Building Hydroelectric Water Wheel from Scratch for Powering an Off Grid Cabin

all right you guys want to show you something really cool okay our neighbor this is how he gets electricity he's got this wheel right here and that's how he gets electricity is that cool pretty sweet so this is what that wheel turns bro look at that that generates electricity isn't that cool the water's running through that duct right there see that it's coming from up here where the creek is see and that's how he gets electricity see the lights in there to his house that is so awesome right bro that cool [Music] all right so is this all we need adjustable wrench some gloves and a pry bar you've replaced the water wheel a few times a few times yeah all right so our plan today is to take this old wheel out of here and roll it up to the shop where we can work on it and assess the situation oh rounded away yeah so the plan is now to just take this thing apart you're calling these the buckets so we need to take those out [Music] [Applause] that's the sprocket that the chain attaches to right all right [Music] this is the one we're hoping to use that's gonna be the new one a new one [Music] here oh wow let's see you got one of those right there i got one to try out to make sure it works [Music] so then this goes on there [Music] and then the weight of the water just kind of pushes up against this all right so check it out here's how i'm gonna get all of these buckets to be the same as my master template here this is the one that i made at al's house but i was just using the jigsaw which is not nearly as accurate as the chop saw that i have here slide this bucket all the way up against that edge slide it out until it hits this i have it positioned so that it stops right where i need it to stop i cut it right there then i slide it it hits on this block that i have set up and i drop the saw and it cuts there and stops right where i want it to [Music] hey y'all hey y'all good to see ya so see it does have a tree in the middle when he said that the house was being held up by a tree like what and it really is yeah [Music] where the buckets are going to go yeah that's what all these lines are first they figured out when i laid it out for 16 which is how many buckets we got way too close so i took two out and figured out the spacing for 14. so that was a little close too so what i'm doing is putting spacers in here oh and that tips it back a little bit more room to get in there [Music] [Music] all right agents well we got all of the buckets on the wheel al was working on cutting these metal angle iron pieces and i screwed in the buckets while he did that and it's even spinning and balancing so like i can spin it and it will stay put so so far on this like very perfectly round log that we have going through the center oh yeah you were talking about that earlier now that we have this together i was thinking of putting this uh yeah this metal strapping the buckets are connected together tie them all together yeah i think that's a good idea that's nice and tight all the way around all right agents so we got all the buckets on here and now it's finally time to flip this thing on its side and start working on the gear this is the shaft that's gonna be in the center of all those gears and sprockets and everything yeah we gotta get all this as precise as possible centered on the wheel itself so there's no wobbling going on when it's spinning it's got to be balanced okay oh that's so easy you don't even need a cheater bar oh wow these bolts on here oh yeah that looks awesome i'm gonna bend them back a little more but oh you can just tap it down yeah that's going to be trying to kind so al's got this all marked out where these are going to line up holes are going to go in there [Music] this is going to sit on there i got to drill holes here and here which will attach this to these and then the rails will attach to the wheel [Music] [Music] this thing is looking so cool agents this uh man this is gonna be a hefty sprocket setup we got going on here [Music] all right so al went to the hardware store and found some fittings and pipes that might [Music] allow us to have this uh rod going down the center actually fit tight around the spool [Music] so the hose clamp goes two and a quarter from the end [Music] and then the rubber sleeve goes over top of that to create a nice tight seal [Music] around the rod that goes through the spool all right so al got this end put together i'm gonna do the same on this side we got metal rod coming through and the pipe is a sleeve and this is going to go over top of that pipe and then this is going to go over top of everything the old tin candle so this whole thing is held on by these four bolts that we're putting in so the bolt goes through there through the plastic spool and tightens down with this heart [Music] we got a break in the weather so we're gonna take advantage and try and do some concrete work down here [Music] so [Music] all right well al's been working he's been busy since i was last here we were on vacation i got this thing made up yeah put that old plate bolted to this [Music] little hole there bolted in just like we did on the other side ready to actually put it in place today that's great [Music] so all that concrete work has solidified so we just need to take the bolts off of here the south family is here to watch us put it in place so excited it is the most beautiful day ever you're ready see who's gonna help he's gonna hold the wheel put it in place himself all right hello we're waiting for him to do all the work perfect it's almost like you designed it that way it's already gone it's been an entire winter coming you need all that yeah [Applause] good agent rainbow oh amazing how he can sleep wake me up when you get that wheel working ready all right we're ready all right open the floodgates [Applause] [Music] oh it's spinning backwards hey it's going backwards [Music] that's awesome oh my gosh that is so cool wow so the south family was home and everybody was so excited including al and i to actually see the wheel spinning so we went ahead and opened up the door over there and let the water flow through and we all enjoyed watching it spin for a while none of it was actually hooked up so it wasn't generating electricity or working as it's going to eventually but we're all just so excited to watch it that is a huge mission accomplished today so now it's in place and spinning now it's just time for the fine tuning to get all this lined up and the chain and the sprocket and everything together [Music] all right also we're ready to generate power [Music] while you were on vacation yeah sure yeah oh wow oh yeah