Tag Archives: supercapacitor

Interview with Michka Melo

At the occasion of a week of citizen science research with my friend Michka Melo in Foam Brussels, I took the opportunity to record an interview. Michka talks about his atypical background, urban gardening, biomimicry, upcycling, future scenario, art and science collaboration. Inspiring and very well informed views on cutting edge topics!

An account of our experiments is available here. Thanks to Robert Murray Smith for valuable info on DIY supercapacitors.

Experiments in DIY supercapacitors

Just back from Brussels where I worked for 5 days on DIY supercapacitors with my inspiring friend Michka Melo. We worked on the premises of the equally inspiring organisation Foam, trying to build supercapacitors from upcycled computer batteries and other methods including chemically altered cuttlefish bone, in a true citizen science spirit!

[Supercapacitors are electrical storage devices that become a viable alternative to conventional batteries, making up for lower capacity with a very fast charging time and much longer life.]

Michka compiled a detailed account of our experiments. Thanks to Robert Murray Smith for valuable info on DIY supercapacitors.

Supercapacitor + Raspberry Pi

I have been interested in supercapacitors for a while. These components are boosted up versions of the humble capacitors found in most electronic products. A capacitor is a component that can store energy, in a similar way to a battery. Normal capacitors – aka caps – only take very small charges (typically measured in Microfarads), and they are often used for cleaning up spikes and noise in power supplies. Supercaps can store much more (measured in Farads), which presently makes them almost suitable as battery replacements.

scrapBatteries

What’s wrong with using batteries?
– They take a long time, and fairly complex charging circuits, to charge. A super cap can be plugged in a standard power supply with addition of just two components, and charge in minutes.
– They have a limited life span, generally around 1000 charges, after what they have to be recycled, a tricky business. In theory, a well-treated super cap will last almost forever.

I have run a couple of tests with current supercapacitor technology. I found all the info I needed about supercapacitors in this instructable.

Super capacitor battery, 8V 120 Farad

One if my experiments was to build an 8.1V, 120 Farad capacitor array, that should be sufficient for powering a small robot or microcontroller. It is made of 6 x 360Farad, 2.7V supercaps. First test: to supply power to a Raspberry Pi. It works fine, but with this configuration (8V 120F converted to 5V) I only get approximately 15 minutes of operation, and that’s without powering a display.

The bright side is the speed of charge, around 3 minutes with my bench power supply (2.5A).

Erm… Not sure what these supercaps will be good for, maybe a secondary power for mobile robot. The fast recharge rate could make it a good combination with a conventional battery to provide continuous operation.

Dynamo mini audio amplifier

Finally finished the mini audio amp I started when I visited Flowering Elbow. I fitted a supercapacitor array inside the amp, that gives approximately 20 minutes of operation when fully charged. Charging it with one of my modified dynamo torches takes 3-4 minutes.

Finger dancing optional. Music is Chocolate by Syrup.