SOLN1-2000 Watt Capacitor Solar Generator

This is pretty neat. He is using high capacity super capacitors to store power for a mobile power station, reporting that it provides enough current to even start heavy inductive loads like circular saws.

Yep, seen this vid before. I was very intrigued. The biggest problem is cost of the super-caps. Until those caps come down in cost, it's still viable to use 18650's. And they take up more space. Which, probably isn't really a bad thing if you're putting everything in a building outside your house or garage.

Here's a quote from another forum about using supercaps to replace batteries:

1 Farad is 1 Ampere second per Volt. 1 F = 1 As/V. 1 Ah = 3600 As 3600 As / 12V = 300 As/V = 300F But you need more then that because the voltage will drop as the capacitor discharges. Half the charge means half the voltage. With a lead acid battery that's different. A battery that is half empty still has nearly the same voltage as it had at the start. Maybe 600F and some electronics to automatically step up the voltage so it stays at 12V. So you'd need to buy 160 capacitors with 3V and 60F each.

Reference https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/amp-hours-to-farads-conversion.256751/

Click to expand...

So, you would need a LOT more supercaps than you would batteries to accomplish the same thing. Since voltage changes as the Farad's are used, kinda makes the whole thing a lot harder to keep things balanced on the output/usable side.
Unless there is a Voltage booster that would work linearly; otherwise you'd get a lot of jagged voltage as the V is boosted back up. Unless I'm missing something else in the circuitry and possibilities. :huh:


Kori