selfmade homemade DIY supercap ultracap bcap boostcap

[Doug1]

Bill
   I was wondering the net trying to remember the title of a vid that showed a person burning a pile of powedered Tiso2 under a plate of glass to produce a conductive layer that was transparent. Along the way I ran into an add for liquid glass and followed the bread crumbs. It can be made from diatom powder. In the short form the single cell critters cell walls are made of Tiso2. This is a cheap product used for a filtration medium for swimming pools and aquariums that will filter down to a micron or two size contaminants from water. When it is not burnt into a gas I think has insulating properties that may be viable applied to one of the electrodes of a making up a cap. Being it is a hollow structure with two valves one of which is naturally larger then the other for it to feed and expel waste through it should be able to retain a liquid conductor. Acids may not be suitable without damage to the cell structures but iodine diluted in distilled water should work just fine to produce a really thin insulator and a electrolyte  that easy to apply and easy to get. For the purpose of making lower voltage caps. The wider the gap the less effective for lower voltages ect...

[Paul-R]

Or, could you not just use the proper supercap for the application?  In other words, I use a 2.7 volt supercap (650 F) to light an led.  The voltage is fine as it is and the led only draws what it needs and it will run for a very long time.  No other components required that would waste energy.

Or, am I missing something?

Bill

I fear, alas,  Bill, that you may be.

An LED takes a current of  approximately nil amp. A potato battery would do  it.

If you are running a 6v motor connected to  a water pump off two of your capacitors,  the voltage would drop from 5.4v to,  say, 4v,  very quickly. It would stop working with about 75% of the energy still  in the caps.

How could we get round this and get almost all the power out of the caps?

[Red_Sunset]

....................................................
How could we get round this and get almost all the power out of the caps?

See Reply #22 on: May 17, 2015, 01:05:26 PM
Buck-Boost/Inverter/converter/MPPT

[Paul-R]

See Reply #22 on: May 17, 2015, 01:05:26 PM
Buck-Boost/Inverter/converter/MPPT

This is very interesting. not come  across current regulators. But i still  don't understand. Does the device increase the voltage as the cap voltage drops in order to maintain the design voltage, say 6v ? Do you have any part numbers?

The other thing that you may be able to help over is the equation for the equivalence of capacitors and batteries I am getting ridiculous results.

[Red_Sunset]

This is very interesting. not come  across current regulators. But i still  don't understand. Does the device increase the voltage as the cap voltage drops in order to maintain the design voltage, say 6v ? Do you have any part numbers?

The other thing that you may be able to help over is the equation for the equivalence of capacitors and batteries I am getting ridiculous results.

Paul,
In the DC-DC converter area, there are several simple switching regulators, example MC34063 - DC-DC converter control circuit,  it is just one of the many to be found, you find then also often used in a mobile car charger.  The reason they are inexpensive.
At the rear of the datasheet you will find sample application circuits for up & down converter. They have the ability to convert voltage upwards or downward, ( buck or boost)  Some sensing would be required to implement this seamlessly. Very low pwr usage, 2.5ma.
On the next level up, MPPT IC's are available that have intelligence for tracking capability by incorporating something like a PIC to effect continuous adjustments based on set parameters,  an internet search will provide you a wealth of information.
Sorry I have no direct idea about equivalence of capacitors vs batteries, need to look this up.

Red_Sunset