Building a Mobile Hydroelectric Generator in Alaska | Homestead Rescue

marty matt and kevin begin to construct the hydro wheel [Music] good man yeah let's go i like it i like it i've been sitting here thinking about this micro hydra system for years and uh it sort of embarrasses me that i haven't tried a whack at this myself club kevin is a very smart man he makes money from his patents iq off the charts but kevin's a dreamer i'm a doer that may be the perfect recipe for hydropower all right buddy the last one a year ago marty built a hydro wheel for the rutherford homestead in tennessee but this one could be twice as challenging to avoid legal issues with the alaska department of natural resources done we need to come up with a water wheel that is portable it goes in and it can come out and float on its own it is not attached to the bank with concrete wood beams or anything it's completely independent what do you think i love them marty's hack using two external fuel tanks he bought from a local airplane enthusiast it'll definitely hold the wheel everything's really gonna come down to this gearbox is it going to work or not the gearbox is a key component to generating power the force of the river water will push the paddles rotating the shaft and gearbox at the center of the wheel the gearbox will multiply one rotation of the wheel into 24 rotations of the generator that creates electricity easy easy gentle gentle so i've spent the last two days trying to find parts for a homemade water wheel leaving me one day to finish this thing let her in ah why i'm good are you missing a finger no i don't joke when when my finger gets pinched but thanks for playing in alaska the rainies have just two days to save the tubs family from a deadly power system okay moment of truth by switching their cabin over to hydroelectric but if the hydro wheel fails to launch in the little sisitna river and generate power the tubs will be forced to resort to their dangerous system of jerry-rigged generators don't get near the wheel it's too swift whoa get away then get back get back to safety we got to get to those rapids oh holy crap the hydro wheel is in the little sioux city river it's past its first two tests it floats the pontoons actually work and secondly the cantilevered log is holding it in the most powerful section of the river that's pretty powerful right there okay ready here rock and roll here we go plug it in all the wires are on let's find some power kevin's inside checking to see how much power is coming from our hydro wheel to the inverter and we need seven amps to be able to charge those batteries and make that thing a sustainable power source so that's what we're looking for here we go all right we are plugged in and our wheel is going pretty slow we're at 3.5 amps and we need to get to seven hey dad it's a gearing issue let's just call it [Music] it's not working that thing is dead there's a dark cloud over this homestead and that is a water wheel a lot of time was spent on it to make it work and it doesn't work clock's ticking i have less than 24 hours got to tear it apart i'm in a bind stay tuned at the crack of dawn push it out do not get in front of it the rainies race to complete the final modifications on the hydro wheel in hopes of successfully generating at least seven amps of power abandon all of that gearing and put what they call a link belt an adjustable belt and go entirely around these wooden paddles everything that i've tried thus far has failed but there's two things i haven't tried extend the paddles to catch more water and create more power and more importantly actually putting a belt directly on the wheel directly to the generator a direct drive system takes energy from the wheel and immediately turns it into electricity the larger wheel could allow it to generate more power than the gearbox but only if it works there are no more ideas after this you got to know this right now all the chips on red spin the wheel i'll give you a ball whatever you need all of this has been abandoned you're going in just find out if we got seven amps let's find out i'll be on milwaukee all right now you're cooking point five two three point five three point nine four what's he said four point nine five six six [Music] are you being serious don't mess with me what is it we got 13 14 15. those paddles combined with this new belt that's all you needed 14 15 16. we figured it out we can generate enough power to power the house we have a hydro wheel in the water right now that's actually producing power and that just blows my mind get it i love it [Music] [Laughter] just eight days ago kevin was forced to use a dangerous rat's nest of wires and batteries to generate power now kevin has a functioning hydroelectric system on the little sisitna river sending all the power he needs safely through a new wiring system to his log cabin for just thirteen hundred dollars i can't tell you how thankful i've been that they went all out here it's like a dream come true i think that he can probably sleep a little more soundly knowing that his electrical system is a lot more safe and the area around his home is a lot more safe i mean what more can we ask for thanks again you

Channel: Discovery Australia

Views: 211,525

Rating: 4.8370829 out of 5

Keywords: discovery australia, discovery aus, australian videos, australian youtube videos, discovery australia youtube, Homestead Rescue, Building A Mobile Hydroelectric Generator In Alaska, Hydroelectric Generator In Alaska, Hydroelectric Generator, Marty Raney, homestead in Alaska, Craftsman and survival expert Marty Raney, Craftsman and survival

Id: KMaSEyfd19Y

Length: 7min 56sec (476 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2020