
A home microhydro plant (2009) - fanf2
https://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/turbine.html
======
stephen_g
There’s a very cool hydro system built over a few years by a YouTuber called
‘Mr HydroHead’ over a bunch of videos spanning several years - the first here:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=edEhvmNlYqk](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=edEhvmNlYqk)

Pretty impressive how much power these things can produce!

~~~
floatrock
Came here to post same series!

If you don't want to watch 19 episodes spanning a few years, he put up three
summary videos of the project starting at episode 20:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61lZn1sUkzE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61lZn1sUkzE)

------
dillonmckay
I remember when this was originally posted, and I am still super impressed
with him making his own transformers.

~~~
noonespecial
_The varnish I used is intended for oven-drying at 140 to 150 degrees Celsius.
I don 't have an oven large enough to fit this coil, so I heated it by
applying roughly 20A of direct current to the high voltage winding. I
monitored the temperature by measuring the resistance change of the wire._

I can't even...

~~~
zaarn
If you know the temperature coefficient of the wire, this isn't particularly
hard to do! You can do it easily by applying a constant voltage roughly of the
wanted amperage and then calculating the resistance via voltage and resulting
amperage, then feedback to adjust voltage.

It's fairly popular in a wide range of applications, mostly either machines
with too much current or too large areas to reasonably measure temperature or
parts that are too small (vape coils for example can be used in a temperature
coefficient mode).

------
petee
This is quite an interesting read, although my eyebrows shot up after reading
their plan to run 1kV on each of two wires + ground, that are only insulated
for 600V...even if the pvc adds some insulation (i couldn't find the actual
numbers off hand), anywhere the wire comes out of the conduit, it will risk
breaching the insulation, no?

~~~
CapitalistCartr
There's a lot of safety margin built into standard wire insulation. I've
exceeded the ratings pretty severely with no ill effects. My concern, were
this my project, would be long-term wear on the insulation. 1,000 volts is
gonna HURT. 480 hurts bad enough.

~~~
MisterTea
line-line potential is 2kV so the wear is worse between conductors. The only
saving grace is the current is so low that the wire will see almost no heating
which almost eliminates thermal stress.

~~~
blattimwind
You are misunderstanding. He runs each wire in a separate, sealed insulating
cable pipe. These would most likely be 1-1.5 mm wall thickness PVC.

~~~
arcticbull
Am I right then in assuming each wire's insulator provides 600V isolation so
two side-by-side would provide 1200V isolation, and the PVC is additional on
top of that?

~~~
londons_explore
1mm PVC alone is probably good for 2000v as long as it has no voids.

------
aidos
That turned out to be a far larger operation than the “Micro” would imply!

~~~
adamgamble
I know that micro applied more to how much power it generated compared to a
real hydro plant. But it cracked me up thinking it was going to be a small
project.

Tools Needed: ... 1 Pack Horse ...

~~~
goldcd
Horse is optional - I think the critical item is "A Gabriel"

~~~
MisterTea
He is a very interesting part of this whole article along with his son. The
amount of physical labor involved is staggering. I've dug some trenches by
hand, the longest being two feet deep for conduit, maybe 5 meters at most.
Really hard work. Took me half a day. Reading through this article and seeing
the amount of physical labor involved actually makes me anxious. But this guy
and his son did it all. Most likely without complaint.

Though the really impressive part is the shirtless picture of Gabriel. Dude is
shredded from what I assume is solely from manual labor. If true, incredibly
impressive.

~~~
benj111
Yeah, at first I assumed Gabriel had a digger. Then it slowly dawned that he
probably didnt.

~~~
theelous3
I don't think I've ever seen someone so well shreaded from labour before.
Usually it's the sort of in-shape-out-of-shape guy, or thin and wiry. Gabriel
looks like he's off the set of 300 or something.

~~~
Phlarp
That South American manual labor workout.

------
bubblewrap
I actually think of this article often, because I find it so depressing. Hydro
power seems like a simple thing (who hasn't played with water wheels as a
kid), and yet it turns out it is incredibly complicated and a lot of hard
work.

There is also a book in German called "Leben auf dem Lande" (How to live in
the countryside) describing how to do all sorts of things in agriculture. It
cured me of any desire to live on a farm and really makes me hope badly that
there won't be some sort of incident that makes me have to become a farmer or
do other basic things, like building my own power plant.

Edit: of course I am also impressed by the people who built this thing in the
article. It is just that it makes me realize I would be unlikely to be able to
copy their feat.

------
imdsm
I've been to this website a number of times over the last decade or so, and I
love it. It reminds me of the old internet.

> Be patient, this story is several dozen photos long, plus the text, so if
> you have a slow connection it will take some time to fully load. I hope it
> will be worth it.

I miss this. I actually miss the joy of the page downloading. I miss the
unqiueness of the websites and the content. What we have now for a global
internet is great and the tech and the content is beyond amazing but, we have
also lost something too.

~~~
HAL9000Ti
I don't get it, what have we lost? Having to wait for pictures to load? Surely
this is just nostalgia?

~~~
crispyambulance
We've (mostly) lost the idea of a content creator just creating content for
the joy of sharing it, and transmitting it on their own through their own
website using their own rules. So much content is now mediated through
"platforms" that are beholden to a complex network of surveillance capitalism
and its economic pressures.

It's actually refreshing to see someone doing their own thing, like, truly
their own thing.

That said, the dude could use some CSS-skills.

Although I can totally imagine the reaction of someone like that to modern web
frameworks. He might be inspired to roll-his-own... he did with EDA CAD as the
creator of KISSCAD.

