Is it possible to Use Super Capacitors to Increase a Li-Ion Battery's Run Time?

2 threads on super capacitors for Notebook PCs in one day?

Methinks a super capacitor mfr has their minions in full chat room flood mode... I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of scam artist ads claiming to sell "Super Capacitor Instant Notebook Chargers" any day now.

supplement the battery by a solar charger which gets energy from indoor lighting.

That's quite amusing. Wouldn't it be easier and more effective to plug the charger into a wall socket?

my method utilizes the spill light(waste) without consuming energy.

"my method utilizes the spill light(waste) without consuming energy."

The cost/benefit ratio doesn't make sense, but I suppose some people would be interested in it primarily for energy conservation (reduced drain on local power grid), however small that may be.

Your method removes from use about 6 square feet of valuable floor or desk space.

Nowadays they are making mobile phones incorporating a solar panel for self charging. Similarly lap tops too could be designed with solar panel. Further, in every building,room, shop or office finding 6sq ft of unutilised space won't be a problem.

You probably don't need all the lights you have anyway.

Use one of these

instead.

Brilliant except for the simple fact that the solar panel requires more energy to manufacture than the cost of the equivalent energy from the grid coming out of your wall socket.

"... solar panel requires more energy to manufacture than the cost of the equivalent energy from the grid ..."

To be fair, there is a "break-even" point. Sure, it will be a long time for such an implementation. Anybody care to do the calculations?

I just did them in my head.

Life of product: 5 years

Time to pay back initial investment: 5-10 years.

Likelyhood of using product for 5 years: 25%

Total payback: 15% of initial investment.

That'll be $50.00USD.

The calcs have been done before on CR4 by myself and others, the only way to hit "break-even" money wise is with government funding programs or dodgy maths that hide the true material and manufacturing costs, energy payback isn't even close yet for silicon panels (they are still a net energy sink and cost more than they produce).

The development continues however.......

Software for battery conservation...
http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=increase+laptop+battery+life&searchtype=downloads

Simple answer, no. If the battery is old it won't have the same capacity as a new battery, replacing the battery with a new one will increase battery runtime.

Alternatively look at altering the laptop power settings to extend runtime, depending on how your laptop is set up and what you use it for simple software changes can result in significant runtime increases with minimal reduction in performance.

Thirdly, aftermarket devices can be connected to help extend the battery life but are not all that good if you want to run continuously rather than for short periods allowing them to recharge the battery between uses.