My supercapacitor powered joule thief is a kind of stress-reliever. I play with it (replacing the supercap every few minutes) while I'm thinking about my next project. But how can I quickly and safely charge the capacitor?
By Julian
Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado
Thank you Julian. May I ask a question, I'm working on a project using coil solenoids, and I'm thinking to use Super caps to fire/sequence them but I'm not sure how long the unit would last with a continuous load, obviously it would only be a ball park figure. Just to find out if it would be worth it. I would need the unit to fire the coils with say 10/12volts @ say 10Amps for at least 15 minutes (not a coil gun). Do you think it could be do-able?. Anyway you seem to have done a ton of research. Thanks and subbed.
Where did you get those quick connect terminals from tht battery pack (the white ones)
Hi Does anyone know if i was to connect 6 x 2.7 x 3000f super caps. Is there any way i could maintain a 2.5 constant charge with a 12v 50Ah lithium battery to power Kayak motor?
Ken
Love it👍
Please show us your take on a supercap spot welder for battery tabs.
Nice video! I think that most of the resistance that limits the current during charging is due to the eneloops internal resistance more than the cables and connections.
Ha, I'm actually in the process of making a 2.5V regulator board using 2SD882 NPN transistors. It works quite well. It allows me to charge the capacitors rapidly. You can also buy those on aliexpress.
Don't feel guilty, Julian. Maplin have been charging far too much for their products for many years, and alsodriving many customers away (myself included) by their aggressive marketing tactics. During this video, perhaps missing the point, but I was muttering at the screen, 'Just connect the Joule Thief to one of the AA cells, instead of wasting energy in charging and discharging a capacitor, whilst wearing out the contacts in that cheap breadboard!'.
Have you tried putting a batteriser on those fake blank batteries?
Why don't you use small solar panels to charge the supercap
I think you should combine your love for supercapacitors, switchmode power supplies and solar cells.
Make a buck regulator. But not any buck regulator, make it:
– keep input voltage constant (at whatever your solar cell's optimum is)
– charge a supercapacitor (bank?) at maximum power available from the solar cell.
Not because it's hard, but because the feedback is not the boring constant-output-voltage they usually have, and because it will be fun to compare its efficiency with direct connections you've had so far.
I could probably 3D print some of those dummy AA cells for you, but honestly it'd be way cheaper to get them pretty much anywhere else, since postage from Australia is a complete rip-off.
how many amp hour are those dummy batteries?
Remember those cheap cardboard cameras you could by while on vacation when you wanted to take a photo but forgot to pack your camera? (before cell phones kids!) Those little cameras were a great source for high voltage capacitors. There was one in each camera to run the flash!
I had a flashback moment watching this! Back in the 70's sitting in a high school auto mechanics class, the teacher was describing the various parts of a cars ignition system. He would describe the various parts and then hand the part to the student in the front seat of his class to be passed back so we all could see things close up. He started with an ignition coil, then a set of points, a distributer cap and then a condenser. Things were making there way around the room when all of a sudden we heard a scream as the student currently with the condenser stood up and dropped the condenser to the floor! The teacher had charged it up ahead of time and it made it about three students before anyone managed to touch the lead and the body while handling it. The teacher then explained the condensers ability to hold a high voltage charge! That my friends is how a good teacher is able to keep his students interested in his class! I'm sure every student in my class still remembers what a condenser is. The electronics teacher used to charge up capacitors off the high voltage power supply and leave them laying around his desk. He got more than a few unsuspecting teachers and students when they carelessly picked them up while talking to him! Great times.
I remember trying to buy a white Luxeon LED in about 2005…they were £16!!!
…also, they didn't have any in stock.
Which pretty much sums up everything about Maplin.