Supercapacitor Power Bank

by Ollymarchington in Circuits > Electronics

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Supercapacitor Power Bank

How to make a Supercapacitor Power Bank (2x 500F)

Hi, in this tutorial/ video I explain how to make a power bank using 2 500F supercapacitors.

NOTE: this is proof of concept rather than something you could replace a power bank with.

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible if anyone causes injuries or death to themselves or others, nor am I resposible if they cause damage to objects after building a project identical or similar to this instructable.

For this you will need:

  1. 2x 2.7V 500F supercapacitors,
  2. 3x wires
  3. A lipo charger (I'm using a TP5400 charger and set up module)
  4. LED strip to test with (optional)

Supercapacitors can hold a lot of charge hence the name super. Like electrolytic capacitors they have a low internal resistance which allows them to charge fast however they can also theoretically discharge extremely fast with high amps. This is why they are used in spot welders. Furthermore, this is one of the main reasons why you need to be careful and now short the pins.

Making the powerbank, I soldered the two supercaps together in series and then soldered them to the charger module. The charger module already has a resistor built in as to prevent the supercaps from pulling more current than I want.

The next step is to charge them and then finally test them on the LEDs.