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Supercaps and lithium, reliable in a daily?


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Last February/March,  (18 months or so now)  I helped my roomate put togetther and install his ccurrent setup which consists of a 100ah Battle Born Lithium and 1 cap bank (5s- 3v 3000F caps for 600F total capacitance).  Powered by a 270 Mike Singer alt, 155amps at idle, in a 03 or 04 v6 Accord.  2 sundown U15s off a Incriminator Audio 20.1 and 2 6.5 component sets (RF prime series i think, it was a amazon special purchase that much i remember for sure) powered by the RF prime r400-4d .  Stock lead acid delete and both cap bank and lithium in trunk to keep out of the elements and heat from engine.  

We ran 2 runs of 2/0 welding cable from alt to lithium which is being used for distribution.  I thought a long run of wire from alt up front to batt /caps/amp in back was  no biggie if it got the bat and caps inside the cabin, plus 2 runs of 2/0 is plenty of cross sectional area for a single 270 IMHO.

18 months no problems whatsoever.  It doesnt drop too much below freezing around where i live so when those  came he would pull the bat and cap board we made for that contingency and brought it inside at night.  He charges to 14.4v  and if his revs are at 2500 or more he stays in mid 13s drops to low13s at idle.  If it wS my mine Id buy another bank of caps for sure cuz  i can tell from watching the volt meter the voltage drops to its lowest when the low lows drop hard and of course when he sends it to clip city which is kinda sorta often lol.  the system has a hard time catching back up, without that drop it sits at high 13s.  

The thing i notice most of all though is the voltage stabilization the caps added.  Without the caps voltage is changing non stop all over tbe plave from 14.4 to low or mid 12s, and the occasional spike to 15 or some shit.  With caps much steadier, much smaller voltage changes and no major dips or spikes whatsoever.  Much safer and healthier for the entire charging, audio and electrical system.  And hes had no problems with starting his car.  I know without the caps if he beats on the system for a while and the voltage gets low you can hear the starter sounding different.  With the caps  we ran a test, pulled the fuel pump relay and turned the key for 5 sec, then stop for 5sec. 5 times we did that, popped relay in and she fired right up sounded totally normal.  Completely unscientific with a obvious lack of quantitative data but it made both of us feel much better having those caps in for the cranking amps after we heard the starter sound so sluggish as mentioned above.

 

Im saving up for my electrical upgrades but Im going LTO for the increased cycle life and much higher C rating.  I think that will blow AGMs outta the water even for only starting and running the car, let alone the benefits for the audio side.

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17 hours ago, kalilac619 said:

Real magic happens when you get enough Alt power and ditch batteries and run strictly caps 

What I want to do but only room for a single 240 alt in this civic unless I learned to fabricate my own custom bracket system for a second one and that’s pushing the limit of space 

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16 hours ago, LT.Smoke said:

I've been running my entire car off a 45ah Limitless for quite awhile including feeding juice to my system as well so yeah it works :)

How often do you charge the lithium up with a lithium charger ? Do you disconnect it if your going to have it sit for a while (>3 days). What kinda power you running off the 45ah and what’s your voltage drop? 
 

sorry for all the questions Just have a lot of ifs right now

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16 hours ago, Surhoff88 said:

Last February/March,  (18 months or so now)  I helped my roomate put togetther and install his ccurrent setup which consists of a 100ah Battle Born Lithium and 1 cap bank (5s- 3v 3000F caps for 600F total capacitance).  Powered by a 270 Mike Singer alt, 155amps at idle, in a 03 or 04 v6 Accord.  2 sundown U15s off a Incriminator Audio 20.1 and 2 6.5 component sets (RF prime series i think, it was a amazon special purchase that much i remember for sure) powered by the RF prime r400-4d .  Stock lead acid delete and both cap bank and lithium in trunk to keep out of the elements and heat from engine.  

We ran 2 runs of 2/0 welding cable from alt to lithium which is being used for distribution.  I thought a long run of wire from alt up front to batt /caps/amp in back was  no biggie if it got the bat and caps inside the cabin, plus 2 runs of 2/0 is plenty of cross sectional area for a single 270 IMHO.

18 months no problems whatsoever.  It doesnt drop too much below freezing around where i live so when those  came he would pull the bat and cap board we made for that contingency and brought it inside at night.  He charges to 14.4v  and if his revs are at 2500 or more he stays in mid 13s drops to low13s at idle.  If it wS my mine Id buy another bank of caps for sure cuz  i can tell from watching the volt meter the voltage drops to its lowest when the low lows drop hard and of course when he sends it to clip city which is kinda sorta often lol.  the system has a hard time catching back up, without that drop it sits at high 13s.  

The thing i notice most of all though is the voltage stabilization the caps added.  Without the caps voltage is changing non stop all over tbe plave from 14.4 to low or mid 12s, and the occasional spike to 15 or some shit.  With caps much steadier, much smaller voltage changes and no major dips or spikes whatsoever.  Much safer and healthier for the entire charging, audio and electrical system.  And hes had no problems with starting his car.  I know without the caps if he beats on the system for a while and the voltage gets low you can hear the starter sounding different.  With the caps  we ran a test, pulled the fuel pump relay and turned the key for 5 sec, then stop for 5sec. 5 times we did that, popped relay in and she fired right up sounded totally normal.  Completely unscientific with a obvious lack of quantitative data but it made both of us feel much better having those caps in for the cranking amps after we heard the starter sound so sluggish as mentioned above.

 

Im saving up for my electrical upgrades but Im going LTO for the increased cycle life and much higher C rating.  I think that will blow AGMs outta the water even for only starting and running the car, let alone the benefits for the audio side.

Honestly would love to go to LTO for the benefits but my charge hovers at 14.2v. If I remember right LTO cells like 15v+ LifePo4 like the standard 14.4v area. For this reason I’m going to go for LifePo4 the easiest way I know through limitless. Custom builds seem cheaper but after cells, bms, bussing, and case/flame retardant foam, its not that much more to buy premade. 
 

I am airing towards getting an additional cap setup of around 500F to supplement the lithium. 

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6 hours ago, Joshdashef said:

How often do you charge the lithium up with a lithium charger ? Do you disconnect it if your going to have it sit for a while (>3 days). What kinda power you running off the 45ah and what’s your voltage drop? 
 

sorry for all the questions Just have a lot of ifs right now

Don't have a lithium charger currently I need one...Me driving a lot does the job of keeping it charged...I am running 4k plus a 400x4 channel amp off the lithium plus my car...Never drops below 12.6 but most of the time I stay up in the 13's unless I get squirrelly on my knob

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I don't think you need to top off your lithium that frequently.

I left my lithium in my truck for a whole year parked behind my parents barn. Checked voltage in spring after a hard (negative temperature a few times) winter and the voltage didn't drop at all. I also have 2 banks of caps with that

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