Simon, there’s lots of ways to skin this cat as they say.
For small money you can get portable solar chargers. They make them from say
the size of a cassette tape up to something that folds out of a huge case and
takes up 10 SQFT or so. Depending on your power needs you could charge
anything from a small phone up to car batteries or more with the right unit.
Costs range from free in the give away piles at trade shows for the small stuff
up to a grand or so for larger portable units.
Another option is what I did. I installed a generator that runs on
natural gas. I attach my gas feed from the street to the generator and then a
transfer switch where the power comes in to the house. If the power drops to
the house the generator spins up, matches the AC phase coming out of the
battery bank and then engages. When on city gas I never need to worry about
refueling because I’m pulling natural gas from the gas lines that feed my
kitchen and pool heater etc. I can however use a propane tank feed if I want
locally stored fuel in the event the city gas isn’t flowing.
Another option is batteries. You can take marine deep discharge
batteries and invert the power to get some AC power or run things natively off
the 12V. You can charge while power is available.
Solar over all is yet another option. I had this in California. You
put panels on the roof and charge batteries in a reserve bank that way. Gave
me enough power to run my house fully and sell power back to the electric
company during the day. Also had 5 days of charge on the battery banks if I
lost power and the sun wasn’t strong enough. This can be expensive north of
35000 US dollars but the government also gave subsidies at the time, yours may
do the same thing.
Also for small money, you can buy a portable generator. Honda makes
these along with several others, caterpillar comes to mind and Huskvarna.
Anywhere from a few hundred bucks on up and they can be as small as a bread box
or old style portable TV.
> On Aug 10, 2017, at 3:14 AM, Simon Fogarty <si...@blinky-net.com> wrote:
>
> A difference wifi charging might make in case of emergencys,
>
> My question is how do you charge your phone if there is a major power outage
> in your town during a storm or something?
>
> If there is no power to your house or say star bucks, then how do you charge?
> No power no charging.
>
> I'm one of those who has no landline phone, I have only a mobile
> My mobile has a geographically diverted landline number to my mobile but
> still I'm scscrewed if there is a natural disaster..
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Karen Lewellen
> Sent: Thursday, 10 August 2017 4:23 PM
> To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: How iPhone 8 could change the wireless charging landscape - CNET
>
> My goodness!
> Thanks for that read.
> I am thinking how helpful wireless charging may be in emergency
> preparedness situations.
> Although I may be missing something obvious, the article hints that the
> wireless charging runs on radio waves?
> As in electromagnetic spectrum?
> A few years back we had an ice storm where the power was out for three days,
> much longer in some parts of the city. Needless to say people tried charging
> products at their local Starbucks, but to prevent a strain even that had to
> stop.
> i still have, and will keep as long as possible, a land line phone....and a
> Sony walkman. had I not,
> I would have been totally housebound, and without any information about what
> was happening, in December, on the top floor of a building with no heat.
> I felt for people stuck with only cell phones, imagine what a difference
> wireless charging might make During flooding?
> Kare
>
>
>
> On Wed, 9 Aug 2017, M. Taylor wrote:
>
>> CNET News - Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 4:00 AM How iPhone 8 could
>> change the wireless charging landscape - CNET As we approach the
>> expected September iPhone event, the gadget world is abuzz with
>> questions: Will there be two new iPhones or three? How much will the
>> presumed high-end OLED model cost? Will facial recognition fully
>> replace Touch ID, or merely be an alternative? And: will the iPhone
>> finally get wireless charging?
>> But that last one is a loaded question because "wireless" charging is
>> in the eye of the beholder.
>> Sure, you can place a Samsung Galaxy and many other Android phones
>> onto a charging pad without having to plug the phone into any charging
>> cable. And those same pads are increasingly built into countertops at
>> coffee shops, burger joints and even furniture you can buy at Ikea.
>> But those pads still need to be plugged into a wall outlet. The wire
>> is still there, it's just not attached directly to the phone.
