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Testing larger Lithium Ion Capacitors

A project log for Solar harvesting into Lithium Ion Capacitor

A tiny board with AEM10941 solar harvesting IC charging a Lithium Ion Capacitor

jasper-sikkenJasper Sikken 03/11/2025 at 20:170 Comments

There are newer Lithium Ion Capacitor (LICs), with higher voltage than the 3.8V LICs I had tested before. Manufacturer Cda calls the 4V variant the LIB series and it ranges from 200 to 1100F. And I recently ordered 4.2V LICs that are 350F and an 1300F. I compared capacity, ESR and leakage current of 5 large LICs. To test capacitance I used my electronic load to discharge them at a constant 750mA down to 2.5V and I could read the capacity (mAh) from the display. I converted LIC specified capacitance (farad) to capacity (mAh) using the formula Q= C * V / 3.6. 

To measure the leakage I measured the voltage decay over the days with a bench multimeter. After 72 hours I calculated leakage using the formula I(A)=C(farad)*(yesterdaysvoltage[V]-todaysvoltage[V])/t[s]

BT LIC-H-1840Cda LIB1840Q4R0118Cda LIB1330Q4R0357Cda LIC1840Q3R8757Vinatech VEL13353R8257G
Capacitance  specified (F)1300F 4.2V1100F 4.0V350F 4.0V750F 3.8V250F 3.8V
Calculated capacity (mAh)613mAh458 mAh145 mAh270 mAh90 mAh
Measured capacity (mAh)668 mAh550 mAh136 mAh273 mAh96 mAh
diameter, length (mm)18,4018,4013,3018,4013,35
ESR specified90 milliohm65 milliohm100 milliohm60 milliohm100 milliohm
leakage specified-23 uA4uA23 uA5 uA
leakage measured >72h31uA11uA4uA13uA5uA
Price€10.29 qty1€8.61 qty1€5.67 qty1€8.46 qty1€6.76 qty1

Conclusion: The capacitance is amazing and the leakage of the Cda and Vinatech is low enough for very low power applications. I definitely recommend using these.

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