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NGODIYNGO is a Non Governmental Organisation championing the use of renewable energy for Information Communication Technologies to enable education, healthcare and governance in Developing Communities.
Howls » Technical Help Required!!!
5 Comments
- Add comment | Back to Prairie Written on 18-Jun-2009 by diyngoIf anybody understand electronics better than we do then now is the time to holler!
We are attempting to charge the Asus Eee PC battery directly as the Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Battery is not allowed on aircraft.
However, upon purchasing a unit which allows the Asus battery to be charged by 9-12 Volts we are obtaining an oscillating charge cycle.
In other words, the red LED indicating that the battery is charging is flashing on and off! Very frustrating, to say the least.
Experiments with both solar panels and the 12 Volt SLA batteries produce the same effect.
Before we spend even more money on pointless experiments, seriously, if you know what you're doing do let us know too!
The mains electric adaptor does not produce this effect. It outputs 9.5 Volts at 2.315 Amps.
Our only current conclusion is that both the solar panels and the SLAs are not producing enough power to maintain a level charge cycle.
Perhaps the next experiment will be to try this with a car battery. This should provide enough power then we will know that we will need more solar panels.
Thanks.
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written on 18-Jun-2009
diyngo says:
hmm...seems we need around 22 Watts, P=IV. There's a lovely solar panel which neatly folds up into next-to-nothing but it costs 380 Pounds! Another alternative may be to use a battery technology which is allowed on aircraft with the existing, cheaper, solar panels. For example, it looks like "gell" technology is as safe as is possible as it uses a solidified electrolyte. We'd have to confirm this with the people at the airports though. Yet a further alternative may be to abandon the Eee altogether and stick with PDAs. They're less power hungry, more portable and just as cheap as an Eee PC. I know I more-or-less managed with mine in Kenya. A further little tinkering and it may be that anything is possible on a PDA. I know I love them since they can be slung in a backpack, etc. and not be of much further concern...
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written on 20-Jun-2009
Megan Hastie says:
Hello, I forwarded your request for help to my colleague David Leeming in the Solomon Islands and here's his reply. Hope it's helpful:
I am working with EEE PCs and yesterday noted the original lowest spec type runs on 9.5V and the later ones (I have 9 1000HA EEE PCs in my house at the moment) run on 12V. I haven’t tried the latter but wiould be very surprised if the latter will not charge directly from a 12V battery.
However, the 9.5 V one will have some voltage protection and it might not charge correctly from a 12V source especially if it is charging from solar when the volts can creep up to nearly 15V. I think it is voltage over protection that is causing it.
The more powerful flavours of EEE PC that have 12V power supplies will probably work fine from a battery direct but check the polarity caregfully!!
David Leeming
Wikieducator User page: http://wikieducator.org/User:Leeming
Alt. Email: david@leeming-consulting.com
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written on 21-Jun-2009
diyngo says:
Thanks very much Megan and David. we'll look into this.
All best,
DIYNGO -
written on 22-Jun-2009
vincent sibilo says:
Too early for me to assist in any case.so let me just wish you the best as you work on that!!!.bulding up the sytem network in bogoria.good luck and thanks
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written on 23-Nov-2009
diyngo [http://www.diyngo.org] says:
The answer was to remove the battery as I remember. It certainly seems to be working now! Thanks all. Best, DIYNGO.
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