The Secret Life of Capacitors

[nul-points]

a couple of years back, ou.com  Nerzh Dishual and i were discussing capacitor charge experiments and some of the interesting but rarely discussed characteristics we'd observed along the way

Mr Dishual suggested that we should collect all this information into one place and call it 'The Secret Life of Capacitors'

this is that collection

the resulting PDF is quite large (7Mb) so i'm hoping i've managed to upload it to the appropriate storage space at ou.com - if not, i'll upload it to the 'Latest' page on my website (look for link to 'The Secret Life of Capacitors')

  http://ringcomps.co.uk/doc


there are photos of the test sensor and graphs with possible correlations and explanations for some of the unusual characteristics which can be observed when you get 'up close and personal' with a capacitor!  (don't tell my wife!)   

the file also contains an Appendix with graphical data of over a month's worth of datalogged 'spontaneous' voltage recorded on a capacitor to show the cyclic patterns which are generated


it would be nice to think that somewhere amongst all the revealed 'secrets' there is an explanation of how my NiMH and NiCad LED flash circuits are able to self-sustain their operation by lifting the voltage across the battery to greater than the off-load voltages

...but that's another story (The Ringwood Bootstrap circuit)!
        http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=4419.msg246787#msg246787


happy reading

sandy

[nul-points]

hi all

i'm wondering if the anomalous charge effect on capacitors (shown in the graph, middle image, above) could be assisting my low-powered  LED flash circuit which so far has increased its own supply voltage across the battery for around 200 hours using a NiCad, and 400 hours on a test started earlier, using a NiMH

the circuit uses 3 storage caps: 1 across the battery and two providing positive DC offsets for pulse transformers feeding the LED pulse energy back to the battery

the circuit is VERY low-powered and the combination of efficient energy feedback within the circuit and possibility of a little boost from anomalous charge on the 3 capacitors might JUST be taking the circuit overunity

basic schematic & latest supply voltage graph below

the thread covering the circuit is at:
   http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=4419.msg246787#msg246787


the info containing Apr/May '09 results of my anomalous capacitor investigations can be downloaded from:
  http://www.ringcomps.co.uk/doc/pages/secret_life_of_capacitors.pdf

(includes appendix of 30+days of graphical data, hence 7Mb in size)

[Pirate88179]

Sandy:

Are you familiar with the work that Captainpecan posted here on OU a few years back?  He ran some interesting experiments with caps that showed some promise.  Of course, he was ridiculed by some folks (that have been banned and are no longer with us) that were saying that if he didn't have $15,000 measuring equipment then his results were bogus, etc.

What you have worked on may not even be related but, what is related is that he noticed some potential "gain" from charging and discharging caps in his system.

My only work in this area has been with supercaps and boost caps as related to the JT circuits and the earth type batteries.  I will try to read your caps research as I am always interested in stuff that may have easily been overlooked by the "experts".

I am looking forward to it.

Bill

[nul-points]

hi Bill

good of you to drop by - what on earth are you doing awake at this hour?!?


yes, i remember Captain Pecan

actually, several members here had been investigating and posting pulsed capacitor charge anomaly results from long before the Cap'n was knee-high to a parrot!

fortunately, the resulting feeding-frenzy whistled right on past the rest of us and we were able to get on with our investigations without distraction 


the low-powered circuit i'm experimenting with (shown above) is a bit like a JT in slo-mo

it'll be interesting to see how long the voltage across the supply battery continues to increase


all the best with your experiments!
sandy

[nul-points]

CAP SELF-RECHARGE UPDATE:
The 6800uF capacitor from the datalogging test rig has had the shunt resistor removed for approx 6 months now and it's evident from the 'voltage vs. days' graph (see below) that for the last 5 months the voltage increase has been very close to a linear function of time

during the 5 months from mid-Feb until now, the charge-separation on the capacitor has increased steadily by approx 0.01 milliCoulomb per day, which represents a total energy gain of 204uJoules over that period

the total energy gain since the shunt was shorted then removed, mid-Jan, is 329uJ

these increases have occurred whilst the capacitor was fully enclosed inside an aluminium container (ie. screened from external EM interference / noise pickup)

(the capacitor also has Neo magnets fixed around its can, aligned to create a magnetic field within the capacitor at right angles to the voltage field across the capacitor 'plates')


SEE ALSO:
for an extensive range of results from investigating anomalous charge and current in a variety of regular electronic components, check out the intensive work which Paul Lowrence has been detailing on his blog at:
   http://www.globalfreeenergy.info/