Author Topic: capacitor replacing batteries  (Read 4189 times)

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spacecase0

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capacitor replacing batteries
« on: June 30, 2016, 12:03:41 AM »
so I don't like things that have short lives
and many batteries don't last long
so I just setup a capacitor bank to start my car
it is a 100F 16V set 500 A max out with a surge out of 4KA
starts the car just fine
so I took it out of the car and tried it on the radio gear
worked better than a battery

details,
got 12 of these
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?mpart=BCAP0310%20P270%20T10&v=1182
came with 3 types of labels and made years apart...
looks like they came out of someone's spare parts bin
by the way, first time digikey has done that to me...

set it up with passive balancing, so resistors at 10 times the internal discharge rate
it will not start my car the next day from that discharge (but a small battery along with it works perfect)
with the radio and solar it works fantastic,
as is it runs my rooms lights for 4 hours at night just fine,

so if I would do this again, I would get these
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/maxwell-technologies-inc/BCAP0350-E270-T11/1182-1016-ND/3079280
and use active balancing only when it is charging
might change mine over to active balancing sometime soon

Tevin

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Re: capacitor replacing batteries
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2016, 06:09:33 PM »
A capacitor is just a glorified battery so yes your idea will work, up to a point.   

A well maintained battery should last several years. The capacitors should not be expected to last much longer than that.

Twelve capacitors from Digi-Key will cost $130.00, about the same as a decent wet cell battery.

I love your creativity, but I don't see what the advantage is.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2016, 06:11:40 PM by Tevin »

spacecase0

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Re: capacitor replacing batteries
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2016, 01:07:30 AM »
the advantages are,
you can leave it totally discharged for years on end (and have it last longer while doing so),
looking at the specifications, it should outlast a battery by a large amount if not under continuous use,
and they weigh way less and take up less space than batteries that put out the same current

I can buy a battery now to use now,
but I can't buy a nice AGM starting battery for use in 15 years from now
I know that you can get some flooded cell batteries dry, so it solves that issue some

my real motivation is that I just got tired of having the battery die in my car about every 2 to 3 years (I got my standby current down to 10 mA, so at least it is not that part of the car making them not last), now the batteries would still run lights and things like that, but would not start the car when it gets cold. could be that I drive my car about once a week and not daily.
the quality has dropped so low on most batteries made by exide, and they make most of the batteries I can get local.
the capacitors will vastly outlast the more pricey regular car battery that the local places sell.
I get that this all is less of an issue for the radio hardware unless I am doing a solar setup that is also portable