WaterLily Turbine: Gimmick or Gamechanger?

[ExplOregon]

Hey Everyone,

Has anyone attempted to use the WaterLily Turbine as a supplemental power source for charging their camper battery? Doesn't look like it will provide a ton of wattage, but the ability to provide an additional charge overnight could be a nice addition? There's also the ability to use it in wind turbine mode... Looks like they provide alligator clips or SAE plugs in the bundle so you could easily plug into the external ports on a FWC assuming you had a battery monitor...

Some of the drawbacks that I could foresee:

1. Voltage/wattage drop from long cable from turbine to camper. Would have to park fairly close to the water's edge. Although in wind turbine mode, you wouldn't need as long of a cable.
2. Would require windy conditions or streams with a good flow rate
3. Low wattage output might not be worth the effort/expense

What does everyone else think?

#notsponored #notaffiliated

 

[ExplOregon]

Ah sorry I posted this to the wrong forum.

Can a @moderator move this to the Electrical, charging, power, etc forum? Or delete it and i can repost...?

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Ah sorry I posted this to the wrong forum.

Can a @moderator move this to the Electrical, charging, power, etc forum? Or delete it and i can repost...?

Done

 

[Jon R]

The thing’s maximum output is 15 watts, so about 1 amp-hour per hour charging a 12 volt battery under ideal conditions.

 

[ExplOregon]

The thing’s maximum output is 15 watts, so about 1 amp-hour per hour charging a 12 volt battery under ideal conditions.

Very true. Not much output. Under ideal conditions, that's ~24aH over 24hrs, which isn't much, but it's also not nothing.

What do you think about the concept though? Seems like it could be a good idea if improved in the long run. If they were able to increase the size of the unit in order to increase output to 30-40W then it would be a pretty good supplemental power source to solar, especially in cloudy/rainy weather, aka much of the PNW most of the year. Although I'm no engineer so I'm not sure how big the unit would need to be to crank out 30-40W or if larger diameter blades = more power.

 

[dennis 221]

For that price I would just buy a bug out external solar panel for a few dollars more

 

[JaSAn]

In the US, putting a generator in a stream crossing your own property you need a permit.
How does this work on public land?

 

[ExplOregon]

For that price I would just buy a bug out external solar panel for a few dollars more

Ya that definitely could be the better option depending on your weather conditions. I was just thinking it could be a good alternate power source for boondocking in rainy/cloudy conditions. Solar is not going to help you much there even with extra panels. Plus you get the added benefit of generating power overnight.

 

[ExplOregon]

In the US, putting a generator in a stream crossing your own property you need a permit.
How does this work on public land?

Hi JaSAn - ya I was wondering about that as well.

I wonder if the regulations are different if it's a temporary generator vs permanent. Last thing we would want would be a ton of generators clogging up streams or people modifying rocks and stream flows in order to concentrate flows for ideal power generation.

There is still the wind turbine option although that's less reliable than hydro.

 

[ExplOregon]

Another thought that I had after reading another forum post on hooking up a Noco battery charger via the SAE/Zamp port on the side of a FWC or similar camper is whether the voltage coming from the WaterLily would be enough to pass through the MPPT controller.

This is a little outside my wheelhouse, but from what I understood from the other forum post is the the MPPT prefers the higher voltage coming off the solar panels to run effectively. Therefore the voltage coming off the WaterLily would need to be much higher than 12v (IDK how much) in order to register with MPPT controller.

Long story short, sounds like it would be best to connect the WaterLily directly to the camper battery via alligator clamps / ring terminals vs using the existing SAE port on the side of the camper... Does that sound right?