Testing a supercapacitor

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  • čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
  • How to measure the capacitance of a supercapacitor. Using a constant current charge and a resistive discharge methods to estimate the EDLC supercapacitor's capacitance.
    The calculator:
    ohmslaw.eu
    Please support my channel on Patreon:
    / diodegonewild
    Instagram:
    / savage_danyk

Komentáře • 105

  • @iamdarkyoshi
    @iamdarkyoshi Před rokem +42

    Awesome calculator, love that the site is nice and clean and simple so I don't need a supercomputer to run it. And the cat is a good bonus.

  • @PatrikRokl
    @PatrikRokl Před rokem +78

    Ohm's Law page is a genius tool to make calculations easy. I like this.

    • @cmuller1441
      @cmuller1441 Před rokem +3

      He's using I=C.∆V/∆t
      Not Ohm's Law...

    • @BritishEngineer
      @BritishEngineer Před rokem +5

      I think you are mistaking calculation triangles for ohms law.
      Calculation triangles are a great way to remember laws that use different multiplying and dividing three parameters such as calculating distance traveled, pressure and in this context ohms law.

    • @Geniusinventor
      @Geniusinventor Před rokem

      Very genius indeed

    • @Hamed-ty6hh
      @Hamed-ty6hh Před rokem +4

      it's CATculator

    • @BritishEngineer
      @BritishEngineer Před rokem

      @@Geniusinventor -

  • @wojtuniakfrog
    @wojtuniakfrog Před rokem +34

    I just got this EXACT capacitor and was dreading trying to determine its true capacitance! Well timed video 🥰

  • @xntumrfo9ivrnwf
    @xntumrfo9ivrnwf Před rokem +24

    I've had this EXACT same super cap for a few years. I've abused it heavily (i.e. charging at 15A and then dumping it through thin wires to watch them explode, etc.). The leads have even half melted away

  • @michaelseitz8938
    @michaelseitz8938 Před rokem +15

    Haha, a CatCuteLator 😻
    Good that your supercapacitor turned out legit.

  • @PrajjalakChattopadhyay
    @PrajjalakChattopadhyay Před rokem +5

    Thanks for the catculator. Very helpful tool. I need that regularly.

  • @zyghom
    @zyghom Před rokem +1

    SUPERB!
    I used 4 such as driver to my UPS.
    But after few months I realised it takes too much Power on self discharge so I redesigned the UPS to use 18650 - much less $ wasted ;)

  • @wouter11234
    @wouter11234 Před rokem +4

    Would love to see a conversion chart for awg/wire thickness to ohms at a certain distance... that way I could very easily calculate the expected voltage drop or vice versa the resistance of a wire when I know the voltage on both sides

  • @SinsBird
    @SinsBird Před rokem

    Mine arrived 3 days ago, thanks!
    Out of 6 caps 2 have quite reasonable self discharge rate, in 12 hours from 2.58V to ~2.3V, 2 caps self discharged to around 1V, 1 cap to 1.5V and the last cap to 1.8V.

  • @swiftsilver
    @swiftsilver Před rokem +3

    A suggestion for your website is to add a calculator for the internal resistance of batteries. It can be done with ohms law and measuring the voltage drop on a set resistance

  • @beatrute2677
    @beatrute2677 Před rokem +3

    Awesome vid man along with your catculator. Bookmarked for future use.

  • @Conservator.
    @Conservator. Před rokem +4

    I’m looking forward to some rapid discharge experiments with that supercapacitor. 😈

  • @whatevernamegoeshere3644

    I love your calculator so much

  • @michaelfisher9671
    @michaelfisher9671 Před rokem +2

    I hope you are going to finish your work on that bench power supply. I was enjoying that.

  • @LawpickingLocksmith
    @LawpickingLocksmith Před rokem

    Your cat is the prettiest one of all he technical channels!

