Anyone Using Supercapacitors?

Instead of batteries?

Watched this video

Supercapacitors Instead Of Rechargeable Batteries: http://youtu.be/brw6sC8D2_w

A lot of others on there too

5V to 2.9V =2.5 minutes runtime… I think I’ll stick to batteries :smiley:

Yup, supercaps are good for extremely high current draw at hundreds of amps, but have really poor capacities compared to chemical storage.

Some people use it to hook it up in parallel with their car batteries to support while driving uphill or using the A/C, but I don’t see it replacing them soon.

Yeah the runtime isn’t great yet BUT they recharge a lot quicker.

The same amount of charge/ time gave 4x the runtime in this video

Supercapacitor (Part 1): A brief introduction and…: http://youtu.be/4rVC0IvT63w

Although the capacitor in that video is only 1 Farad, more what he could find locally. Sounds like he had a solar project for a Kindle. The capacitors have a much lower internal resistance.

Another video the guy got 277 ma out of a couple super capacitors. If my math is right, that would give me 5 minutes or so at 3 amps on XML t6. Enough to look around the yard. Although the voltage was low on part of that

Really? Would like to get more info on using these in cars if you have a video or page or something

Looks like he had a faulty battery. Got more out of the same charge time with the AA’s of course you can run more amperage to a capacitor.

Supercapacitor (Part 2): Standard capacitor vs Su…: http://youtu.be/gpMymP024aU

Depends on how you plan on using them. If you need something that can charge fast and discharge VERY fast, and don’t much care about runtime…. nothing else will do.

For more mundane uses, batteries still seem to win.

Supercapacitors has way to low capacity for usage in flashlight and to high self discharge.

Some years ago they where often uses as memory backup, while people replaced batteries (Today most stuff has flash memory, that remembers without power).

Today they are used for short time storage and very high power peaks.

What kind of voltage does a capacitor have?
I would not mind a 18650 or 26650 compatible capacitor (even if i need spacers) that i can charge in a few secs (with a specialized charger i assume) that gives me 5-10 minutes of runtime even at 1.5A because i can leave it empty, charge it, use it and leave it till the next time i need it (and the cycle repeats) and i put no wear on my lithiums, it would suffice for 60-75% of my needs.

Usual super capacitors is 2.5 or 2.7 volt, the older generation memory backup was higher. If you uses more capacitors in series you need a balancing circuit or you risk damaging them due to reverse charge.

Capacitors does not have a fixed voltage when discharging, they have a linear discharge curve from maximum down to 0. I.e. a 2.5 volt capacitor is down to half charge when the voltage is 1.25 volt.

I would love to use capacitors in place of our normal cells. Last time I researched it, the issue was that voltage drops as the electricity in the cap is drawn out. Unlike a cell that produces a relatively stable voltage from the chemical reaction that takes place as they discharge.

It seems you would need the all of following for in order to get usable run times:

  • High capacity capacitor
  • A special buck/boost driver with a large input range on voltage
  • A low current application

I haven't looked into in a very long time. Maybe there have been some advances that I'm not aware of.

That’s what I’m thinking. It should be doable to get 150 mah out of 2 or 3; 400 farad capacitors. That should give you 6 min. at 1.5 amp. Usually enough time around the house. Plus you should be able to plug in

Can anyone recommend a driver? I’m think between 1.2 –2V to 5V? I suppose the driver could go higher/ lower, but to handle that voltage.

So one large cell and a specialized boost driver would be needed, no point adding the extra complexity of multiple cells
Do they come in 26mm diameters?

I assume no one has created such circuitry, so we would need someone to design it

There are drivers in this voltage range.

links please :slight_smile:

People use them in parallel with older/cold batteries to provide enough amps to get it to turn over.

he’s a prepper so I assume he loves capacitors because of that

I’ll stick to my eneloops and SLA batteries

A company called Storedot is working on supercapacitors that should have the energy capacity of todays lithium ion batteries but with supercharging times of only 30seconds. I guess we will have to wait 3 years to see if they are right.

I’ve been watching some of the guys videos and they’re pretty great though

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.candlepowerforums.com%2Fvb%2Fshowthread.php%3F188227-Driver-board-list-regulator-board-list&rct=j&q=good%20driver%20list%20led&ei=Io9MU8vYGtTIsATg2oCQCg&usg=AFQjCNFhEGJCfkqkKyDu6AR_yguzbKQX0g&bvm=bv.64764171,d.cWc

There are some in the right range, not sure if they’d work. For instance the GD