Got a question for car and electronic buffs

[SeverdSoul]

I've got some land up in the mountians here, that is to far to run power to, well affordably anyway. When you are talking 14miles plus to a power line, i dont think it would be wise finacialy.
My idea quite simple in therory, yet i have not dont it yet, still scrounging parts.
But You can buy a 250amp alternator for a car for about $450
Route that to a deep cell battery, from the battery go to a power inverter
easily purchased at any location, from there off one of the plug ins go to a
low wat low amp 1/4 hp motor from there go to a belt and pully system which will spin the alternator.
Anyone see anything wrong with this lasting forever, or at least until the battery quits charging in a few years? My therory is to use one inverter outlet for running the DC motor, and put a nother DC motor to run lights and stuff in the cabin. There are 5,000wat continous inverters for sale.
Granted this wont run huge items, but for basic house hold stuff for a cabin, it should be a endless supply of power. (endless being the life of the battery usualy 4-5 years or so)
Anyone see anything i'm not with this?
I think it would work, i'm also considering doing away with the battery and going to a 75amp solar panel which will give enough power to start it, once started the motor will keep the alternator running.

 

[David Bridgen]

Sorry to have to disappoint you, SeverdSoul, but you have described a variant of the "perpetual motion machine" which is impossible.

In all systems there are losses, electrical ones and mechanical ones, which waste energy. You can't get more energy from a system than the energy you put in.

You can't magically "generate" energy, you can only convert it from one form to another and there are always losses in the conversion process.

 

[tansis]

Have you any running water on this land?

 

[SeverdSoul]

Yes, there is a small year round creek, i was thinking of setting up a water wheel with some pullys and gears to go to the alternator, but i was thinking about it, and if you can run a motor off the convertern which will run the alternator and charge the battery, it would elimenate the need for a water wheel. thus allowing it to be placed anywhere.
Granted you would not be running any heavy appliances with a set up like this even with the 5,000watt inverter, if you could even run one that big.
But it has potential as a idea, even if you use the main set up of a
alternator running a 300 to 600 amp inverter off the battery, and from that go back to the alternator to keep it running, and with a nother plug to go a nother motor and alternator set up to run the power from to avoid drawing to much power and eventualy crashing the main system.

 

[k7elp60]

Watt is watts. Your 1/4 hp motor will only generate about 180 watt if your system is 100 efficient. 1 hp = 746 watts.

 

[zevon8]

Even semi-long term, people will run a diesel generator to bring up batteries, along with solar panels. Even a small single cylinder utility motor and generator can produce alot of power cheaply.

Add to this that using propane or natural gas to run the real power pigs like hot water, cooking and laundry, and it's quite feasible to go "off-grid."

 

[williB]

I've got some land up in the mountians here, that is to far to run power to, well affordably anyway. When you are talking 14miles plus to a power line, i dont think it would be wise finacialy.
My idea quite simple in therory, yet i have not dont it yet, still scrounging parts.
But You can buy a 250amp alternator for a car for about $450
Route that to a deep cell battery, from the battery go to a power inverter
easily purchased at any location, from there off one of the plug ins go to a
low wat low amp 1/4 hp motor from there go to a belt and pully system which will spin the alternator.
Anyone see anything wrong with this lasting forever, or at least until the battery quits charging in a few years? My therory is to use one inverter outlet for running the DC motor, and put a nother DC motor to run lights and stuff in the cabin. There are 5,000wat continous inverters for sale.
Granted this wont run huge items, but for basic house hold stuff for a cabin, it should be a endless supply of power. (endless being the life of the battery usualy 4-5 years or so)
Anyone see anything i'm not with this?
I think it would work, i'm also considering doing away with the battery and going to a 75amp solar panel which will give enough power to start it, once started the motor will keep the alternator running.

is it windy? a lot of the time? if so check out this site..
https://www.otherpower.com/17page1.html
they also have hydro power stuff on there..at the bottom of the page..

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

But it has potential as a idea, even if you use the main set up of a
alternator running a 300 to 600 amp inverter off the battery, and from that go back to the alternator to keep it running, and with a nother plug to go a nother motor and alternator set up to run the power from to avoid drawing to much power and eventualy crashing the main system.

No it doesn't! - perpetual motion machines DON'T WORK, you can't create energy from nothing.

Start with your battery fully charged!.

You draw current from the battery to feed the inverter, you make losses in the wiring and the battery itself - say 5% under heavy load.

The inverter will probably be 80% efficient or so, that's another 20% gone.

That feds to a motor, probably only 50% efficient?, that's 50% gone!.

That then feeds to an alternator, another 50% gone!.

All it would do is rapidly drain your battery, without any other load on it.

 

[spuffock]

A well known American saying goes"THERE AINT NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH". Withthe grammar corrected, believe it.

 

[Oznog]

There's lots of viable alternative power strategies.
Solar's good, wind's good. Both are a bit unreliable pending the weather, so you need large batteries.
Water power is a bit trickier to run, and is sort of seasonal.

It may be handy to have a generator around for backup. You could set that up to run off of the propane too. Some people take delight in making methane digesters, biodiesel, or the like to power a generator, but note the important difference between a desire to explore "green" power sources versus just wanting to avoid a grid hookup for practical reasons. Also generator noise varies enormously with the type of generator and how it's installed.

The appropriate solution varies greatly depending on your power needs. Unfortunately, they are tricky and require some engineering knowledge to put together a good system. Not trying to talk down to you on this point, but as a matter of course after the mention of the "motor driving a generator" machine, you will need to study up a bit or consult someone with experience. Lots of info on the web and books.

BTW, to visualize this- an alternator, generator, whatever turns freely when unloaded and lots of people assume it stays that way. The thing to understand is that when it's run up to an operating speed and loaded down, it is a mechanical load too, that's where the energy comes from. Like comparing pedalling a bike with the rear tire lifted off the ground and pedalling up a steep hill. Takes muscle to crank it. That's why you can't get more power than you started with.

 

[FRIED]

Yes, there is a small year round creek,

Seems your best option. You would have to measure the flow and fall (head) to get an idea of how much power is available.

 

[lavenatti]

It seems as though it would be cheaper and much easier to just get a small gas powered generator.