  • @zx8401ztv
    @zx8401ztv Před rokem +1

    Years ago i looked into capacitor charging times, the number of time constants was rather crude.
    I ended up with a exponential calculation.
    But my memory has faded a lot :-(
    Very nice calculator on your site, it will help many people :-D

    • @liam3284
      @liam3284 Před rokem +1

      Yes, you get a differential equation where V(c) = integral(I(c))dt / C
      but I(c) = (V(s) - V(c)) / R
      Solve the equation, works out to V(c) = V(s) - V(s) * e^(-t / (R*C))
      I(t) = (V(s) / R) * e^( -t / (R*C) )

    • @zx8401ztv
      @zx8401ztv Před rokem

      @@liam3284 Yes that looks familia :-D, i'm really really bad at maths (Cant even remember the times tables).
      A casio scientific calculator was gold to me :-D

  • @Speeder84XL
    @Speeder84XL Před rokem

    Very interesting!
    Easiest way for these calculations is to measure/calculate the rate of which the voltage is rising or falling during charge/discharge (in volts per second). Rase/fall rate (volts per second) times the capacitance is the current (A). Current (A) divided by rise/fall rate (volts per second) is the capacitance. Current (A) divided by capacitance is the rise/fall rate (volts per second). For example the 500 F getting charged to 2.4 V in 1 hr is 2.4 / 3600 = 0.0006666... V/s - so 0.00066666... * 500 = 0.333333... A - or charge it by 300 mA is 0.3 / 500 = 0.0006 V/s, 0.0006 * 3600 = 2.16 V.
    The inaccuracies was probably because electrolytic capacitors (even good ones) have a tendency to have some residual charge that can mess with measurements like this. It behaves like there is another, small capacitor with extremely high ESR in parallell with the main one. You can see that if you charge an electrolytic capacitor, hold it at a constant voltage for a while, then discharge it thru a low value resistor (with a voltmeter in parallell) and disconnect the resistor once the voltage is down to 0 V, with the high impedance volt meter still connected - the voltage slowly rise again (even if nothing is charging it), up to a few tenths of a volt or sometimes (if it's high voltage capacitors) up to one or several volts before it stabilizes.
    If the leads are shorted, then disconnected again, it will do the same (but the voltage rise be less for each time). The load (or terminals shorted) has to be left on for some time, to make the voltage stay at zero when the load is disconnected. Same thing happens if charged up and held at a constant voltage while leakage current is measured - it will be quite high initially, then go down and settle at a very low current after 10-30 seconds or so. As I understand, this is a natural behaviour of electrolytic capacitors and nothing really wrong.
    Capacitance measurements of a capacitor like this will probably be more accurate, if the rase/fall rise rate is measured while it already have been charging for a minute or so at a constant current. Also 2 measurements during both charge and discharge could be taken (in case that residual charge effect will be different during rise and fall).

  • @leoyru.3361
    @leoyru.3361 Před rokem +1

    a tip for yout site. you used an image for background. this way dark themes dont work , put just a color.

  • @Vilvaran
    @Vilvaran Před rokem

    Wow; we are somehow connected or something - because for the past few weeks I've been playing with EDLCs of many types; including these exact 500F units - brand and all!
    Of the 10 I got, 2 were DOA; and another two were lost during storage - It seems these may be rejects, as some even 'rattle' somewhat...
    My biggest "IF" here is the self-discharge, it could be lower on these... Some EDLCs are really good though, so parts selection via individual measurement is the way to go; measure the capacity and then how long it takes to "bleed" down. Those small button-style Ni-MH cells are good to mess around with in calculators and such; as you can 'buff' them with sealant over the gasket - which helps stop leakage. They are also $1 for a replacement* - supercaps are a bit of a gamble on ebay; and expensive as hell in-store! Though the investment can be worth it, as the CMOS-Backup style EDLC are good, I used one in my 'OG' perpetual calculator - which charged in 5 minutes or so using the original indoor solar-cell; and could run for just under an hour in low-light conditions!
    These are great for all those 'instant' applications; where charging with one hours notice can yield a full 8 of runtime - or high-current startup of a motor etc.
    They also make good spot-welder sources, and enables these and soldering-irons to be run from 'low' power such as an alkaline cell, or a solar cell.
    Fun fact: the EDLC is closer to a battery than a true capacitor in that it's Electrolyte (Sulfuric acid!) is involved in ionic charge transport; as opposed to a static accumulation in charges on the plates...
    Therefore treating them as batteries is truer to their requirements, and "C" is relatively easy to calculate; simply divide the value in Farads by 3.6 to get the value in milliamp-hours per-volt...
    Like batteries, at 2C the capacity is far lower than 0.1C measurements; which can be as low as 1.3 micro-ampere for the specified 47mF units, which in turn gave up to twice their rated capacity under these conditions! However, unlike the battery, these can be run down to 0.1V, and then charged to 2V - and survive as well as one used in the 1 to 1.5V range!
    Can the constant current discharger run at 10mA or less? Try it with 2V starting voltage after an overnight absorption charge; and run it down to 1V, which should take another night or roughly 14 hours...

