Okay... just went through all of the email thread -- I really really appreciate
all of you (some of you quite passionately) posting to help me out..
Now, I am getting a little bit more sense of what is necessary here.. and what
kind of parameters / limitations I need to consider...
Well, as mentioned before, here's a list of parameters that I have to work with:
1) completely off-grid system
2) a big main battery bank (48V @ 1700AH) hooked up to 15KW LP generator for
peak usage backup
3) a rack of Trace (or Xentrax) inverter/charger is hooked up between the LP
generator and the battery bank. It can handle up to 120amps.
4) main battery bank will eventually be hooked up to 3 cabins (one of them
being a 2500 square feet residence!).
5) weekend usage only, but we can assume that it's almost every weekend.
Assume that during the weekend, we'll be using something like 40-50KWH.
6) creek is 800-1000ft away from the battery bank, 120ft head w/ 60-70GPM flow
7) we're willing to spend up to $6,000 on the hydro system, if it can fully
charge the batteries (which would be able to store about 40KWH of usable power
- at 50% discharge limit) during the weekdays.
I think having these parameters will actually help narrow down the choices a
bit... Basically, we're hoping that with the hydro charging the batteries
throughout the week when no one is there, we won't need to use the LP generator
(especially with the skyrocketing price of propane these days) as much.
So, it is not an option for me to run directly off of the AC hydrogenerator...
it has to charge up the battery bank (b/c of the high usage during the
weekend). And because of the high storage of the battery bank, we would like
to get as much power out of the stream as possible (i.e., minimize power loss).
Now, many of you guys are talking about rectifiers and transformers and
alternators and induction motors, etc... I'm sorry, but I have a hard time
understanding that.. (please have patience, I'm a newbie!) So far, I've
basically figured out what an inverter/charger does... I understand AC & DC,
and I understand the basic way that voltage and amperage works. But I don't
know what a rectifier does... does it convert AC to DC?? But wouldn't my
inverter/charger do that for me? What's an alternator?
Anyway, for that reason, I am having a bit of a hard time understanding what is
actually being suggested by many of your postings. Hopefully, with the
parameters that I listed above set, it will narrow down the range of
possibilities... It seems like some of you were being very creative with what I
could do! That's great, and I really appreciate that.. but the reality is that
my range of possibilities isn't that wide... so with my parameters, perhaps all
those ideas with rectifiers and alternators would not be applicable?? Not sure.
Now, moving onto the things that I DO understand...
I see that some of the postings have suggested that I just get a DC
hydrogenerator and just get thick #2 wires to transmit the power up to the
battery bank 800-1000ft away. That's an idea that I at least understand. I
also understand that DC current is safer than AC. But I also understand that
DC current doesn't travel as well as AC -- even with a #2 wire, wouldn't the
power loss be pretty significant? Even at something like 48V, wouldn't the
loss be significant? And the added cost of a #2 wire is also something that
I'm concerned about, as it will add about $700 more to the wiring, right? But
I'm open to suggestions. If DC generators are cheaper than AC generators and
the power loss over #2 wires is not that much, maybe I can buy into that...
Any thoughts on this?
Another posting suggested that I get a DC hydrogenerator powering a small
battery bank, and then use an inverter to convert it to AC and make it
travel... that's something that I also understand... And I DO have a small
battery bank (just a 1KWH storage system)... so that idea sounds intriguing.
Basically, I would put the small battery bank and the extra cheap inverter down
at the stream next to the DC hydrogenerator, and let the hydrogenerator charge
the batteries, and let the inverter convert the battery voltage to AC and push
it for 1000 ft, right? Now, I'm just wondering what advantage this particular
system would have over me just getting an AC hydrogenerator to begin with
(since it looks like this system is basically "simulating" an AC
hydrogenerator). Wouldn't it be simpler to just buy an AC hydrogenerator? Or
maybe there's some nice advantage to having this DC->batteries->inverter->AC
system that I'm not seeing?
Anyway, this is sort of where I'm at here.. Hopefully that gives you a better
idea of my knowledge level and my situation. When there's all these parameters
& limitations, sometimes the job becomes easier - and hopefully this is one of
those situations where the limitations that I have @ my site actually makes the
job easier.
Thank you again for all your postings, it has been tremendously helpful..
although at times I didn't really understand what all those terms meant...
Please have patience with me, I'm learning as fast as I can.
Thank you again, I really appreciate it.
--Daniel
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Meet the all-new My Yahoo! � Try it today!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?
Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Does your company feature in the microhydro business directory at
http://microhydropower.net/directory ? If not, please register free of charge
and be exposed to the microhydro community world wide!
NOTE: The advertisements in this email are added by Yahoogroups who provides us
with free email group services. The microhydro-group does not endorse products
or support the advertisements in any way.
More information on micro hydropower at http://microhydropower.net
To unsubscribe: send empty message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microhydro/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
