Curious — what would you spin yours with? A lawnmower engine, a pressure washer, or a creek on your land? Drop it below with your state. I'm keeping a running tally of what people actually have sitting in the shed.

The apparatus was cheap, but re-routing the creek to go past my house was 21 million.

I built one of these charging units using a second-hand 100A alternator and small horizontal shaft Honda engine. A couple of things I would like to point out, I used a 2 to1 pully ratio thinking that the engine would only have to run at half the revs to turn the alternator at 3000 RPM, but at 1500 RPM the engine has little torque and immediately stalls when a load is applied to the alternator, so I changed it to 1:1 and fixed that issue. The other thing worth noting is to ensure that the alternator is rotating in the right direction so that its cooling fan pushes hot air out and away rather than scooping it in. Finally, the engine is very difficult to start when the drive belt is under tension, so you need to have it loose on the pully then tension it after the engine starts.

For those who don't have a running creek or a brook, there is probably an AI video on how to build one with an old bathtub, a rain barrel and the gutters from your house.

Oh AI, you had me at "river"...

I just got all the neighborhood squirrels to run in a wheel belted to the alternator!
They think I'm nuts!

Step 1: Have a creek on your property

Well, shit… I’m outta luck 😂

I built one with a second hand horizontal shaft engine a one wire gm type alternator a lawnmower battery and an inverter.  It’s all mounted on a pressure washer frame.    It works great better than any generator and it supplements my off grid solar system

Just an idea I had and discussed with my friend Chad Geppetto: let the creek drive a turbine continuously, then use a clutch/transmission system to decide what that mechanical power does. When electricity is needed, engage the alternator; when it isn't, disengage it and couple the shaft to a mechanical load—a mill, pump, flywheel, etc. You can even stage multiple alternators and mechanical loads as demand changes. Batteries are optional, as is an improved diversion dam feeding your artificial millrace channel.

This is the ingenuity that made this country great.
Great story, thank you.:face-red-heart-shape:

always wanted to hook my broke down 3500 chevy van up to a windmill in northern arizona but didnt know how to do it correctly. glad to find this video and your channel!

I have a peltan wheel on an alternator spun by hydro from a 700' 3" PVC pipe with 90' total drop. My first generator was a 2.5 HP edger driving a $30 50 amp generator externally regulated with a Dodge voltage regulator.

I had a friend who built a vehicle to compete in car audio competitions. He was running 3 alternators off each other with a longer serpentine belt. Worked way better then one 😅

That's the secret of being off grid and away from civilization.You need a natural source of RUNNING WATER,A creek,a brook,a stream,And it can't be seasonal It has to flow full time for you to be self electricity sufficient

I would use every one if I had the chance. Seeing this would make me try to get the creek set up. Lawn mower or pressure washer next.

I would love to know where you are buying 80 dollar deep cycle batteries I just bought one brand new and it was 200 dollars and alternator was 150 dollars

I was literally just thinking about this today thank God for this post brotha

Great tutorial. Thank you very much for your time and effort.

That's how We Tennessee Folk Roll 😉❤. Thank You for Sharing

Thank you for spelling out the exact pieces and how it works together.