Supercapacitors as power source ?

fireworks · 17th May 2012, 08:22 PM

Various people use batteries as power sources for headphone amplifiers for example.
Their advantage is the low noise over regulated power sources.

Has anyone tries to used supercapacitors for the same purpose ?

At first sight, they have a lower series impedance than the batteries, so maybe they have a lower noise too (a very simplistic reasoning, I know) ?

Anyway, I'm interested to know how they compare with batteries as low noise power sources.

fireworks · 18th May 2012, 05:59 PM

Nobody has any opinion on this ?

Nico Ras · 18th May 2012, 06:15 PM

The storage capacity of a "super" capacitor is far lower than that of a battery. Consider that Energy = 1/2CV^2.

To produce 1 watt of power for 1 second requires 1 Joule of energy. Let us say your supply voltage is 5V, then to produce 1 watt for one second requires a capacitor of value 0.08 Farad. A 1 Farad capacitor would provide you with about 12.5 seconds of music pleasure.

fireworks · 24th May 2012, 06:26 PM

Indeed, but I was thinking about using them in a headphone amplifier where the power required is very low.

Ian Finch · 25th May 2012, 08:55 AM

5V and 1W is low power for modern headphones and their amplifiers. Some have enough power to drive front speakers and need it, given class A operation and very inefficient 'phones.

17th May 2012, 08:22 PM	#1
fireworks diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	Supercapacitors as power source ? Various people use batteries as power sources for headphone amplifiers for example. Their advantage is the low noise over regulated power sources. Has anyone tries to used supercapacitors for the same purpose ? At first sight, they have a lower series impedance than the batteries, so maybe they have a lower noise too (a very simplistic reasoning, I know) ? Anyway, I'm interested to know how they compare with batteries as low noise power sources.

18th May 2012, 06:15 PM	#3
Nico Ras diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Amanzimtoti - East Coast of South Africa	The storage capacity of a "super" capacitor is far lower than that of a battery. Consider that Energy = 1/2CV^2. To produce 1 watt of power for 1 second requires 1 Joule of energy. Let us say your supply voltage is 5V, then to produce 1 watt for one second requires a capacitor of value 0.08 Farad. A 1 Farad capacitor would provide you with about 12.5 seconds of music pleasure. __________________ Kindest regards Nico

25th May 2012, 08:55 AM	#5
Ian Finch diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Coffs Harbour, on the east coast	5V and 1W is low power for modern headphones and their amplifiers. Some have enough power to drive front speakers and need it, given class A operation and very inefficient 'phones. __________________ regards

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18th May 2012, 05:59 PM	#2
fireworks diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	Nobody has any opinion on this ?

24th May 2012, 06:26 PM	#4
fireworks diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2010	Indeed, but I was thinking about using them in a headphone amplifier where the power required is very low.

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