Charging EEE pc from a solar panel?

[things]

Since the EEE pc is actually 12V input, the idea of a solar panel charger came to mind. so I have bought one of those solar car battery trickle chargers, and out in he sun without load, its doing 25V! I reliase once its under load, this will drop dramatically, but the thing is its only doing 140ma under a direct short. Is there any cheap, efficient way to drop the voltage, but maybe gain a little current at the same time? I realize these panels arent made to do much, but surely more than 140ma if its for trickle charing a car battery?!

I dont really wanna risk my EEEpc with 25V, as I dont know wether it has an internal regulator or not, and I have considered a LM317, but I dont have much current to waste.

Any idea;s ?

 

[Leftyretro]

Since the EEE pc is actually 12V input, the idea of a solar panel charger came to mind. so I have bought one of those solar car battery trickle chargers, and out in he sun without load, its doing 25V! I reliase once its under load, this will drop dramatically, but the thing is its only doing 140ma under a direct short. Is there any cheap, efficient way to drop the voltage, but maybe gain a little current at the same time? I realize these panels arent made to do much, but surely more than 140ma if its for trickle charing a car battery?!

I dont really wanna risk my EEEpc with 25V, as I dont know wether it has an internal regulator or not, and I have considered a LM317, but I dont have much current to waste.

Any idea;s ?

Welcome to the wonderful world of solar panels. Voltage is cheap but current costs real money. I would use at a minimum a simple fixed 12v voltage regulator to protect you investment in your EEEpc (I think those are so cool). You of course could go with a more efficient DC/DC switching regulator, but I think to be useful money would be better spend on more or bigger panels. 125ma is fine for a trickle charge which in reality is just a charge to maintain an already charged battery. Trickle charging a empty battery works, it just takes a lot of hours and sun light. Go to a higher current charging system and it's no longer a trickle charger is it

 

[things]

well after eventually finding a plug that fits (It seems they use a DC jack _JUST_ smaller than the regular ones), I hooked it up and it realizes it is charging. I wonder what it thinks when the battery charge goes DOWN even though its charging

Anyways yeah, I know I cant run it at the same time, but I guess its just for times like when i'm camping etc, to charge up the battery a little while its off.

One problem I found, is when the sunlight gets to a certain level, it flickers between battery and AC mode, which I dont think would be good for it, so any idea's how I can stop that?

I wonder what current it draws on standby?

 

[chasinglions]

well after eventually finding a plug that fits (It seems they use a DC jack _JUST_ smaller than the regular ones), I hooked it up and it realizes it is charging. I wonder what it thinks when the battery charge goes DOWN even though its charging

Anyways yeah, I know I cant run it at the same time, but I guess its just for times like when i'm camping etc, to charge up the battery a little while its off.

One problem I found, is when the sunlight gets to a certain level, it flickers between battery and AC mode, which I dont think would be good for it, so any idea's how I can stop that?

I wonder what current it draws on standby?

so are you using one of those car charger solar panels?
this
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41a+ZkZ5jyL._SL500_AA280_.jpg