George...what is it...?

[racerrad8]

George, what us that in your battery box? I see an old school meter in one of the pictures.

Did you build your own battery?

Randy. - RPM

[rktmanfj]

 

[movenon]

George, what us that in your battery box? I see an old school meter in one of the pictures.

Did you build your own battery?

Randy. - RPM

Experiment in progress.  It is for my own amusement and education only.  It is a "SuperCapacitor" pack.  The short is when the pack is charged it will start the bike very nicely and will hold its charge with no battery back up for a day or two without starting as is. The pack weighs about 24 ounces.  With a 2 amp lithium battery hooked to it I ran the bike with no problem but there needs to be some improvements made.  The set up I have is crude. I am in the process of putting a circuit board together to over come some issues.  In the end I plan on running the pack with a 4 amp 14.8 volt  lithium battery as a backup to keep the pack charged and to give the bike some "legs".  By 'legs" I mean enough energy to grind on it 4 to 6 times. The 2 amp batteries that I used were from a mini camcorder pack, 14.00 for 4 of them. Total battery size roughly like 2 "D" cells.

Once the bike is running the pack will go to full charge 14.8 volts (the 6 caps are rated for 16 volts in total) in about 60 - 90 seconds.  They charge back up fast.  They also discharges fast.... Some refer to them as a "boost packs" they are available for Large diesel trucks to provide a large surge of power for starting.  A few have added the same boost pack I am using in small diesel trucks and just running on one battery. 

The idea was invented many years ago but the technology wasn't available to produce the caps.  I think it was Standard Oil researching fuel cells, rediscovered the idea and now the caps can be manufactured to the spec's needed. The ones I am using are 350 Farads each at 16 volts. That Farads not micro farads.

Here is some You Tube stuff that is interesting to watch.  Typical amateur You Tube stuff.....
Mini BoostPack 12V Capacitor Car Battery Update
12V BoostPack. Replaces auto battery. Works great!

More stuff from the manufacturer.
http://www.maxwell.com/products/ultracapacitors/products/16v-large-modules

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultracapacitor-Module-KIT-Battery-Eliminator-Car-Audio-Starting-Remote-Solar-/301128832966?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461cad57c6

Again this is for my own amusement.  Not ready for prime time.  There is another generation of capacitors in progress that is even more promising. 


George

[rktmanfj]

Standard warning about playing with big capacitors applies here... they can hurt you very much badly if you don't know what you're doing.

George (and several others around here) obviously does.

[movenon]

Whats the saying  "you'll shoot your eye out Ralphie" ... They are low voltage but if you short them it will be like shorting your battery.  Oh, and they can explode.    I hate that....
George

Small correction:
I said "The ones I am using are 350 Farads each at 16 volts"   that's 16 volts total, each cap is only 2.7 volts which is 16.2 volts total.  But they will only store what you feed into them.

[Bones]

Standard warning about playing with big capacitors applies here... they can hurt you very much badly if you don't know what you're doing.

Not just the big ones either. I was dicking around with a broken digital camera powered by one 1.5 volt battery, poking and prodding with a small screwdriver, when I touched something that gave me such a boot it threw my arm back like someone had kicked it.

Scared the shit out of me, and the camera went straight back in the bin were it should've stayed in the first place.

                                                                             Tony.

[X-Ray]

Lol, shouldn't laugh but thats a good story Tony,