Found this video last night and thought it was a pretty neat project. This could be a backup power source for a Tiny House for those who have water near them. This setup puts out 56 volts, 10 amps for a total of 560 watts. Now I have yet to see how well it does under load and that will be the real test, but I really like this idea and I think it is simple enough for people to wrap their heads around. This project will cost about $300-$400, but I think it would be a fun tinkering project.
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I think you could do it for much less than that. The bucket is $5 new from any home depot, the wheel itself could be scrap, the pvc elbows are about a buck a piece. He used an expensive store bought alternator, but the drive motor from a treadmill could do just as nicely, and generally works from free craigslist devices. His rectifier seems very high rated, a more reasonable one is a $3 part from radio shack. Only the water line is a variable, but as long as the generator was near the source, it should still be quite affordable.
In many (all?) places you need a license to install micro-hydro. Just like other water uses – just because it runs thru your property doesn’t mean its yours to use.
@et: Even if he’s not creating a dam or polluting the water? I see no reason why this would be forbidden if done the way it’s shown in the video. There are people that to dip in a stream, dam it with rocks to raise the water’s level, which doesn’t seem to be a problem, and this guy isn’t even doing that.
@Grant: Can the drive motor from a treadmill generate that much energy from such a low RPM?