>>
>> Some current iPhone battery cases, like Mophie's Juice Pack, include
>> wireless charging compatibility.
>> Sarah Tew/CNET
>> That's a roundabout way of saying "wireless charging" is basically a
>> misnomer. Except when it isn't: "True" wireless charging -- in which
>> batteries get juiced up at distances measured in meters, not
>> centimeters -- is a real-world technology, too.
>> Wireless charging over a distance could be the real tech game changer,
>> allowing us to juice up our phones as soon as we walk into a room. The
>> technology is also a boon to the ever-increasing number of smart
>> devices in our lives, from portable speakers to hearing aids. It just
>> needs to get over the pesky questions over whether it's safe -- and
>> actually show up in a mass-market consumer device.
>> So, before we posit the question as to whether the next iPhones will
>> include wireless charging, let's start by untangling the different
>> technologies that Apple might incorporate.
>> Inductive charging: Qi vs. Powermat
>> Widely used for years in cordless electric toothbrushes, inductive
>> charging is the most common technology employed in most of today's "wireless"
>> charging devices and accessories. There are two major standards in the
>> space: Qi -- named for a Chinese word that means energy and is
>> pronounced "chee" -- and Powermat.
>> Both standards are also working to incorporate magnetic resonance
>> technology, which could charge over distances of up to 4 centimeters.
>> That would, for instance, mean that aligning your phone to the
>> charging pad "sweet spot" would be less of a hit-and-miss affair, or
>> that the charging pads could be hidden behind thin layers of wood or plastic.
>>
>> The Samsung Galaxy S8 recharging on a Powermat inductive charger at a
>> Manhattan Starbucks.
>> Sarah Tew/CNET
>> Qi has been incorporated into phones from a variety of manufacturers,
>> and McDonald's has built Qi-compatible chargers into the furniture at
>> its restaurants. Powermat-infused tables, meanwhile, can be found in
>> some Starbucks and airport lounges.
>> The rivals are backed by two opposing standards organizations, too:
>> The Wireless Power Consortium for Qi, and the AirFuel Alliance for
>> Powermat. The latter was formed when Powermat and its Power Matters
>> Alliance merged with a third, rival wireless standard (confusingly
>> called the Alliance for Wireless Power, or A4WP) in 2014.
>> The good news is that the rivalry has been less of a zero-sum game in
>> recent years. Samsung, for one, has made its recent high-end Galaxy
>> phones (including the S7 and S8) compatible with both inductive
>> charging standards, so you can juice it up on a Qi-powered counter at
>> McDonald's and a Powermat-powered one at Starbucks.
>> 'True' wireless charging: Energous and Powercast Forget about 4
>> centimeters. How about charging from a distance of 4 meters?
>> Or anywhere in an average-size room?
>> It's a pretty recent concept, but companies like Energous and
>> Powercast are producing technology that can more accurately be called
>> wire-free. Both use radio frequency (RF) energy, a charging method
>> that works similarly to Wi-Fi, that enables devices to charge when
>> within the range of a power transmitter.
>> Energous is the developer of WattUp, the wire-free technology that the
>> company claims is capable of charging anything from a mobile device to
>> various wearables like a hearing aid when located up to 15 feet (about
>> 4.5
>> meters) from the transmitter. The first wire-free transmitter is
>> expected to hit the market before the end of the year, according to CEO
>> Stephen R.
>> Rizzone.
>> "Besides mobility, the idea of charging at a distance is very, very
>> important to IoT devices," said Rizzone. "Now what's happened, is that
>> you no longer have to run a cable to them, nor do you have to have a
>> large battery, that either has to be replaced or somehow recharged.
>> You can have a much smaller battery because you're continually getting
>> power from these transmitters."
>>
>> Powercast demonstrated its distance-charging tech in New York City
>> earlier this summer.
