Supercaps for Lighting
I found out that the crash track race car has a 7f 2.7 volt supercap, so I had to play with it.
that thing will run LED's or very long time and an Idea came to me.
Rather than wall worts, power supplies, for batteries for on track lights,
just take a string, and a supercap, and a power wand, that has disposable batteries in it.
Think of how easy wiring of remote stuff could be without needing a switch panel,
all the 115 wiring to light up the power supplies.
especially for top of the hill stuff.
So this is what I am leaning towards right now, and would appreciate any input.
I am a total rookie on DIY electronics, let alone circuit design so far, but learning.
the schematics:
just extend this circuit out for track lighting
and the powerwand/socket (to prevent wrong polatity charging)
A 1-2 second touch with 4.5 v battery supply (crach track car power) on the cop car lights ran for 30 minutes. Plan to use 3.0 v for the wand to not exceed the 2.7 max on the cap as easy.
dr
Discussion
Nice work doc - check out this guy who has some cool tiny 3v LEDs. I've brought a few and they are great quality
- I've used them for many projects and highly recommend them! — Stoopid_Fish_Racing
- I am trying to copy him, good stuff — dr_dodge
A 2.7v supercap should not run a white LED as it needs about 3 volts... although you may get some dim glow. Your voltage needs to be higher. Maybe you are over-charging it? Use your volt meter to check the charged voltage... the chart shows you the voltage range required for each LED color. The resistor in line with the LED input is used to drop the supply current to the correct input current. You can calculate the resistor ohm value using ohms law... or this online calculator! All LED current should be limited to 20-30ma.
IMHO, if you want to run green, blue or white LEDs you need to upgrade to a 3.8v supercap which can be surged up to 4.3v... and may have a better chance of surviving for longer periods... a 2.7v cap shouldn't be run any higher than 2.85 or so... depending on size and manufacturer.
the 2.7 runs the blue/red leds just fine
the cap was charged to 2.4-2.6 according to my VM
using a 350 resistor for "charging current limit"
the LEDs have a 430 resistor as came with the set
the lights run for 1/2 the time on bright blue vs red,
then flash red forever.
dr
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRORvJucUZA
- makes sense... you get some blue fir a bit then when the voltage drops too low, you just get red until the voltage drops below 1.8 or so... — Stoopid_Fish_Racing
- kinda what I was thinking, foolin' it with the rechacge between flashes — dr_dodge
ok I'm gonna have to watch and absorp all of this, I know very little about electricity but really want to know how to do this! My trazck needs better lighting, and I need a few cop cars/a,mbulances with emergency lights!
Thx doc!!
- I am working my way thru this, but for street cred, I've lite up a bunch of stuff HO train set stuff. Woodlands Scenic has a great plug and play system. I used it for the Imperial City of Moparnia, and made lighted gardens with the old school giant stack CD holders. Each circuit is adjustable, and they also sell lighted cars in HO, and I think, O. if ya don't mind spending $$$ — dr_dodge
- very cool thx doc! — G_ForceRacing
- think I'll do a vid — dr_dodge
- that would be great for a noob like me TY! — G_ForceRacing
For your track lighting idea which sounds interesting. You could put two or three of these super caps in parallel and effectively just get more energy storage. I've done very little with super caps so I am unfamiliar with how rugged they are with regards to overvoltage. I do know that tantalum or electrolytic caps will eventually bulge and blow or fail
this is the moparnia gardens
woodlands plug and play system
very nice if you don't want to become an electronics engineer
(the noise is the ventilation system for the underground cities)
dr
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Fx2axcTHc
So much of that sounded like English, my big take-away was the upcycling of a toy component very very few others would look at twice, kudos for that. And the schematics! Could be material for a video!