Supercapacitors are used in consumer electronics, energy harvesting devices, and industrial equipment. Our winners used a kit from Cornell Dubilier, to conduct a green technology experiment to win some tech!
Hello Element14 community!
Few days ago, I received my reward from Experimenting with Supercapacitors. My participation in this contest I summed up in final blog Final Blog: Supercapacitor Backup Storage for Low-Power Compact Sensors about one month…
Six weeks ago, a package arrived on my doorstep marking the beginning of my journey into the world of supercapacitors. As a hobbyist, supercapacitors were an exotic component I had heard of, but never put into use. Thanks to element14’s “Experimenting…
Hello everyone. This is my final blog as part of Experimenting with Supercapacitors design challenge. In this blog I will publish details and results of all my experiments which I did using Cornell Dubilier supercapacitors in last 6 weeks. In this blog…
What is Experimenting with Supercapacitors?
Supercapacitors, also known as ultracapacitors and electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), are high-capacity capacitors with capacitance values greater than common types of capacitors such as electrolytic…
What is Experimenting with Supercapacitors?
Supercapacitors, also known as ultracapacitors and electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), are high-capacity capacitors with capacitance values greater than common types of capacitors such as electrolytic...
Introduction
This is my final blog about my journey into the world of supercapacitors.
I must say, it has been quite some journey and I have thoroughly enjoyed this design challenge. In my introductory blog, I had noted that one of my primary goals w...
Hello everyone. This is my final blog as part of Experimenting with Supercapacitors design challenge. In this blog I will publish details and results of all my experiments which I did using Cornell Dubilier supercapacitors in last 6 weeks. In this bl...
Introduction
The experience with supercapacitors has been very positive. Ever since I received the supercapacitor kit from Cornell Dubilier, I have been playing with these devices trying to figure out how to use them for an energy harvesting project....
Preface
In this design challenge, due to generosity of our sponsors: Cornel Dubilier and Element14, we had a chance of experimenting with supercapacitors of various families manufactured by CDE. Those included:
six parts (of three different capacita...
Intro
This experimenting with supercapacitors design challenge was a great way to learn about supercapacitors, everything from how they are made and what handling precautions are needed to their performance and what applications they are good for.&n...
For this contest, I looked around the market and considered the charging ICs for supercapacitors. There are a lot of different charge ICs, but most of them have a significant disadvantage: they are not so easy to solder with a (slightly advanced) hom...
Six weeks ago, a package arrived on my doorstep marking the beginning of my journey into the world of supercapacitors. As a hobbyist, supercapacitors were an exotic component I had heard of, but never put into use. Thanks to element14’s “...
Hello everyone. I welcome you to my next blog as part of Experimenting with Supercapacitors. The last blog before I post my final blog I want to use for description of some details about my next experiment: self-discharge evaluation. My remaining exp...
Introduction
In this blog I focus on the 3 DGH supercapacitors provided in the kit, namely:
DGH105Q2R7: 1F 2.7 V
DGH505Q2R7: 5F 2.7V
DGH106Q2R7: 10F 2.7V
These DGH supercapacitors are specified as having a maximum voltage of 2.7V. So, with these s...
Unreliable data sources
Arduino Octave integration, although convenient and easy to use, seems to have some weak points:
control is rather slow - for example, when switching two relays one by one, operator can differentiate by sound when second rela...
Introduction
The element14 introductory text describing this design challenge, noted that: “Supercapacitors are ideal for applications ranging from wind turbines and mass transit to hybrid / EV vehicles, consumer electronics, energy harvesting ...
Why to balance
In real-life situations there is some difficulty with obtaining high efficiency of the energy storage when using supercapacitors (especially of EDLC type), due to their low working voltage. Although EDLC capacitors can be discharged al...
Intro
I finally got my SuperCap Magic Meter fully functional. It performs well and has already proved useful in characterizing supercapacitor performance.
The SuperCap Magic Meter Demo
Here is a video showing my first use of the meter on supercapac...
Hello everyone. I welcome you to my next blog as part of Experimenting with Supercapacitors. In previous two blogs I described my experimental large capacitance measurement using python and now I switch to something different. In this blog I will des...
Inspired by the recent E14 LabView RoadTest I have decided to test Octave (open source Matlab replacement) Arduino integration for capacitor measurement.
Having obtained LattePanda v.1 during previous design challenge, I have decided to use it for th...
I didn’t realise when I published my last “extra credit” blog that it would fall on a national holiday weekend in the US. As a result, some of you may have missed some rather interesting experiments looking at safety under abusive c...
Intro
This installment on my Super Capacitor Experimentation Project covers functional testing of the supercapacitor meter shield. The last blog covered assembly of the PCB. This blog shows the shield is able to charge and discharge with constant cu...
Hello everyone. This blog is continuation to my previous blog Measuring Large Capacitance using Python. In this blog I will describe techniques which I used before I implemented circuit as described in previous blog. Techniques which I will describe ...
RTC module supercap modification
One of easiest to build supercapacitor applications could be a modification of Arduino RTC module. Some of least expensive ones are based on DS1302 RTC chip and are usually equipped with CR2032 battery socket.
Given t...
Intro
This episode of the Experimenting With Supercapacitors Design Challenge covers the build of a supercapacitor meter shield that will mate with an Arduino Uno R4 Minima. The capacitance meter design takes advantage of the 14biit A/D on the UNO R...
Intro
This is another installment in the Experimenting With Supercapacitors Design Challenge. I enjoy injecting creative design elements into any project, so while waiting for my PCB to be fabricated I thought I would address the handling issues wi...
My previous “extra credit” blog embarked on the beginning of my journey to characterise supercapacitors through measurements of capacitance and ESR. While those are two important parameters, there are certainly other considerations when i...
![Supercapacitor energy storage system - extra credit blog 3 ([another] capacitance meter)](https://community-storage.element14.com/communityserver-components-secureimagefileviewer/communityserver/blogs/components/weblogfiles/00/00/00/04/19/0654.chrg_curve.png-100x100x2.png?sv=2016-05-31&sr=b&sig=ZzVkBgpJFA%2Fx956gTmEa8Yw0vJjYOWejOyCv1Jo1l9I%3D&se=2025-11-08T23%3A59%3A59Z&sp=r&_=LhnAiW7byGC7/P0tr56F/w==)
