I am just testing my new solar energy system

Because the ASUS UL30 needs so much less energy,
I changed the buffer system from 12V 7 AH lead acid
to 10 AA sized 2000 mAh NiMh cells.

Here about my old solar system
http://laptop.pege.org/2005-photovoltaic/

Today was a little bit cloudy, and it showed,
that the 10 AA NiMh cells fall quick below
11,6 V where the car adapter switches off.

But they recover fast, and the car adapter
switsches on again.

But this leads at the ASUS UL30 to display
always a big image on the screen about the
change of energy source.

How to avoid this?

The second question is more advanded,
at my last notebook, it was possible
to set limits for charging.

For example, hanging on the solar system,
I would not like to charge the internal
battery, the external battery is
with 24 Wh much smaller than the internal.

So it would be nice to tell the notebook
"Start charging at 20%"

And when I am back at home
"Start charging at 95%"

Is something similar possible at the ASUS UL30?

--
Roland Mösl - PEGE - http://www.pege.org
Planetary Engineering Group Earth

 

In news:i536fg$u93$1@news.albasani.net,
Roland Mösl typed on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 159:58 +0200:
> I am just testing my new solar energy system
>
> Because the ASUS UL30 needs so much less energy,
> I changed the buffer system from 12V 7 AH lead acid
> to 10 AA sized 2000 mAh NiMh cells.
>
> Here about my old solar system
> http://laptop.pege.org/2005-photovoltaic/
>
> Today was a little bit cloudy, and it showed,
> that the 10 AA NiMh cells fall quick below
> 11,6 V where the car adapter switches off.
>
> But they recover fast, and the car adapter
> switsches on again.
>
> But this leads at the ASUS UL30 to display
> always a big image on the screen about the
> change of energy source.
>
> How to avoid this?

Well dumping the ACPI driver would probably take care of it. Although
you will also lose all of those function key stuff as well.

> The second question is more advanded,
> at my last notebook, it was possible
> to set limits for charging.
>
> For example, hanging on the solar system,
> I would not like to charge the internal
> battery, the external battery is
> with 24 Wh much smaller than the internal.
>
> So it would be nice to tell the notebook
> "Start charging at 20%"
>
> And when I am back at home
> "Start charging at 95%"
>
> Is something similar possible at the ASUS UL30?

I don't know and I think it is doubtful. Although what might work is
restricting the input wattage. As if it has enough to power the machine,
but not enough to also charge the battery, they are usually designed to
skip charging the battery. Even if the battery is really low.

People who flies a lot experience this problem all of the time. As the
seats power is like 90 watts max. And some laptops will run, but won't
charge the battery under these conditions.

I remove my batteries to manually control charging. Although it sounds
like this wouldn't be acceptable in your case. And may I ask why you are
using such small capacity batteries? As if you used a large UPS battery
that sounds like that would solve a lot of problems.

If that is unacceptable, why not use 12 AA NiMh batteries instead of 10?
As that would prevent a lot of switching between internal and external
power. And solve part of your problem right there.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2

 

On 2010-08-26 00:58, BillW50 wrote:
> In news:i536fg$u93$1@news.albasani.net,
> Roland Mösl typed on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 159:58 +0200:
>> I am just testing my new solar energy system
>>
>> Because the ASUS UL30 needs so much less energy,
>> I changed the buffer system from 12V 7 AH lead acid
>> to 10 AA sized 2000 mAh NiMh cells.
>>
>> Here about my old solar system
>> http://laptop.pege.org/2005-photovoltaic/
>>
>> Today was a little bit cloudy, and it showed,
>> that the 10 AA NiMh cells fall quick below
>> 11,6 V where the car adapter switches off.
>>
>> But they recover fast, and the car adapter
>> switsches on again.
>>
>> But this leads at the ASUS UL30 to display
>> always a big image on the screen about the
>> change of energy source.
>>
>> How to avoid this?
>
> Well dumping the ACPI driver would probably take care of it. Although
> you will also lose all of those function key stuff as well.
>
>> The second question is more advanded,
>> at my last notebook, it was possible
>> to set limits for charging.
>>
>> For example, hanging on the solar system,
>> I would not like to charge the internal
>> battery, the external battery is
>> with 24 Wh much smaller than the internal.
>>
>> So it would be nice to tell the notebook
>> "Start charging at 20%"
>>
>> And when I am back at home
>> "Start charging at 95%"
>>
>> Is something similar possible at the ASUS UL30?
>
> I don't know and I think it is doubtful. Although what might work is
> restricting the input wattage.

How is this possible?

Restricting input wattage would be a perfect solution

At cloudy weather, I could set to 10 W maximum,
so peak consumptions would be no problem for
the external buffer battery.

> As if it has enough to power the machine,
> but not enough to also charge the battery, they are usually designed to
> skip charging the battery. Even if the battery is really low.

I have a 40 Watt combined 12VDC / 230V AC adapter from Belklin,
that's enough to charge also the internal battery

> People who flies a lot experience this problem all of the time. As the
> seats power is like 90 watts max. And some laptops will run, but won't
> charge the battery under these conditions.

Laptops? I would call more than 90 Watt a foldable desktop replacement

> I remove my batteries to manually control charging. Although it sounds
> like this wouldn't be acceptable in your case. And may I ask why you are
> using such small capacity batteries?

From the parking lot to the beach 1/2 hour walking

> As if you used a large UPS battery

I used before 2,5 kg lead acid batteries 12V
9 Ah on the label 5 Ah in reality

At last, a battery from my old electric scooter
7 kg 20 Ah when new 12V

> that sounds like that would solve a lot of problems.
>
> If that is unacceptable, why not use 12 AA NiMh batteries instead of 10?

This does not match the solar charger,
the solar charger is set for 13,9 V maximum.
but I also thought on this solution.

> As that would prevent a lot of switching between internal and external
> power. And solve part of your problem right there.

I will look for a 12 AA holder

--
Roland Mösl - PEGE - http://www.pege.org
Planetary Engineering Group Earth