Large capacitor banks lifetime

[Lord Nicoll]

Hello fellow hobbyist's. does anyone know if charging up large capacitor banks and discharging them with a short circuit to blow stuff up would damage them. Obviously they have a life span but would that shorten them?

[Hackentosher]

i can't imagine it would be great for the caps.

[Electronics Wizardy]

They will last a long time, unlike batterys they will last millions of dischange cycles just fine. Caps can handle tons of current just fine. Look at the esr and the current to make sure there not getting too hot and your fine.

[Lord Nicoll]

Just now, Hackentosher said:

i can't imagine it would be great for the caps.

That said these are quite large (400v 4700μF) and there are 12 of them in parallel with pretty insane bus bars and 1/0 AWG cables. 

[Hackentosher]

3 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

That said these are quite large (400v 4700μF) and there are 12 of them in parallel with pretty insane bus bars and 1/0 AWG cables. 

This is all I can think of  

 

[Lord Nicoll]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

They will last a long time, unlike batterys they will last millions of dischange cycles just fine. Caps can handle tons of current just fine. Look at the esr and the current to make sure there not getting too hot and your fine.

Well, throughout the day of charging them to not quite full voltage, and then instantaneous discharges, they never got hot all, they stayed stone cold.

[iamdarkyoshi]

5 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

i can't imagine it would be great for the caps.

If they aren't shit caps, it shouldn't damage them

[Lord Nicoll]

1 minute ago, Hackentosher said:

This is all I can think of  

c

more like bang

video-1499622090.mp4

[Lord Nicoll]

Just now, iamdarkyoshi said:

If they aren't shit caps, it shouldn't damage them

Kemet brand, so pretty high quality. 

[Lolucoca]

Well, it shouldn't damage them that much, I've been doing it with a "mix and match" capacitor bank for years lol

[Stefan1024]

On 9.7.2017 at 8:24 PM, Lord Nicoll said:

Hello fellow hobbyist's. does anyone know if charging up large capacitor banks and discharging them with a short circuit to blow stuff up would damage them. Obviously they have a life span but would that shorten them?

As long they are not tantalium and don't get >80°C (internal temperatrue, surface < 50°C), they will last very long.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Just now, Stefan1024 said:

As long they are not tantalium and don't get >80°C (internal temperatrue, surface < 50°C), they will last very long.

Tantalium and chinesium are both problematic...

[Stefan1024]

Just now, iamdarkyoshi said:

Tantalium and chinesium are both problematic...

Chinese once are fine, probably more series resistance, but as long as you have an eye on the temperature it should be fine.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Just now, Stefan1024 said:

Chinese once are fine, probably more series resistance, but as long as you have an eye on the temperature it should be fine.

I've had some fail violently from an overrated voltage...

[Stefan1024]

1 minute ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

I've had some fail violently from an overrated voltage...

Ok, this is a real concern, but usually you get what you pay for. So don't cheap out to much.
If you buy them from a thrusted source like digikey.com you will only get good once.