VoltCrest — Supercapacitor Energy Sentinel
About this project
VoltCrest is an interactive supercapacitor energy trainer that charges and discharges a 1 Farad gold capacitor through a PNP/NPN transistor switching circuit controlled entirely by an Arduino Uno. A 16×2 HD44780 LCD (driven in 4-bit parallel mode) displays real-time terminal voltage, state-of-charge percentage, and stored energy in Joules — updated every 500 ms. Four colour-coded LEDs form a progressive bargraph tracking SoC zones, and a passive buzzer plays an ascending fanfare at full charge and a descending tone at full discharge. Students observe the classic RC exponential charging curve firsthand, verify the E = ½CV² energy equation with live numbers, and gain practical experience with transistor high-side and low-side switching — three fundamental Electrical Engineering topics in one self-contained breadboard circuit.
What you get
- Complete, commented source code
- Full components list with quantities
- Pin-by-pin wiring guide and connection table
- Step-by-step upload and testing guide
- Project report (.docx, IEEE style)
- Presentation slides (.pptx)