The $50 Water Turbine -DIY, Portable, Powerful, and Open Source

Sun, 31 May 2026 11:23:05 +0000

Details on materials, tools, and step by step build instructions are available (free) at:
https://opensourcelowtech.org/water_turbine.html

https://patreon.com/OpenSourceLowTech

This open source turbine can be built for about half the cost of a 120 watt solar panel, and will produce about ten times the power per day. It can be plugged into any appropriate waterway without the need for earthworks, and uses only basic off the shelf and recycled materials, and basic hand tools.
The turbine is now working and producing power.

3D Printer filament sponsored by 3D Printz UK: https://3dprintz.co.uk/

This technology was produced in partnership with COACT, an open source green tech incubator in Barcelona.

And thanks to the good people at Ca La Fou (https://calafou.org/) for the rest.

The website: https://opensourcelowtech.org
The Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/opensourcelowtech.org/
And the Facebook group (which is the main discussion forum): https://www.facebook.com/groups/opensourcelowtech/

My name is Daniel Connell. I prototype and develop basic technologies which anyone can make using recycled materials and simple tools.
The aim is for everyone everywhere to be able to build and maintain their own infrastructure; producing their own energy, food, clean water, communications, and anything else they need.
All designs are open source and license free for any purpose, and full construction tutorials and how-tos are available on the opensourcelowtech.org website.

A couple people have asked if I sell the file for the 3D printed impeller. I don't, it's free:
STL (mesh, 28 MB): https://drive.google.com/open?....id=18NuQbyD55YhnAM9a
Iges (nurbs, 14 MB): https://drive.google.com/open?....id=1HL_y-HwpomukQ7OR
Feel free to play around and experiment with them however you like, but please let me know how it goes and what your results are, as that's always good to see.
It seemed to work ok, but I'm going to instead be using computer cooling fans as they seem to do higher revs at lower toque, and be a lot more accessible in other parts of the world.