Supppose i have the following circuit. And I complelty discharge all the capacitors by having a load on them for a long time, so there will be 0V overall. Let's assume the one in the middle has a slightly different capacity. My question is will C5 have a negative Voltage because it has less capacity ?
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
I'm asking this because in my setup i have 3 Supercaps (which have polarity) connected in series and I'm wondering if I can discharge them all the way without giving one of the caps a reverse polarity.
Some thoughts:
This seems like a very basic question, but i've never asked myself this until now. So from a logical point of view it must get negative, because let's say they all start at 3V when discharging . Then the voltage starts to drop , then one of the caps must reach 0V first because it hass less capacity and then the current should still continue to flow because the overall potential on the load is > 0V .
But my first instinct was that it shouldn't get below 0 , although I have no argument for that it's just a feeling. So that's why I'm a bit skeptical what will happen.