Bucket-borne hydroelectric generator

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By Gareth Branwyn
Posted 2008/06/27 @ 2:24 pm
Category Art & Design, Energy

Pico Hydroelectric Generator in 5 gallon bucket developed by Sam Redfield and tested at La Florida in Guatemala. The generator is meant to be a very small, cheap, low impact generator designed to be used with existing gravity fed irrigation, fresh water, or waste water systems.

BY Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelancer writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture, including the first book about the web (Mosaic Quick Tour) and the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots. He is currently working on a best-of collection of his writing, called Borg Like Me.

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12 Responses to Bucket-borne hydroelectric generator

Max on June 27th, 2008 at 2:59 pm said:

Is there a web page with more info on this project? Are the coils implemented with wirewound resistors? clever!

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tim on June 27th, 2008 at 3:13 pm said:

Yes, more details on construction would be wonderful!

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Leareth on June 27th, 2008 at 3:18 pm said:

A quick google and I found a video of the inventor Sam Redfield explaining it. At least I hope… I have no speakers at ye’ work computer…

http://www.b20-biodiesel.net/Pico_hydro/videos.htm

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Gareth Branwyn on June 27th, 2008 at 3:22 pm said:

The folks who did are http://www.aidg.org. Couldn’t find much in the way of tech specifics poking around their site (which doesn’t mean it’s not there).

There are more pics in their Flickr stream.

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Anonymous on June 28th, 2008 at 8:16 pm said:

Slick design, but you can only get so much energy out of low head-pressure and low mass-flow hydro — I’d love to see the numbers.

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Cat Laine on June 29th, 2008 at 12:27 pm said:

Hey folks,

Cat Laine from AIDG here. Sam wrote up some more info on the system here on our blog:
http://www.aidg.org/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,34/p,1136/

He’s going to try to get me a parts list with some basic specs in the coming week. I’ll post the link here when he does.

Cheers,

Cat

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amanda on June 30th, 2008 at 5:52 pm said:

I’ve been trying to get to aidg.org’s website, with not much success. “this account has been suspended.” Doesn’t always mean it has been, but…

Hope this comes back.

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Bailey Yordie on July 20th, 2011 at 2:48 am said:

I’d love to see plans for this.

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Bailey Yordie on July 20th, 2011 at 2:48 am said:

I’d love to see plans for this.

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Bailey Yordie on July 20th, 2011 at 2:48 am said:

I’d love to see plans for this.

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Bailey Yordie on July 20th, 2011 at 2:48 am said:

I’d love to see plans for this.

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Julian Keesee on December 9th, 2011 at 8:09 pm said:

That would be great in a sewer pipe

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