[Nautilus]

Standby drain leaves the supercaps dead after short time. Nippon 700F caps, if left alone and not connected to anything, drop from 14.8 V to 9.45 V in just 48 hours. They still drain even if connected to a battery, but very slowly, in weeks or even more. And this disregarding the consumers on the car: alarm, locks, ECU memory, gasoline pump, radiator fans which still run 5 to 10 minutes after engine shutoff and draw at least 16-17 amps.

So supercaps are not efficient if left alone, only if connected in parallel to a small, lightweight auxiliary battery.

Motorcycle batteries fit together with supercaps in the box and they're small and light enough.

Tested the system leaving the car untouched for 38 hours in dry freezing weather. It cranked to start at -5°C, no problem. There was some freezing on the gas lines, so it took 5-6 seconds of cranking. Instead of 1 second as usual when the car is daily driven.

Battery can supply in theory about 175 CCAs, so it may give (one) start by itself if a connection breaks.

The supercaps charge and discharge instantly, as they don't rely on a chemical reaction, so they smooth out voltage. As the small milifarad caps in the Raizin voltage stabilizers do, but on a grander scale. This gives the smoother idle and stable voltage.

I had an array of solar panels over the trunk lid, lighted by the Sun through the rear window, which I've fitted to power up a system of fans to cool the interior on hot days. Added a wire and a cigarette lighter plug, to connect them into the car's electric system in cold weather and keep the battery/supercap hybrid topped up. They are rated to about 634mA in open air and ideal conditions, but in less than good position and under the green anti-UV window they give only about 65% of their nominal amps. That is, a bit over 400 mA, which is pretty close to what a battery trickle charger does.