# The Waterlily Turbine



## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

This looks really interesting. It is still listed as a pre-order but they are supposed to be available any day now. I might be adding one to my preps if the reviews are positive. Price is around $99. 
https://www.waterlilyturbine.com/






https://www.digitaltrends.com/outdoors/waterlily-micro-turbine/



> The Waterlily Micro Turbine is an innovative way to charge electric devices off the grid - without sunlight. While solar power is an efficient form of energy, this device allows you to keep navigating, chatting, or shooting footage through the night in any season.
> 
> The Waterlily is a dual functioning device that uses either wind or water power to recharge your smartphone or GoPro - so you don't have to stop what you're doing in the backcountry. It's perfect for campers, hikers, paddlers, bicyclers, and anyone living off the grid. This handheld device is designed to be placed in moving water or exposed to gusts of wind, aided by its structural durability.
> 
> ...


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## RedBeard (May 8, 2017)

Those are cool. I wonder if they could be linked together or ran into a charge controler? That would make them very cool. Didn't see anything about the lifespan either.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Are they $9.99 with a credit card? 
Are they made by Ronson? 
Interesting, I think those are a great idea.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

I re-read the article. The SeaLilly is a good idea for sailboats and along larger creeks and rivers. Don't count on wind, it's made of air and is unpredictable and uncooperative. 

Water is more tangible, in my unqualified opinion.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

The blades need speed to work. I can't imagine water would be fast enough. 
Wind? maybe...


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## DKRinAK (Nov 21, 2011)

USB - so ~5VDC - no mention of current produced or the wattage.

Even the Biolite stoves/pots give a wattage.

I'll take a pass.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Looks cool. Ill wait for the reviews and seeing it in action but if it works well most the places I tromp around fishing would be suitable to use it. If it could charge my battery pack overnight that would be awesome. Id have to strap it to the outside of my pack though I think. I like the emergency hand crank option.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

DKRinAK said:


> no mention of current produced or the wattage.
> 
> I'll take a pass.


Yes, you can't make "big" energy from "little" energy.

I just don't see enough "energy flow" through the thing (wind or water) to produce a lot of decent, "usable" energy.

Charging a small battery (over many, many hours) may be the limit of it's capabilities.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I don't know if people were expecting to buy two of these units to power their homesteads or what, but I am pretty sure it was only designed to charge your cell phone or GPS. And for that purpose it looks great. We will know more when the reviews finally come out.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Sentry18 said:


> I don't know if people were expecting to buy two of these units to power their homesteads or what, but I am pretty sure it was only designed to charge your cell phone or GPS. And for that purpose it looks great. We will know more when the reviews finally come out.


vract:
you don't really mean that 2 of these won't run my plasma cutter and air compressor vract:


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Id be interested if it would just charge my battery pack. I have my doubts as I need to plug it in all night to get a full charge but it would be cool if it would. I can charge my phone 3 times off that thing and still have power left for other stuff. A usb charger for AA's would be cool with it. Night vision goes through batteries quick.


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## RedBeard (May 8, 2017)

DKRinAK said:


> USB - so ~5VDC - no mention of current produced or the wattage.
> 
> Even the Biolite stoves/pots give a wattage.
> 
> I'll take a pass.


SPECIFICATIONS
In Water

Minimum Flow Required = 1 km/h (0.7 mph)
Flow for peak power output (25 watts) = 7.2 km/h (4.5 mph)
Maximum water speed = 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
Maximum immersion time = Unlimited!
Minimum Depth = 180 mm (7 in)
Maximum Depth = 10994 m (36070 ft)

In Wind

Minimum Wind Speed Required = 10.8 km/h (6.7 mph)
Wind speed for peak power output (25 watts) = 72 km/h (45 mph)
Maximum wind speed = 90 km/h (55 mph)

Electrical

5V regulated USB Output - 2 Ports
Maximum Power Output = 5A (25 watts)
Direct Charging Cord Length = 3.7 m (12 ft)

Mechanical

Diameter = 180mm (7 in)
Thickness = 75mm (3 in)
Weight ~ 1 kg (2.2 lb)

ABOUT US
Waterlily is being developed by a Canadian start-up company, based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, that designs and manufactures power harvesting systems for the ocean monitoring industry. We have miniaturized the technology so that hikers, campers, paddlers and cyclists can utilize our patent-pending, low-speed turbine while enjoying the outdoors. The four founders of the company are engineers who developed the technology as part of a 6 year multi-disciplinary engineering research project at Memorial University. Our technology was designed to work for long periods of time in the harsh ocean environment and our prototypes have been successfully tested for over 1400 days in real world subsea environments. For more information visit our website at www.seaformatics.ca.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Caribou said:


> It looks perfect for charging my cellphone when I'm somewhere without reception.


