20 some years ago I built a micro hydro generator to power saws and lights to build my house. One of the batteries failed about 10 years ago and the system has sat idle until I decided to check into running it again due to alleged federal incentives for green energy production.

The generator is a 10A, DC permanent magnet windmill unit. The Pelton wheel has a 2″ radius to aim the water jet at. The jet is just a 1/2″ NPT pipe plug with a 1/4″ hole drilled in it. During a drought I can go down as small as a 1/8″ diameter jet and it will still run. The penstock is about 600 feet long and has an 81 foot drop producing 35 PSI at the generator.

The inverter is a 5000 watt, 110V AC output, 24V DC input modified sine wave unit. The diversion load charge controller is below the Telco box. The charge controller diverts power when the 2 8D batteries are fully charged. You can’t just turn off the power because the wheel will overspeed. The 2 black cables in the upper right go down to the generator. Instead of using a generator disconnect to hook the inverter up to I put together a cable that takes the 2 110V inverter outputs and connects them to both legs of the 220V breaker box. You have to make sure the 200A main is off so you are not connected to the grid. This connection will power the 110V stuff in the house but not the 220V range or dryer. I installed a 110V well pump instead of a 220V unit. Electronic stuff does not like modified sine waves.