  • @objection_your_honor
    @objection_your_honor Před rokem +3

    Your site is very handy but very hard to read.
    Went nuts with colours and background did you?

  • @dark_phoenix6669
    @dark_phoenix6669 Před rokem

    everytime i see an cap this big (from its physical size) "the forbidden lollipop" pops up in my mind

  • @SinsBird
    @SinsBird Před rokem

    Out of 6 caps 2 have quite reasonable self discharge rate, in 12 hours from 2.58V to ~2.3V, 2 caps self discharged to around 1V, 1 cap to 1.5V and the last cap to 1.8V.

  • @gordonwedman3179
    @gordonwedman3179 Před rokem

    Very interesting. I have bookmarked your calculator. I will have to try this with a chart recorder measuring the voltage.

  • @aicisha
    @aicisha Před rokem +1

    Nice video! the resistor at 7:08 is made in soviet union? I also have a few of them at home...

  • @Its-07
    @Its-07 Před rokem +2

    Great information ever 👍❤️

  • @wimcolet
    @wimcolet Před rokem

    What a disepoint movie. Realy waiting on kaboom lol.

  • @ne555timer6
    @ne555timer6 Před rokem

    I hope Electroboom will like your videos

  • @Geniusinventor
    @Geniusinventor Před rokem

    I love your Web site it has your lovely cat picture on it :0

  • @danblankenship5744
    @danblankenship5744 Před rokem

    Very nice, I have been thinking of making an Arduino do this calculation, I will use your calculator instead.

  • @sjsrana
    @sjsrana Před rokem

    Cool, I love cat-culator !!

  • @smeggyhead1
    @smeggyhead1 Před rokem

    It might be easier to discharge to e-1 (36.8%). Then the capacitance can be simply calculated (c = time / R)

  • @qzorn4440
    @qzorn4440 Před rokem

    most excellent video. 🥳 Could there be a safety issue on the huge supercapacitors of ever exploding even if they are installed correctly if it is a defective capacitor? 😎 Thank you.

  • @rilosvideos877
    @rilosvideos877 Před rokem

    I found most of these cheap ebay-super-caps to be close to 360 ... 400 F instead of 500 F. There may be different types and charges of caps available but i guess most of them is faulty production which didn't meet the specs of 360 or 400 F originals.

  • @JohnnyX50
    @JohnnyX50 Před rokem

    Thank you for calculator, you are very kind. I love your website :) I scratch my head at super caps, I do not know what is their main uses? I wonder, would they be useful in garden solar lights? I have lights I keep in window indoors and would like to replace battery with a super cap but I do not know if it would power lights for long enough or charge properly. It was nice to see your kočička in this video somewhere :) I am trying to learn some czech as I want to live there someday :) I have my heart on Vsetin where a long lost friend used to live, he is Czech.

    • @johncoops6897
      @johncoops6897 Před rokem

      Super Capacitors are good for high current, over short duration. They aren't so great for long discharges, as they tend to have a degree of self-discharge.
      A Ni-MH (or even Ni-CD) cell is almost the perfect cell for a solar light, as you can run it right down to zero volts without harming the chemistry (they thrive on it). You will note that Solar lights have a small boost converter circuit, so they can step up the voltage to run an LED at ~3V. Over the course of the night, the circuit will keep running down to about 0.6V or less, which effectively uses almost all the energy that was stored during the day.

  • @diylithiumguy
    @diylithiumguy Před 11 měsíci

    Very nice!

