How to Turn an Old Washer into Useful Hydro Energy #CitizenScience #Energy #DIY
I’m on a quest to learn more about DIY alternative energy, and while last week I investigated wind turbines, this week I decided to look for a decent water turbine. Although not everyone has a stream near their home, for those that do, a turbine can be an interesting addition for energy. This water generator by Angry Ram certainly fills the bill with its up-cycled Fisher&Paykel washing machine. The maker explains how to strip the machine down to the important parts like the tub and rotor. He offers a generous warning about working with the electricity on these appliances and then dives in, adding a Pelton wheel, access hatch and rectifier. There’s some helpful hints along the way like making a pad to protect the bearings, creating a simple gasket for the acrylic hatch and even adding a coat of paint to protect the plastic from UV rays. In the end the rig is attached to a battery bank and an inverter takes voltage from DC to household current. It’s a well thought out tutorial and Angry Ram has created additional videos that explain the initial rewiring of the rotor, as well as the build for the charge controller, which handles the energy levels in the batteries. This setup is producing 21A at 29V, which seems to work well for the maker’s home.
If you are water deprived in your area, you might want to experiment with solar energy. We’ve got a great tutorial that explains how to turn solar energy into a battery charger for your LiPolys. Although you won’t be able to heat your home with this setup, you will be able to charge batteries for your little projects. It’s a great way to supplement energy and also a fun introduction to the science of the sun for younger family members. Go to the light!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Pi Day, GitHub 2FA and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
