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The If you encounter no or low wattage output, the water bucket could be covered with leaves or the micro-hydro system uses a 's brushless generator could have lost its magnetism. Only a few leaves on the mesh that luckily doesnsits on the bucket can drastically reduce the system't require any maintenance - _as far as we know_s performance. The water bucket next to the water reservoir needs to be cleaned once a week.
If you encounter no or low wattage output, Note: We originally believed the water bucket could generator to be covered with leaves or the microa self-hydro's brushless excited asynchronous generator could have lost its (SEIG), which depends on residual magnetism. Only a few leaves on the mesh that sits on the bucket can drastically reduce the system's performanceto begin generating. The water bucket next to the water reservoir needs to be cleaned once a week.following paragraph was written with this assumption:
Added information about the motor itself.
The Micro Hydro Turbine system outputs around 60-110 W all day long. We currently don't have any accurate information on its original efficiency, head, or other characteristics. Please update this section and the micro-hydro page if you know more.
# System information
The micro-hydro system uses a pelton wheel turbine connected to a single-phase permanent magnet synchronous brushless generator (seemingly custom built), allowing for efficient output with little to no maintenance required (do grease the bearings now and then please). The output of the motor is fed through a full bridge rectifier (Sensata-Crydom M5060SB400) and directly into the battery. This results in a suboptimal yet reliable charge power of ~100W typical, compared to a theoretical maximum of 200-300W (pending further investigation).
The motor consists of 12 slots on the stator and 6 magnets on the rotor. Maximum open circuit voltage is around 31.3V AC RMS (directly from the motor) at 163 Hz and 40V DC rectified (no load). Motor AC Kv is 196mV/Hz and DC Kv is 255mV/Hz.
The motor terminals were extremely badly corroded until a replacement on 2021/1/28, which significantly boosted output power.
# Maintenance and troubleshooting
The brushless generator loses its magnetism if the generator is stopped with a load on the system or spins for a long time while disconnected from the batteries. Therefore, it is recommended to disconnect the wires from the batteries before closing the main valve to stop the generator. If the system doesn't output energy even though it is spinning and connected, try to flash the magnetic field of the generator using the guidelines below.
## How to flash the hydro generator
Note: We originally believed the generator to be a self-excited asynchronous generator (SEIG), which depends on residual magnetism to begin generating. The following section was written with this assumption:
You have to flash the magnetic field of the generator if it loses its magnetic field. Residual magnetism in the generator exciter field allows the generator to build up voltage during start-up. This magnetism is sometimes lost due to shelf time or improper operation, among other reasons. Restoring this residual magnetism is possible and is sometimes referred to as "flashing the exciter field". [^flash-batteries]
