The Dawn Of The Ultracapacitors

Batteries may be on their way out.  In case you have not heard new kinds of energy storage devices called  supercapacitors are making their way into many different consumer electronics.  The difference between normal batteries and supercapacitors is that while a battery takes several hours to recharge a supercapacitor takes just a couple of minutes.  Ultracapacitors can take only seconds to recharge, even from a completely dead state.

The first real blog post I made here on Gadgets Gizmos and Other Good Stuff was on the Light For Life, an ultracapacitor LED tactical grade flashlight that charges in just 90 seconds and is aimed at the police and fire market.  Normal everyday people can still buy the thing, but as of the time of writing this article they are so back ordered that they have temporarily stopped allowing people to order them.   Apparently the high price tag ($170) did not phase too many would be buyers.

Now, I am seeing many more supercapacitor and ultracapacitor powered devices coming on the market.  I might personally have to go and order an Ecolight Solar Rechargeable Flashlight. It’s not as powerful or as fast to charge as the Light for Life, but it still puts out 50 lumens, and charges in four minutes when plugged in or in one hour if using the solar panels that are built into it.

For another cool little ultracapacitor powered gadget I see that Coleman has come out with the Flashcell Cordless Screwdriver.  This one charges  in just 90 seconds and has a lifetime of over 500,000 charges!  Very cool, if only I could figure out how to keep from losing the stupid driver bits…