this was the old door yeah this that new one's a lot nicer oh lined up with the string and bring it down and i made new covers here oh nice you have to put new research fittings on there so you raise that up a bit so the water yeah this looks like it's going to work really well and this stand up here a lot easier so you can step through here and stand right there i see they don't gain too much weight [Music] yeah it's a narrow opening here and we haven't really gotten a look at any of this since we started the project so these are all the new grease fittings here this chain is going on the underside of the sprocket al says now these are the parts i usually drop in the creek at some point yeah there it is quick yeah it's gone connected and it goes up in that groove goes behind there wraps around and then back down all right so al's gonna add some grease to this chain while i spin the wheel here just add some extra lubrication on this sprocket we made it all the way around the chain with grease so now we know it's well lubricated here all right agents so when the water comes down the chute it's going to hit the wheel and that's going to cause the wheel to spin as the wheel spins the sprocket will spin that causes this chain to move like it's moving right now when this sprocket spins the sprocket inside spins as this sprocket spins it connects to that one right there a lot of spinning going on here when this sprocket spins this belt spins yeah this is just an old alternator okay off an old chevy puts out 12 volts just like a car this is a switch to turn it on and there's another house you have to get 12 volts here to excite it so that that light is the key and if that lights up and on the back of this alternator our wires that are connected here and those wires run from the alternator there through these wires over to the switch and that switch runs down these wires right here down to al's house oh so this is weird okay this is the switch that connects the water wheel all right there's a water wheel right here yeah i just put that on this morning so you know so we throw that flip the switch oh yes thank you connects out okay so that that connects it so now that if if we turn it on and it generates electricity it'll send it through here and it'll go into these batteries oh my gosh did you do that copper yeah that is cool great they've never gotten any corrosion on wow so you just flattened it and drilled a hole in it so cool so now that light out there should be oh there's another switch outside right there right here oh there's the light okay so we've got 12 okay all right so oh there it goes is it running oh there it goes wow what do you think of that tracker what do you think of that oh man so we open the gate there just a little bit you can see the water sucking through there that swirling this game looks great a little bit okay right now it's just opened up a little bit just just again okay it's not enough right now all right so i'll just switch it on i'm just gonna go all the way with the water now all right not all the way spin it fast now that really started humming yeah suzy kicked that out oh it's skipping on that sprocket a little bit it like patches oh you just adjusted that so uh is there like a meter somewhere that we can see okay 13.6 wow all right so so it's a 12 volt system right yeah all right so that means we have success right so how would you say that this is working compared to how you had it working in the past okay all right so that's success too to me like that feels like real success yeah it's not like we you know it's like a subpar deal you have going on here it's it's working as well as it was in the past i'm happy i'm happy too i am so happy that that we were able to learn from this experience mainly you i'm excited i haven't even watched the video i don't even know really how you did this you know uh and i'm just so excited to learn by watching the process of you accomplishing this ever since we first came here the first time we visited his cabin this was running and i was like whoa that is so cool and i was kind of like sad over the years to see it you know not working and i'm just super happy that we were able to take part in this process and we're so grateful for you al from letting us take part in this process and sharing this with us uh we're super grateful for that thank you so much never would have got it done without you maybe one day not this year or anything not this yeah maybe maybe eventually he would have got it done and maybe one day i don't know we can make our own like mini micro system we have springs on our property that can generate electricity not a whole lot but enough to do something fun so maybe we'll try it out someday on our property al was saying that this is running really efficiently with the door being open as much as it is right now if that door was open anymore i think there would be too much water and the water would probably just shoot over the top of the buckets of the water wheel but right now we found the sweet spot to get just enough water to where it will hit the buckets and make everything spin and run efficiently and generate as much electricity as is necessary al you have this name written here above your bar here what's the significance of this uh name oh that was my nephew at the side of campus he had been up here not too long before i got the first water wheel going and then after he died i was feeling all bummed out and i thought oh what could i do that he would want me to do get that water we were going and it was almost finished so i finished it and got it running and named this after him awesome thank you for sharing that with us that's that's really inspiring like that right now that that really hits me because i've been having a lot of issues lately mentally and um it it helps to put things in perspective and you know we're still here but we have life and something to do and you know health and some you know energy to do things and so what would you know people who are gone want us to do or have passed away or passed on that's that's really that's really uh really good perspective thank you for sharing that out you're welcome yeah thanks i had such a great experience building this yeah i'm so glad to help [Music] you

Channel: ADVENTURE AGENTS

Views: 1,195,123

Keywords: adventure agents, agent db, agent strong man, agent strongman, hydroelectric, water wheel, off grid, off grid electricity, agent tex, agent trinity, agent axe, agent hummingbird, agent rainbow, agent tracker, hydroelectric power, hydroelectric water wheel, water power

Id: 5teYg7t--wg

Length: 28min 46sec (1726 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 23 2022