  • @vermillionreaper
    @vermillionreaper Před rokem +2

    I though there were only 10 F maximun capacity super caps a 500 F blew my mind

    • @ayyadew
      @ayyadew Před rokem

      I have 3000F super capacitor 2.7v

    • @EvillNooB
      @EvillNooB Před rokem

      @@ayyadew how big is it?

  • @ayyadew
    @ayyadew Před rokem +2

    I have 3000f 2.7v super capacitor I convert it to Ah =1.2
    2.7v to 100mV

  • @tobitechboy1461
    @tobitechboy1461 Před rokem

    They are pretty siüper ngl

  • @techbarron7383
    @techbarron7383 Před rokem

    please make a video about usb killer,how its works

  • @snipersquad100
    @snipersquad100 Před rokem +1

    Nice website

  • @good_king2024
    @good_king2024 Před rokem

    You speak like singing with some pattern at end of sentence. Nice.
    Felt like Sanskrit slokas initially.

  • @Pirelli.
    @Pirelli. Před rokem

    Very interesting!

  • @warrax111
    @warrax111 Před rokem

    Make cat as flash banner at the bottom, so it's more 90's. :)

    • @eDoc2020
      @eDoc2020 Před rokem

      Eew, no! Better to use animated GIFs like a sane person!

  • @nixo0077
    @nixo0077 Před rokem

    Where are such big capacitors used??

  • @vaclavtrpisovsky
    @vaclavtrpisovsky Před rokem

    Please use the proper Greek letter μ for the micro prefix, Unicode support is pretty much universal and you already use Ω anyway...

    • @DiodeGoneWild
      @DiodeGoneWild  Před rokem +1

      I decided for u, because μ felt like too much risk for too little benefit... u looks so simmilar that it's not worth the incompatibility problems. Ω is just displayed, but the u is a part of the logic (unlike Ω, the u is the prefix that is actually changing)

    • @vaclavtrpisovsky
      @vaclavtrpisovsky Před rokem

      @@DiodeGoneWild Just specify _charset="utf8"_ to enforce Unicode support, all browsers after 2000 should have it. If your JS is ASCII-only, you can easily use Unicode characters with the _&__#code__;_ (dec) or _&__#xcode__;_ (hex) prefix, which the HTML interpreter will decode, just like named characters such as _&._ For example, μ is _&__#956__;_ = _&__#x3bc__;,_ or even the named entity _μ._ I see no risk because the units are also written in text, and the *very* few users of ancient browsers without Unicode support are used to seeing boxes or �s anyway.

  • @Antek1234l
    @Antek1234l Před rokem

    Very cool logo on website

  • @cisarvialpando7412
    @cisarvialpando7412 Před rokem

    I also have that same brand of supercapacitor....

  • @AK-vx4dy
    @AK-vx4dy Před rokem +1

    Sovietski resistor nice :D

    • @BlackAmV0
      @BlackAmV0 Před rokem

      Yeah, MLT, 2 watts power dissipation. I wonder, where it was soldered out.

  • @Lime902
    @Lime902 Před rokem

    nice

  • @ch2o2
    @ch2o2 Před rokem

    ..how about the maximum discharge current of this little darling? Would be interesting if you want to perform spot-welding, I guess

  • @omniyambot9876
    @omniyambot9876 Před rokem

    please do some experiments with it already

  • @ocvuive
    @ocvuive Před rokem

  • @bertondroid
    @bertondroid Před 5 měsíci

  • @jankrutis2935
    @jankrutis2935 Před rokem

    very gut ingliš🤣

  • @aleksandurmanov5148
    @aleksandurmanov5148 Před rokem

    What is name of the cat .🙂

  • @saalkz.a.9715
    @saalkz.a.9715 Před rokem

    "CatCoolEther" 😹

  • @zts9383
    @zts9383 Před rokem +1

    Nefunguje překlad. Co tam říká?

    • @matysta11
      @matysta11 Před rokem

      Českou angličtinou vysvětluje test čajna kondenzátoru s použitím jeho kalkulačky.

    • @zts9383
      @zts9383 Před rokem +1

      @@matysta11 To nějak nechápu.

