Capacitor Bank as Power Source??
 

Hey guys, just wondering if any of you have, or if its possible to build a capacitor bank and use it as power source?

I realize the run times could be incredibly short, but then again, so would the charge times. I ask this because I can obtain large quantities of used power supply caps for free. They are 10,000uF 40VDC.

I run my Emaxx on 16.5V, so what I would like to know is, is it possible to build a capacitor bank using 40V caps, but limit its output voltage to ~16V, while still allowing it to discharge at its max current capabilities?

You would just charge the caps to 16v. The problem would be it would take a lot of capacitors to get even close to the capacity you would need for even a short run I would think.

Runtimes would be VERY short indeed, something in the range of 10 seconds. Also, the discharge curve will not give you anything resembling flat until you get to 0v.

If they are low-ESR type, you could use one or two in parallel with a battery pack. That would help the battery with the surges and help to average out power dips.