storm.

 

Smoke is easy but I don't handle bee stings very well at all. I do have some antihistamine available though so the harvest must go on!

 

Glad to here from you Frank,had begun to wonder if you had gone down after all.