# Delay Capacitor

#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
Hi!

I have a car electronics directly connected to the battery. I switch off and on with a switch button.
My problem is that if the electronic is already on, and I start the car, during self-starting the voltage drops and my electronics restarts. So I was thinking to use capacitor/diode combo to prevent this situation.
My question is how can I calculate how big capacitor I need? The consumption of the electronics is 2A. And the time is max 5 sec.

Thanks,
Szotyi

#### RRITESH KAKKAR

Joined Jun 29, 2010
2,829
Yes, it happen may be due to Short circuit while Automobile Starter it consume lot of Current.

#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
And how can I prevent this situation? Thanks

#### kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,753
Yes, it happen may be due to Short circuit while Automobile Starter it consume lot of Current.
Again stating the obvious? OP seems to know pretty well why this is happening.

A capactior that would drop its voltage for example by 2V while you pulled 2A for 5s would need to be 2s*5A/2V= 5 farad.
That is a serously large supercap and will cost a lot. You might be better off getting a larger main battery or using a small secondary battery. Or just live with it.

#### kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,753

#### kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,753
2V from where?
2V is how much you allow the voltage on the capacitor to drop while you are discharging it.
You have past experience i think?
No, I am an electrical engineer, just like you claim you are.

#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
Ok, guys if you can not agree with each other, how could I do? You are the experts, I do not know about it a lot..
My situation is more complex, I just wrote it simple to not bother you with a lot of info. Actually it is a tractor and not a car. It has an RTK GPS on it (1-2 cm accurate) with autosteering. In the real life, I start the tractor, then the electronics. I work with it. I am middle of row, something brakes, or I have to go somewhere else for whatever reason - thats the real life. I would stop the tractor, but I can not, because if I start the tractor again the rtk looses the coordinates, the heading etc. I need to go forward and backwards to get back the heading and the right coordinates... But it is impossible to go back right there I left, if every few cm is important. So I can not live with it sorry. The main battery is already 160Ah...
I am asking help, because I do not know it.

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#### RRITESH KAKKAR

Joined Jun 29, 2010
2,829
ok, i say connect another battery with it.

#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
What do you mean?

So if we have a second battery how I connect to the main battery? To charge the second battery, and to prevent the selfstaring to sink from the second battery?
The second battery cost also quite a money, would be a 5 farad capacitor good? Or costs so much?

#### RRITESH KAKKAR

Joined Jun 29, 2010
2,829

<snip>

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#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
My hobby is programming. I wrote also myself an autosteering software for tracked tractors. I have made the electronic circuits for it myself from reading posts, and tutorials from the internet...
Input voltage is 10-16 V.

#### kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,753
2 amps for a GPS seems like a lot, would it be possible to divide the system into parts that don´t really need the backup and into parts that do?
I would suggest you simply instead of a capacitor use a small 12v battery, conected though a diode to your main battery. You will not be using a lot of energy from it, so it can be fairly small and keep recharging through that diode. Just mind you would need to turn everything of in order not to drain the battery when the motor is off.

#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
the GPS consumption is ca. 750ma, the monitor is 1 A, thats why I have wrote 2Amps.
So I connect like the attached circuits?

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#### hp1729

Joined Nov 23, 2015
2,304
the GPS consumption is ca. 750ma, the monitor is 1 A, thats why I have wrote 2Amps.
So I connect like the attached circuits?
Almost. A diode connected to each battery. 1N5822 is suggested. A low loss Schottky Rectifier, 40 Volt, 3 Amp.

Re: the capacitor:
The suggested capacitor runs $100 to$200. Your suggested circuit would be correct for using the capacitor as the second battery.

Re: 125 acres
What do you raise on 125 acres that makes good money? Avocados? In America a "small farm" is 500 to 600 acres, with most farms being in the thousands of acres before they are profitable. Are you subsidized by the state? No insult intended. A 125 acre avocado farm is worth about \$2,000,000 in Ventura California.

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#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
thank you very much!

#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
Both, thanks again for your help guys!

#### kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,753
Almost. A diode connected to each battery. 1N5822 is suggested. A low loss Schottky Rectifier, 40 Volt, 3 Amp.
The problem with your circuit is that the small battery will never get recharged, that is why I suggested a single diode. It will leave the smaller battery a bit below full charge, but it will allways recharge to that level once the motor is running.

However if you put a resistor across the diode from the smaller battery to limit the charging current, then it will be probably the best solution.

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#### szotyi

Joined Jan 14, 2016
19
ok, so my circuit is good? thanks

Mod edit: removed off topic material.

Last edited by a moderator:

#### #12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,222
Ok, guys if you can not agree with each other, how could I do? You are the experts, I do not know about it a lot..
My situation is more complex, I just wrote it simple to not bother you with a lot of info. Actually it is a tractor and not a car. It has an RTK GPS on it (1-2 cm accurate) with autosteering. In the real life, I start the tractor, then the electronics. I work with it. I am middle of row, something brakes, or I have to go somewhere else for whatever reason - thats the real life. I would stop the tractor, but I can not, because if I start the tractor again the rtk looses the coordinates, the heading etc. I need to go forward and backwards to get back the heading and the right coordinates... But it is impossible to go back right there I left, if every few cm is important. So I can not live with it sorry. The main battery is already 160Ah...
I am asking help, because I do not know it.
Ignore everything posted by RRITESH KAKKAR and all the side-tracked responses to him. I have reported this so the Moderators will clean up this irrelevant conversation which hinders your progress.

I say, use a small 12V battery isolated by a diode from the tractor's main voltage supply. A battery is much more reliable and stable than a capacitor in this use. Your tractor will recharge the small battery to almost the same level as the starter battery. This small weakness is a good thing to avoid overheating your small instrument battery. Check it often until you see how it is going to act in the face of being charged by a much larger system.

#### #12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,222
Apologies. I answered something on the first page without realizing there was a second page. Kubeek seems to have worked this out. Ride with him.