I would like to build a self-sustainable ornamental Water Mill Wheel
feature for a garden which is obviously propelled by water which falls
on the wheels pallets. However, I would like to find out if there
exists a self sustainable water pump powered by solar, wind and hydro
energy which I could use for this purpose i.e. if there was not enough
sun, wind energy would kick in and power the pump and the hdryo energy
generated by the falling water on the wheel would power a dynamo
(and/or a small lighting system) which would essentially keep a
battery back-up power unit topped up with power. Is there such a
system out there or any examples of similar systems for which I could
base my design on? Most importantly, I wonder where I would find the
electronics which would switch to the renewable system with the most
available power at any one point?

Hi amorley-ga,

  Could you explain a bit on the power requirements of the
water mill ornament, assuming, it is driven by conventional supply.
Also the nature of the environment to decide if it is really worthwhile
to have multiple systems for backup, or simply depend on a single overrated
system that could charge a battery to be used in the predictable periods
of outage(on a daily, as well as seasonal basis).  It will be much easier
and cheaper to build one based on readily available windmill ornament,
modifying to be usable with the self sustainable energy sources. Also the
availability of water(if it needs to be stored also, using rain water
to replenish the evaporative losses, or depend on a reliable
24hr/365days water supply)

Regards
ldavinci-ga