It appears Maxwell has released a new supercap!
While attempting to find some literature on a
430f 16v supercap on Ebay, I discovered a
3400f 2.85v capacitor on
Mouser for $80. That's a heck of a lot of money. The 3000f supercaps only cost $64. But wait! The 3400f caps are rated to 2.85v instead of 2.7v like all of the other caps Maxwell sells. If you could get away with wiring 5 in series instead of they typical 6, then you wouldn't have to buy as many, and the capacitance would increase.
5x of the 3400f caps comes to $400
, but 6x of the 3000f comes to $384. You might be thinking that $16 more for a measly 13% increase isn't worth it, but the actual increase is 36%! The total series capacitance of 6x 3000f capacitors is 500f. The total capacitance of 5x 3400f capacitors is 680f. On top of all that, the 3400f cap has the same dimensions as the 3000f unit.
Here is the risk; 5x 2.85v only gives 14.25v. My alternators all put out 14.4v, so I would be over-volting each capacitor by 0.03v. Perhaps that is close enough to not cause problems, but if not, it would be an expensive science lesson.
I'm considering shelling out the dough to see if I can eliminate the battery altogether on my truck.