Thanks everyone.

Irving - regarding your first comment - yes, I meant that I'd use a wider wheel keeping in mind that I'd have control over the water flow.

Yaakov - thanks, I'd seen that design in a documentary I'll look further into it, though for starters just a simple wheel with paddles would do to test things out.

Bob - yes, I have done the calculations and a wider wheel should have more power. I just wanted to check in case there was something I was missing.

BobaMosfet - thanks for the recommendation. I'd gotten a couple of introductory books on electronics. I will be reading them.

 

A Pelton turbine, IIRC, uses high pressure nozzles to focus water jets into cup-like paddles. I think you need a lot of pressure (eg head) to make that work...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel

What I understand is that it works well with a low head as long as there is relatively high flow.

 

What I understand is that it works well with a low head as long as there is relatively high flow.

Peltons are common in hydro in our neck of the woods. Large reservoirs where penstocks create high nozzle pressures.