Thanks for taking the time to look over that...
I came across these products with the intention of a having something in the event of a hurricane, camping trip, tailgating, and wondered which product would be sufficient enough to charge the bike (even if it is a slow charge). I believe you can have up to 5 Flexi-panels with a couple of the different models. Solar Stik is somewhat expensive but may be reasonable if you get a demo model or clearance item. Besides, when I was a teen I seem to remember some government propaganda about "Buy American". So now when shopping for big items like the Solar Stik, Empulse, Model S, "Buy American" seems to be the patriotic thing to do in a bad economy and is definitely part of my decision process.
rambling aheadHonestly, the recon pak looks pretty cool. It's rugged and self-contained, and for low-power or intermittent usage it's probably a better choice than a generator. Certainly much quieter and cleaner, and there's no need to resupply fuel - perfect for long stationary camping trips, and definitely better than nothing in case of a true emergency where fuel is unavailable.
However, consider:
* you need a lot of space to spread out the solar panels. Panels are approximately 5' x 3.5', times five.
* the total energy available per day is heavily dependent upon clear sunny conditions, and depending on location may be substantially lower during the winter.
* total energy storage is approximately 15% what you can generate on a nice sunny summer day with five panels. more power paks can help, of course, but add weight and cost. chances are good that you won't be able to store all the energy you can produce in a good day.
* solarstik seems to be targeting the military. their products are going to be
expensive.
With a 50A breaker, you can probably pull up to a maximum of 500W safely from the box.
If you connect 3 more panels then you probably can pull in 300W in direct sunlight. The charging circuit has a 50A breaker, it likely charges the battery at 14V or so. With 5 panels attached you should be able to charge the battery in approximately 90 minutes.
Suppose you can hook up the 5 panels and a
500W inverter to the power pak.
With a full battery and the panels fully operational, you can pull 500W (300W panels + 200-250W battery) from the inverter for about 2-2.5 hours before the battery is fully discharged.
With a half-discharged battery and the panels fully operational, you can pull ~250W from the inverter while maintaining battery charge. Less power and you can charge the battery at the same time.
With a full battery and clouds or at night, you can pull 500W from the inverter (500-550W battery) for about an hour until the battery is fully discharged.
Supposing 5 hours of daylight averaged over the day, that gives you 2.5 kWh of AC power in total for the day. More in the summer, maybe 3.5-4.0 kWh. Unless the day is cloudy, in which case you might only have 1.0 kWh or less of recoverable energy during the day.
Consider the generator alternative:
http://powerequipment.honda.com/generators/models/eu2000i1600W continuous, 4 hours @ continuous load, 1.1 gal capacity.
Empulse 10 should take around 12 kWh to fully charge in approximately 10 hours (1200W), probably needs around 2.5 gallons of gas (giving you, amusingly, around 40 mpg).
If your riding needs are 20-30 miles per day
AND you can current-limit the Empulse charger to not blow the breaker, in the summer you could probably charge the Empulse in about 6-7 hours from the Recon Pak with 5 panels and still have a bit of energy left to run other applications. On a cloudy day or during the winter, you won't be doing much riding if any.
Vs the generator, which can charge 20-30 miles worth of riding in about 3 hours using less than a gallon of gas.
Generators aren't always the best answer, but for charging an electric motorcycle away from the power grid in a temporary location with a reliable supply of fuel they're probably the best choice.
For lower power applications -- such as charging an electric bike or operating a couple laptops, lighting, electric stove, etc -- the recon pak could be a better choice.
I like the recon pak, a rugged transporter inverter / panel hookup package is pretty cool. What would be really cool would be to use the bike's battery as the storage device. Charge during the day, supply power at night. Problem is you take your power supply (to even out fluctuations in solar output) with you if you leave. Imagine holding panels and inverters in saddlebags, ready to respond to emergencies. Pretty cool IMO. Vehicle to grid technology is still being sorted out, but it's got a promising future.
