Tuesday, 19 May 2015

capacitor - Powering an Arduino with a Supercapacitor



For the purpose of a project I wish to power an arduino using a supercapacitor charged to 5V. The supercapacitor will be fed straight into the power Vin and GND terminals on the Arduino. No power plug or USB connected to a computer will be connected, so all power is to be drawn from the supercapacitor. Previously I have powered the board using a 0-12V variable voltage supply, and the arduino draws between 20 and 35 milliamps.


My question is this, if I connect the supercapacitor straight to the arduino board, will the arduino govern how much current to draw from the supercapacitor? Or will I need to place a resistor in series with the supercapacitor discharging in order to regulate current and stop the supercapacitor rapidly discharging and frying the board?


Lastly is this feasible at all? I am aware that as the 5V from the supercapacitor will drop off the period during which the arduino will run is limited.


Any advice is appreciated as I do not wish to fry my Arduino board attempting this.




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