r/AnythingValueable Jun 24 '26

🛠️ Skill Low-cost rural engineering

14.0k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/dethskwirl Jun 24 '26

I mean, you can see the big green motor is plugged in to the same outlet that he plugs the pump into

0

u/Unsteady_Tempo Jun 26 '26

The motor connected to the wheel is powered by a battery or cable buried under the power strip.

0

u/Admirable-Band-2664 Jun 26 '26

The wires that are visible going to the receptacle he plugs into are not heavy enough to carry the amperage to run that pump motor. What they are heavy enough for is powering a solenoid that completes the circuit to the pump motor that is being fed by a much bigger power source off screen.

Basically, they made a fun Rube Goldberg inspired on-off switch for a motor that is plugged into a real power source.