    • @peterkutak
      @peterkutak Před rokem +1

      ze ked ich kupis tak sa zda, ze je to super kup, ale ak bude uprimny tak za rok natoci novy diel kde vysvetli, ze na serioznu pracu je to odpad, ale ze za 5usd na hranie dobre

    • @zts9383
      @zts9383 Před rokem

      @@peterkutak Díky, tak jsem si to představoval.

  • @infofoolygun
    @infofoolygun Před rokem +1

    catkoolator 🍭

  • @celsoneves2368
    @celsoneves2368 Před rokem

    Beauty

  • @widyahong
    @widyahong Před rokem

    How to balance super capacitor in series?

    • @plainedgedsaw1694
      @plainedgedsaw1694 Před rokem

      Simplest form of balancer is shunt regulator/zener diode with value slightly lower than max voltage, but it will not prevent problems of imbalance during deep discharge, so careful going way too low in voltage.

    • @widyahong
      @widyahong Před rokem

      @@plainedgedsaw1694 thankyou for your answer, so the problem is when the voltage polarity coming backward and the capacitor pfff 💨😁

    • @peterkutak
      @peterkutak Před rokem

      i use bare tl431 on every capacitor (for small current limited by charger)

    • @widyahong
      @widyahong Před rokem

      @@peterkutak thankyou for the answer, its a little bit pricey than zener diode but its more accurate and adjustable right?

    • @peterkutak
      @peterkutak Před rokem

      @@widyahong i had 100pcs from china (cheap) and i use them just as 2.5V@100mA zener diode
      Vref and Katode direct to +
      Anode direct to -

  • @Purple431
    @Purple431 Před rokem

    Oooo

  • @GLITCH_-.-
    @GLITCH_-.- Před rokem

    What's uptalk?

  • @thecriss88
    @thecriss88 Před rokem

    Now use it as electric welding tool.

  • @paveljelinek772
    @paveljelinek772 Před rokem

    Kámo 🤣 trochu zapracuj na výslovnosti plís. Ic lajk jů spík lajk dys fór eprůvl

  • @Shadow_of_STLKR
    @Shadow_of_STLKR Před rokem

    I have bunch of them. They start leaking after few months... pice of junk

    • @peterkutak
      @peterkutak Před rokem +1

      i have cca 30pcs 2years some of them leaked too

    • @realflow100
      @realflow100 Před rokem +1

      No leaking yet so far with mine. had them for several years. still works.
      Ordered on June 26, 2017 (1 item)
      however 1 of them was wired wrong internally reverse polarity. so I contacted seller and they sent me 2 free replacement ones to replace it promptly. and its been working fine so far.

  • @ijapsdjhkahbefajldas
    @ijapsdjhkahbefajldas Před rokem

    Catculator 🎉😂

  • @vaclavtrpisovsky
    @vaclavtrpisovsky Před rokem +2

    A supercapacitor for a clock or thermometer? What a waste!
    If you want just a few milliamps (or less if it has an LCD), use significantly cheaper NiMH batteries.

    • @swiftsilver
      @swiftsilver Před rokem

      I was wondering the same. Super capacitors are pretty nice but generally for high current dumping. Nimh are a lot cheaper for this kind of project

    • @peterkutak
      @peterkutak Před rokem

      i disagree, supercap is easier to work with and expected lifespan is better, price is not much higher smaller supercap is sufficient 5Fat5V(2S)

    • @vaclavtrpisovsky
      @vaclavtrpisovsky Před rokem

      @@peterkutak I gutted out a trashed crappy solar light with a 3x3cm photovotaic cell and 600mAh AA NiMH battery. It's been powering a quartz wall clock for years. Many such low-capacity cells are in battery bins in working condition, easy to spot by their solid-color light green shrinkwrap. You can charge them from a solar cell with nothing but a diode, and 3 in series can power an ATmega.

  • @alchemik2010
    @alchemik2010 Před rokem

    WARNING! PIDGIN ENGLISH

  • @leorstblack
    @leorstblack Před rokem

    Why does he talk like that???

  • @Alias225
    @Alias225 Před rokem

    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