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> * no, the purpose of the capacitor is to capture the PEAK voltage which i=
s
> being lost due to wiring losses, The capacitor is allowed to charge to a
> peak, then the mosfet switch is engaged to apply a pulse of energy at the
> peak voltage. The capacitor as a low-impedance source of charge, which is
> only turned on 25 to 30 % of the time; the rest of the time the cap is
> allowed to charge.--Bob*
>
You may be able to get a degree of MPPT like action by charging and
discharging between certain voltage limits.  If you discharge so that all
available energy is taken (controlled by the battery voltage) you MAY move
further away from the optimum power point than if you discharge for less
voltage drop and do it proportionally more often. There may be an optimum
point that bet matches the low power panel output to the battery chemistry
requirements for any mix of insolation and battery state. Finding an
algorithm to optimise this may be 'interesting'.

A cap that is discharged resistively, whether with a formal lod, or due to
the wiring drop when a large current pulse is taken, will incur I^2R
losses. These will increase as the delta-V increases. If the capacitor is
able to deliver energy at a substantially higher voltage level the gains
may be significant.



      Russell
--=20
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