>> Brianne Garrett/CNET
>> But there's a common concern: is it safe? The Federal Communications
>> Commission enforces the standards of the Food and Drug Administration
>> that determine how much power is safe enough to be absorbed by human
>> tissue -- and Rizzone says Energous is "very, very close" to getting
>> its first FCC approval.
>> Powercast, the other true wire-free company, has made some greater strides.
>> The company's Powercaster transmitters are already approved by the
>> FCC, and they've been available since 2010 -- but only in industrial,
>> commercial and military markets.
>> PowerSpot, Powercast's new standalone transmitter created for consumer
>> electronics, is still not available to consumers and isn't yet FCC approved.
>> The company hopes to also bring it to the market before the end of the year.
>> "The goal is for consumers to simply place or hang all enabled items
>> for recharging within range of a PowerSpot in their home or other
>> public places," said Charlie Greene, chief operating & technical
>> officer of Powercast.
>> Which way will Apple go?
>> All of this brings us back to the iPhone issue. Will Apple finally
>> jump on board the wireless power bandwagon? If so, which horse will it
>> back: Qi, Powermat -- or door no. 3? (You can buy third-party cases
>> for the iPhone that enable wireless charging, but the feature has yet
>> to be built in.) To date, Apple has two products that use inductive
>> charging: the Apple Watch and the AirPods wireless headphones. Both of
>> them, however, come with their own chargers, and neither appears to
>> work with any third-party wireless chargers -- Qi, Powermat or otherwise.
>> And while Apple has a penchant for proprietary standards -- iPhones
>> use Lightning cables rather than the emerging USB-C standard, for
>> instance -- the news in February that Apple had joined the Qi-backed
>> Wireless Power Consortium has some declaring that group the winner.
>> However, Apple's statement at the time was more equivocal: "Apple is
>> joining the Wireless Power Consortium to be able to participate and
>> contribute ideas to the open, collaborative development of future
>> wireless charging standards." (Neither Apple nor Qi responded to our
>> requests for comment earlier this week.)
>>
>> The "wireless" inductive charger attaches to the Apple Watch via a magnet.
>> Sarah Tew/CNET
>> If Apple were to go with Qi, Powermat has implied it would do whatever
>> it takes to be compatible. Powermat "will continue to innovate and
>> develop new products and technology supporting all devices coming into
>> the market" the company said in a statement. "We recognize Apple's
>> ability to bring wireless charging into mainstream by the sheer volume
>> of iPhones in the market." Put another way: Powermat wants to ensure
>> that partners like Starbucks can service the tens of millions -- and
>> eventually hundreds of millions -- of iPhone owners, just as they do for
>> Android fans.
>> Could Apple wow the world with true long-distance wireless charging?
>> Energous CEO Rizzone has long touted a "top five" consumer electronics
>> partner, and the company received a $10 million investment from Apple
>> component supplier Dialog Semiconductor. Leapfrogging straight from no
>> wireless charging to true wireless charging would be an impressive
>> feat, but a material product from a possible Apple/Energous
>> partnership could also still be years away -- if it ever materializes at all.
>> The good news is that the wait for Apple's wireless charging plans
>> will be short. If the company sticks to its normal schedule, the new
>> iPhones should be announced in the first two weeks of September.
>> (Whatever wireless charging feature is announced, though, may be
>> delayed a few more weeks, according to a rumor from July.) The bad
>> news? It may be more convenient, but wireless charging is far less
>> efficient than a good old wired charger. A CNET test found that the
>> Galaxy
>> S8 took 3.5 hours to charge inductively, more than the typical 2 hours
>> it takes with a standard USB-C cable.
>> But fans of quick wired charging won't have to worry. Unlike the
>> headphone jack, we expect the iPhone's Lightning port won't be going
>> away anytime soon.
>>
>> Original Article at:
>> https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-iphone-8-wireless-charging-possibiliti
>> es/#ft
>> ag=CAD590a51e
>>
>>
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