You can charge your cell phone with a signal??
Mine can't do that!


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

one must remember that the newer device chargers are for the stay connected crowd, not the disappears without a trace crowd,


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

I just like to charge my phone to read my kindle when out and about. I can store a lot of books on it and reading at night in the hammock is nice. Not necessary but nice. Battery pack and cell phone is lighter than a book or two. Id be more interested in this thing to be able to charge double and triple A's for the life of my rechargable batteries in a prolonged bad situation. Mainly for night visiin or thermal which go through a lot of batteries. Being able to move at night and hole up during the day when most others cant is pretty awesome. Could be life saving.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I am part of the tactical electronics crowd. My primary AR-15's have red dot optics and flashlights. They all use batteries. They all need charging with or without a power grid. Not to mention by GPS, my portable radios, etc.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Sentry18 said:


> I am part of the tactical electronics crowd. My primary AR-15's have red dot optics and flashlights. They all use batteries. They all need charging with or without a power grid. Not to mention by GPS, my portable radios, etc.


Yes, and comms. Comms, nvg's and/or thermals, weapon lights/optics, and gps can all be considered force multipliers imo. Can you do without? Of course. But planning ahead to give yourself an edge is practical and smart. And being able to keep those things operating independent of the grid is just good. Hope this thing works well.


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

What kind of NV gear do you two favor. What batteries do they require? 5v isn't standard on some stuff, others it works fine. just wondering how this turbine would fit with it.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

bacpacker said:


> What kind of NV gear do you two favor. What batteries do they require? 5v isn't standard on some stuff, others it works fine. just wondering how this turbine would fit with it.


That sounds like a new thread to me! I will work on something when I have some time, I am sure others can join in too. I know BlueZ also has a review posted about some NV gear.

But as it applies to the topic at hand, I have an ATN NV scope that has a power pack. That power pack can be charged via USB style interface, including using some of the same backup power sources that you can use to charge you cell phone. This turbine would charge it up just fine.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

RedBeard said:


> SPECIFICATIONS
> In Water
> Flow for peak power output (25 watts) = 7.2 km/h (4.5 mph)


OK, sure.

I'll believe that, though 25 watts still seems pretty optimistic.

I'd be more willing to bet ~10-15 watts, max



RedBeard said:


> In Wind
> Wind speed for peak power output (25 watts) = 72 km/h (45 mph)


OK, now here we can see it is worth FAR less than we are "led to believe".

Remember, wind energy is at the square. Going from 2 MPH to 4 MPH does NOT double wind energy, You have to quadruple it (8 mph) to get double the energy.

If you can do square root math, you see that at normal winds, a device rated at peak output at 45 mph is worthless unless in a severe windstorm.


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## RedBeard (May 8, 2017)

LincTex said:


> OK, sure.
> 
> I'll believe that, though 25 watts still seems pretty optimistic.
> 
> ...


Not even being a jerk but you ever hike in the mountains? That would be where i would expect to use the wind part. Or in my case up the road a little bit. I would like to know if the 25 watt rating is true too. Being that they developed this from their other technology to power ocean buoys for warning systems and research im betting at max speed it will come close at least.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Being in the southeast where we have a lot of small quick moving streams the water application would be more useful to me I think.


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## oldasrocks (Jun 30, 2012)

I think if you have to rely on a cell phone in a survival situation you have a lot bigger problems.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

RedBeard said:


> Not even being a jerk but you ever hike in the mountains? That would be where i would expect to use the wind part.


Yes, but getting up over the top of the trees would be hard to do to get where that wind is. if you are that high up, a solar panel is better anyway.


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## RedBeard (May 8, 2017)

LincTex said:


> Yes, but getting up over the top of the trees would be hard to do to get where that wind is. if you are that high up, a solar panel is better anyway.


We have a lot of wind here but i can't argue with the solar panel. I've been looking for a charge controller with usb imput because one of these and a solar panel i would be covered.


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

45+mph wind is a normal spring day for us. That would make it useful for a desert night to charge things. Solar would work during the day when the sand isn't blowing.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

terri9630 said:


> 45+mph wind is a normal spring day for us. That would make it useful for a desert night to charge things. Solar would work during the day when the sand isn't blowing.


You are still better off spending just a little more money that makes a LOT more power than this thing does.


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