Wow! ultracapacitors are the bomb!
 

here are some photos and a video of my ultracapacitors that i put in to replace my failing batteries

they are 2.7 volt 2.85 surge, 3000 farads - yes 3000 farads.

i wired 6 in series to make 16.2 volt (17.1 volt surge) 500 farad bank.

i made two of these to make a 1000 farad set to replace the batteries in my truck

at -40 degrees all the way to 149 degrees the set has roughly 4000 CCA/CA & and short circuit current of 18,000+ amps

the engine turns over and starts so quick and it recharges very fast. the audio system seems to have gained an extra kick too

the video is when i just temporarily installed them to see how they would work. i plan on gutting my old batteries and installing them inside

right now i have them temporarily tied down in place of my old batteries and i am amazed at how strong it starts in the morning.

overall i am thrilled with the performance
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

:pca1:

Interesting. How much is that worth?


No corrosion too....

i paid about $20 a piece

didn't think about that, good point

Thats really nice info!
You need bigger interconnections with these huge currents.
Are they intended for vehicles which have to start constantly? Like delivery trucks?

What are the three in series connected diodes good for? Voltage drop? 3x 0.7V= 2.1V suppressing peaks?

nice weight reduction too I bet about 100 lbs.

I imagine they would work great for delivery trucks as they recharge/recover quickly from the discharge of starting. in the video (link in first post) you can see that it only take a few seconds to bring them back to full charge. batteries can only accept a limited amount a current due to the internal resistance, with ultracaps you can charge them with whatever you alternator is capable of.

and yes, the diodes are to suppress higher volts. oddly these measure out to more like 0.85-0.9 volts which put them at around 2.65-2.7 working volts. i turned down the alternator to more like 15.5 volts now as the diodes where passing several amps and overheating at the 16-16.5 volts in the video. i will upgrade them to a better balancing circuit in the future and turn the volts back up

it is a bit lighter then the lead acid ones, maybe 10 lbs per set of 6

So you replaced your batteries with these capacitor setups, and no longer have conventional batteries?

If your meter is reading close to 17V while running, how is the dash gauge only saying 14V? Just a little concerned on how the rest of the electronics will handle 17V.

Use motorola MR751 8148 diodes, they can handle 6A.You also can use a single diode of a bridge rectifier unit- they are good because of the built it metal plate to transfer heat and high current capability.
Light bulbs will definetly burn out, since they can't handle anything bigger than 14.4V for long.

I know that Sure Power has built a unit to support cranking with capacitors for delivery trucks. But this looks cool too.

yep, battery-less vehicle.:tu:

i was wondering the same thing too but the dash gauge did eventually move up to where i would expect it to be. i think that the programming in the ECM/cluster has time delays to keep fluctuations from keeping the needle from bouncing around. it just took about another minute for the needle to catch up. i didn't see this until after recording

i was thinking of using some 6 amp diodes but they dont have a sharp turn on voltage and will continually leak current while the caps are at full charge. if i put another diode in line then the protection voltage will be to high.

currently i am putting together a protection circuit that employs zener diodes for less current draw during normal operation and higher capping current when the voltage starts to reach the limit of each capacitor

i think if i limit the final voltage to around 16 volts i should be fine. i don't have many incandescent/wire wound filament bulbs left in my truck. HIDs up front and back that have there own voltage regulators, turn, brake and marker lights are LED with regulators. the ecm and other computers should be fine at 16 volts but i dont know how far one could push it.