Empulse Charging

[Brammofan]

since my house doesn't have 220

You sure about that?  I thought most houses had 220 coming in, but that it gets split into two 110V circuits at the circuit breaker.  Just wondering.

[Richard230]

Well, since you put it that way - I don't have a clue what voltage is supplied to my home. However, I did dig up the soil under the breaker box when I put in a foundation drain a couple of years ago to prevent some downstairs flooding and the wires coming into the box looked like they were about the size of Christmas tree lighting wires. Plus, they were direct burial, without even any conduit to protect them. I was very happy that they didn't get cut when the soil was excavated.

One other thing I know is that electricians around here get paid a lot for their work, even more than plumbers!   

[Virtually Yours]

Does anyone have any information on a residential solar powered charging station?  I was looking into a solar power generator from http://www.solarstik.com/swap.php
The Nano 100 seems ok and the new Nano 160 can generate 1.5 kwh
I'm interested in this one simply because it would have a dual purpose of charging the bike and would come in handy after a hurricane (b/c I live in S.FL). 
My question is would it be enough to charge the Empulse 10.0?

[EmpulseRider]

Does anyone have any information on a residential solar powered charging station?  I was looking into a solar power generator from http://www.solarstik.com/swap.php
The Nano 100 seems ok and the new Nano 160 can generate 1.5 kwh
I'm interested in this one simply because it would have a dual purpose of charging the bike and would come in handy after a hurricane (b/c I live in S.FL). 
My question is would it be enough to charge the Empulse 10.0?

Why not just put some panels up on your roof? You would need a battery or generator backup to keep power flowing from the panels during a grid outage though, so that gets a little tricky.

Want to see what kinda system you need to charge your Empulse? There's and app for that: http://www.empulsebuyer.com/pvCalculator.php

[Virtually Yours]

Well I would go all out and get enough panels to power the house but I'm going to need a new roof in the near future and was going to wait until then...
There's also Solar Shingles http://www.dowsolar.com/homeowner/index.htm as an alternative to panels.  I'm also fortunate in the sense that my villa is facing east/west and I get all day Sun in S.FL. My HOA is really weird about stuff like that though...  but we'll see what the future holds as the laws change; I read something about the Feds are putting something in place that will not allow these HOA's to stop such things... 
Getting back to the Solar Stik.  I'm not sure if that is what I'm going to go with but the idea of having a turn key, all in one, portable, multifunction, military spec/grade equipment that's made in America seems like a good idea... that is if the cost is not out of reach.
Thanks for your link it seems to be helpful so I will keep searching.  Maybe someone from Brammo can give their input?

[Richard230]

I know where there are a lot of solar panels.

According to a report in my newspaper's business section today: It has taken a while but Oakland-based BrightSource Energy announced Monday that it has finalized $1.6 billion in loans for its Ivanpah, 392-MW solar power plant to be built in the Mojave desert. The final piece of the puzzle was apparently Google's investment of $168 million in the Ivanpah project. This is Google's largest cleantech investment to date. The largest investor in the project is NRG Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy.  Construction on the plant began in October and is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

[protomech]

My favorite wall-shopping site for gridtied solar:
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/gridtie.html

Costco is now selling complete kits - Grape Solar panels, Enerphase microinverters and mounting racks.
http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?cat=90897&eCat=BC|114|3241|90897

[akohekohe]

since my house doesn't have 220

You sure about that?  I thought most houses had 220 coming in, but that it gets split into two 110V circuits at the circuit breaker.  Just wondering.

They haven't done 110V and 220V in a long time.  It is now 120V and 240V. They get split into two 120V circuits that are out of phase so that can be combined to make a 240V circuit.

[Brammofan]

Thank you sir.  I knew that, but grew up with the 110/220 designation.  I'm old.