- Joined
- May 13, 2021
- Messages
- 1,978
We have been off grid for almost 15 years using solar and generators for power. Batteries are an ongoing issue. Not that we have had a lot of problems but batteries need replacing every 5+ years. All the batteries we have used here were used when we got them so not overly expensive but moving a ton of batteries every few years is getting harder and harder on me as I get older. Plus my battery connection is no more. Recently we started using LifePO4 batteries in a golf cart and I love them. BUT I can NOT afford to replace our entire household battery bank with them. It's taking me a year to pay for the very small set for the GC. They should last 10+ years, possibly even 20 or more years. I seriously doubt I will be around that long due to poor health.
A year or two ago I got the bright idea of trying to mix solar and hydro in a pumped storage system. Using a pond as a battery of sorts. Plus I always wanted a pond anyway. lol On sunny days solar could pump a pond full and bleed it off for power at night and on cloudy days. A ram pump is also a slight possibility from one of our two creeks but our creeks have little fall and are nearly a 1/4 mile from the creek to where the house is and where the new house will one day go both. I will grant I did not research this idea before jumping in with both feet because as I said I wanted a pond anyway so if it doesn't work I still got my pond it just won't have the bonus of making power for us.
I started on the pond build a little while back, actually it started off as a simple berm to put a fence across and the more I worked and the more I looked and noticed things the more the idea started taking form. I still have no idea if it will work but I do know the area has about 40 inches of water sitting in it caught from runoff of the last storm. When I started leaning toward doing the pond and not just a berm I still wasn't really thinking of making power from it. I was just thinking of a small pond maybe encompassing a total area of an eighth acre or so but fairly deep for the surface area size. Anyway the project has grown and now it may end up being closer to a half acre than an eighth. With the size / volume increase I got to thinking more and more about the possibility of using it as a battery of sorts for power storage. I will have to do tons of research before I can even consider trying to set it up as a power source. But at this point I decided to go ahead and tell folks what I was thinking to see what kinds of feed back and ideas I might get from you folks. I would really like to hear from anyone who has any experience with micro hydro power and or pumping water without power.
A year or two ago I got the bright idea of trying to mix solar and hydro in a pumped storage system. Using a pond as a battery of sorts. Plus I always wanted a pond anyway. lol On sunny days solar could pump a pond full and bleed it off for power at night and on cloudy days. A ram pump is also a slight possibility from one of our two creeks but our creeks have little fall and are nearly a 1/4 mile from the creek to where the house is and where the new house will one day go both. I will grant I did not research this idea before jumping in with both feet because as I said I wanted a pond anyway so if it doesn't work I still got my pond it just won't have the bonus of making power for us.
I started on the pond build a little while back, actually it started off as a simple berm to put a fence across and the more I worked and the more I looked and noticed things the more the idea started taking form. I still have no idea if it will work but I do know the area has about 40 inches of water sitting in it caught from runoff of the last storm. When I started leaning toward doing the pond and not just a berm I still wasn't really thinking of making power from it. I was just thinking of a small pond maybe encompassing a total area of an eighth acre or so but fairly deep for the surface area size. Anyway the project has grown and now it may end up being closer to a half acre than an eighth. With the size / volume increase I got to thinking more and more about the possibility of using it as a battery of sorts for power storage. I will have to do tons of research before I can even consider trying to set it up as a power source. But at this point I decided to go ahead and tell folks what I was thinking to see what kinds of feed back and ideas I might get from you folks. I would really like to hear from anyone who has any experience with micro hydro power and or pumping water without power.