On Tue, 17 Nov 2009, William "Chops" Westfield wrote:

> > supercaps
> 
> Supercaps have a very bad discharge curve for powering nearly anything.
> Almost any battery is MUCH better...

Yes but... I can't remember the numbers (maybe someone could enlighten us) 
but batteries are pretty bad at converting electrical energy into chemical 
energy. I seem to remember lead acid were the best and these were only 60% 
efficient. Anyway, supercaps seem to be much more efficent on the input 
side. They are not very good at long term storage (self discharge is 
abismal compared to even NiMH) but they can be cycled 1000's of times 
more than even good NiMH batteries and charging is VERY simple compared to 
a battery.

What about adding a simple boost regulator to a supercap. Yes the output 
would be much less efficient than a battery but wouldn't it be a case of 
swings and roundabouts (poor input battery vs poor output supercap + 
boost).

Regards
Sergio Masci
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