------
hk__2
The sitemap here is quite impressive:
[https://ludens.cl/sitemap.htm](https://ludens.cl/sitemap.htm)

~~~
analog31
Indeed, and I would note that it appears to be written in plain HTML which
means it will probably be both searchable (in an archive somewhere) and
readable on a browser 100 years from now.

~~~
akerro
You're assuming Google won't deprecate HTML in favour of dynamic JS in the
next few years.

~~~
notamerican
You're assuming I care about what Google does ;)

------
gnufx
Of historical interest, it's the sort of thing you might do if you were a
Victorian industrial magnate, for some value of "home":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside)

~~~
nitrogen
Incredible. Basically a "smart house" powered by water, well over a century
ago. Gives inspiration that, despite the current cesspool that is the Internet
of S$$$, over long enough timespans some of the better inventions
(dishwashers, lighting, vacuum cleaners) will stop being "home automation" and
just become "home".

~~~
gnufx
Powered by "renewables" I suppose.

------
bytematic
Wow I am absolutely sucked into this website, I want to scroll it forever. God
I'm so jealous, albeit I'm only 24, but I really want to learn how to do all
this stuff and move out to somewhere far away.

~~~
amelius
The website might be packed with information, but still I find it
disappointing that the author starts by describing a controller while leaving
the reader totally in the dark about what its function is. Also, but this may
be forgivable given the target audience, I'd prefer to read a little
introduction about what a microhydro plant really is, and its principle of
operation.

~~~
esoterae
The controller has its own complete page, and the link is at the bottom of
this page.

------
m_herrlich
I cannot even imagine the legal sh!tstorm that would ensue from attempting
this here in the PNW, the environmental impact looks quite significant.

~~~
Flavius
It looks like a good way to ruin an entire ecosystem.

~~~
theelous3
Running water through pipes is going to destroy the surrounding forests how
exactly?

It might modify where the wetter parts of the area are, but I don't think that
equates to destroying it.

~~~
SECProto
As the article says, it diverts most of the flow during low-flow periods (i.e.
summer) which means there would not be much left for fish passage. Might be
fine, might not, I don't know enough about the ecosystem to say.

Additionally, there are some definite issues with sedimentation during
construction. They excavated the channel to the intake and put all the dirt
from the excavation into the stream for it to "carry away"[1]. This would not
be allowed in most areas I know of - essentially, fish can't breathe if
there's too much dirt in the water. Then several times it overflowed and
eroded the channel - more sedimentation. The author even admitted using
concrete liner would be the better choice, but opted not to because it was
expensive - essentially, this externalized the cost of sedimentation to the
ecosystem.

[1]
[https://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/intake.html](https://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/intake.html)

------
markdown
Love everything about this blog.

The only disappointing thing about his projects was the house he built. You go
out to live in paradise... and decide to make your home in a _cave_ SMH.

Need way more windows:
[https://ludens.cl/paradise/house/814.jpg](https://ludens.cl/paradise/house/814.jpg)

~~~
brianush1
That direct link to the image doesn't seem to work.

------
tkurki
Austrian version of the same theme:
[https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2019/01/03/diy-
ingenuity-...](https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2019/01/03/diy-ingenuity-
hydro-power-mkii-part-i/)

~~~
zild3d
They used an excavator instead of a Gabriel

------
BooneJS
I’m quite certain that any US state’s department of natural resources would
take great exception to diversion of streams.

~~~
mips_avatar
What are the relevant US regulations on doing something like this? I know some
streams are crucial ecologically. But is it mostly regulated on a national,
state or local level?

~~~
jijji
Playing with any water system requires permission from the water management
district in your local area, or the health department, or both. Plans would
need to be drawn and stamped by a civil engineer, inspected and approved and
then final inspected after construction in order to be put to use.

------
dang
Discussed in 2013:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6895582](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6895582)

Related to
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20071836](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20071836)
from yesterday.

------
tgtweak
Gabriel the true hero

------
stevenhuang
The associated article on creating an electronic load controller for his
microhydro system is also very interesting:
[https://ludens.cl/Electron/picelc/picelc.html](https://ludens.cl/Electron/picelc/picelc.html)

~~~
knodi123
jeez, the breadth of knowledge on this guy is just staggering. and then you
explore the rest of his site and learn he's in to half a dozen other highly
technical and time consuming hobbies.

quite an inspiration!

------
m463
So I wonder what caused the choice of the turbine blades?

Is it an impulse turbine (which I believe is the most efficient?)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel)

------
mtw
How much would all this cost in 2019? I'm wondering because I see many more
people turn towards solar panels, or alternatively windmills. First time I see
a hydro plant of this size.

~~~
dmix
The author mentions solar in a later post:

> Another restriction is that there is no power at this place. Bringing power
> here would require a 350 meter long transmission line through dense forest,
> or else installing a solar panel, battery and regulator. Due to the low head
> available between the intake dam and the forebay, a picohydro system to
> provide some power is hardly feasible. Solar power is quite restricted too,
> because the place is in a deep valley and gets only about 3 hours of sun a
> day. Furthermore, in winter there is often no sunny day for a full month! So
> panels would have to be dimensioned to run on diffuse light from the clouds,
> and that needs big panels to produce only a little bit of power.

~~~
ricardobeat
I remember hearing this is a (common) misconception, and that solar panels
will still be at somewhere around 50% efficiency even under heavy clouds.
Maybe they weren't as efficient yet back in 2009.

~~~
londons_explore
My panels disagree.

On a direct-sun day, they generate 4 kilowatts, but under heavy cloud I'm
lucky to get 500w

------
cbluth
This is probably from 2012

~~~
chr1
Most of the images are from 2008 and the html file itself from 2009
[https://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/](https://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/).

There is also an update from 2014
[https://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/intake.html](https://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/intake.html)

------
mongol
I thought it was about some kind of farming.

