>>>*I keep looking for the "Fatal Flaw" in my own thoughts on generating power from a small source. I see the need since power rates should just about triple within a decade, perhaps sooner if oil keeps going up. (And it will)..

The big one was the real world cost of hooking up to the main power grid. So I spent a week trying to figure out a way to do it for say...$30.00???....*LOL**...

It hit me after reading the O/P that there was the answer..*THANK YOU!!...(Two heads is better than one my Daddy always said.)

So...12 Volt lighting it is, easy stuff and no need to call the government. Big expense is the battery pack, bet I can find one cheap and maybe free.

The charger will be a simple alternator, two of them in tandem if I have to, they need to run at about 1500 RPM and the regulator is built right in. Now I need to figure out how much water weight it takes to generate enough torque to spin the alternator, then control the water flow.

We have plenty of water since we have 200 GPH running into the main tank and we aren't using 2% of it so just spill the excess on down the creek. Install a shutoff valve and adjust it until I get it right, easy stuff.

The same thing can be done with wind power if the source is steady, those are tougher to build because they need braking to control the fan speed.

I winder how hard it would be to convert a simple passenger car ABS system to that? Heck if brakes will stop a car I bet they could slow down a fan...

*Hmmmmm.....

*Now you guys know why I get up at 4 AM...... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.....*EB