Ultra capacitors

There are Super Capacitors, and Ultra Capacitors. I don't believe anyone here is working with "Ultra" Capacitors. Not that I've seen anyways.




Only a few are using the ultra/super capacitors.
 
Super / Ultra are the same thign in relation to naming of capacitors...

Wait a few years to see what Musk does with automation and his newly aquired toy... Maxwell... expect them to be in his vehicles rolling off the line within 3 yrs (next Roadster) and possibly superchargers. Costing will drop by a few tens of % to say the least...

They make regen braking a lot, lot more effective, efficient and powerful...

They are only at around 11Wh/kg at the moment, once they are at just 40Wh they will be used all over the place and volumes will go through the roof (supercharging EV stations) and capacity will make further progress.... supercaps need a gigafactory... :)
 
Ahhh, thanks completelycharged. I thought they were different technologies. I've only ever really heard of supercaps. Ultracaps are a bit more vague usage.


I agree with what Tesla will do with Maxwell. That'll be very interesting to see what the outcome will be.
 
I am building a 12V suitcase power backup. It can be charged from my homes power mains, my car, or a solar panel I have.

I thought it would be fun to be able to jump start my car if the battery is low, so I bought 12V worth of Maxwell supercapacitors. My research indicates that in their current state, they are not useful for storing energy, compared to the same volume of lithium cells. However, just about nany 12V battery can "fill them", and after that I am confident that the super-caps can easily start my 4-cylinder car.

The youtube video that convinced me disconnected the lead-acid battery from a car. He then disconnected the coil and fuel relay, so there was no spark or fuel. The fully-charged supercap bank turned over the 4-cylindercar engine for about 30 seconds. The recorded amps were 200A for half a second to get it rolling over, and roughly 100A continuous for the remaining 29-1/2 seconds.

If it was a diesel, a high compression performance car, or a 6-cylinder/8-cylinder...I'm sure it would draw more amps. Meaning, the supercaps would last even less time than 30-seconds.
 
Yeah that's one large disadvantage of super caps.

As voltage goes down linearly, so does power output.


The best way to make a jump starter would be to have a main super cap bank, and a regular lithium-ion battery pack configured to charge the SCap array when not in use, and then disconnect when a huge load is detected.
 
Yeah, that makes sense in a car.
And for other applications a big DC-DC converter could help against the voltage decrease.
 
Spinningmagnets, If they are the 3000F Maxwell supercaps they will start the car far far better than any lead acid battery will as they will not drop the voltage during the few seconds of starting load. They will however draw the maximum amps from the alternator to charge and when they are discharged they will appear as a short circuit to the alternator..... if it could startup...

They are quite impressive, but very expensive (at the moment...).... and also very scary from the currents they can deliver (chek out the wacky railgun DIY builders using supercaps to fire through plate steel....)
 
I agree with @completelycharged, they are great for car (gasoline only) when use on daily basis. But due to v. low internal resistance they can destroy voltage regulator on alternator. But it will need only for short amount of time. I belive some passive resistor to reduce amperage draw to max let's say 100Amps should do the work.
 
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