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Re: [Phys-L] batteries vs capacitors

On 01/29/2014 09:58 AM, Paul Lulai wrote:
I am not sure of the tradeoffs associated with storing the energy in
a rechargeable battery vs a capacitor.

At this level of sophistication, a battery is a horror show.

A battery operates over a quite narrow range of voltages.
Much above or below that, it gets damaged.

LEDs on the other hand need a /current/. The current is
an exponential function of voltage.

I'm not sure a capacitor would work well in this situation,
but I guarantee you a battery would work worse.

============

You might look into supercapacitors. These are more
tolerant as to operating voltage than batteries, yet
store far more energy than plain old capacitors.

=======================

You might also google for LED driver circuits:
http://www.google.com/search?q=LED+driver+circuit
e.g.
http://www.diodes.com/datasheets/ZXLD381.pdf

Such a thing is well worth the trouble if you are
trying to use the available energy efficiently.