Working With Supercapacitors

This month I would like to introduce you to a relatively new family of unique components that are “ripe” for experimentation. These are the so-called “supercapacitors” that are now readily available from most of the standard electronic component distributors. These capacitors are components with capacitances in the range of farads, not microfarads. I am also sure that many of you are familiar with the fact that a capacitor can be charged quickly and remain charged for a period of time. That is why shorting the terminals of a charged capacitor (particularly a high-voltage one) before working on a circuit is a good and safe practice.

The main problem with using a common high-value electrolytic capacitor as a source of voltage in portable equipment instead of a battery is that