Starting my car with a super capacitor array!

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• super
• capacitor
• ultra
• maxwell
• series
• bank
• farad
• car
• start
• engine
• alternator

[meade9166]

with no load,will the capacitors discharge in a couple of days?

[patrickikis]

@meade9166

With absolutely no load, the caps will discharge about 10% over a day or two, then stay at around 90% of the charge. if you have the caps connected to your car while still on, there are parasitic loads such as the computer and clock that will drain the caps over night. If they are still within the 12v range in the morning, and you can turn your car on, the alternator will quickly recharge the caps.

[khoham]

AAAAWWWWWWW YYYYEEEAAAAHHHH!

[TheDeepFriedBoot]

@ideeman1994 Yes, the UltraCap array could be used. There is actually research being done by several universities to outfit cars with smaller lead acid batteries backed up by ultracaps. The idea is that the battery powers the electronics while the car is off, and then the ultracaps handle cranking the engine. By doing this, a much smaller, lighter battery is possible.

[ideeman1994]

So if you use your car a lot, can you use a supercap array in place of the actual battery? With a little charger at night to keep it at 13V?

[urveen]

@L38Crow You could connect a starter solenoid between the hot terminals of the cap bank and battery so they remain disconnected when the engines off, then have some control circuitry to cntrol the charging of the cap bank once the alternator kicks in. Anyway the alternator rectifier will typically kick out ~14.5Vdc during running which the battery can handle all day no problem...

[L38Crow]

@patrickikis I wonder how do you protect your car battery from overcharging if those caps are connected in parralel. As far as I understand - after you stop engine, leaving caps charged up to 14V, they start charging a car battery until 12,5V. The car battery usually charged up to 90% in normal conditions.

I wonder if overcharging issues may occur. What's you experience on that matter?

[btwbrand]

433farads@ 12.75V starts a small car. Very nice! I've not looked into cap technology lately but the information I'm running across shows that it has grown by leaps and bounds in the last ten years. Thanks for sharing your experimentation.

[Mississippiking03]

I'm sold. I'm just gonna grab a cap over the battery! I listen to my music while driving so sitting in the car while the neighbors are cursing me out, doesnt sound like a good way to go!

[warren52nz]

@seneca65r Thanks, I'll have to try to find them here in New Zealand. Is there more than one brand yet?

[seneca65r]

@warren52nz I buy from Allied electronics. ( I live in USA ) There are many suppliers.

[warren52nz]

@seneca65r That's a fabulous way to use them. Batteries hold their voltage until almost dead then taper off but capacitors ramp down in voltage as you use them (I know you know this) so a voltage regulated inverter would get around the problem.

I think I'm going to get some and have a play. Where did you get yours?

[seneca65r]

@warren52nz I employed supercap / zeners in a design to use solar panel to charge light aircraft battery. Simply connecting panel to battery no good , because panel seldom receives direct sunlight! The panel charges a pair of 2.5v supercaps the zeners protect them from imbalance and overcharge. then as cap voltage builds up to 4.5v an inverter turns on producing 27.6v this is sustained until cap <3.6V, the cycle then repeats. I think remarkable, the device "fires" every few minutes at NIGHT!