# Powerbanks?



## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 21, 2017)

Anyone bought a decent high capacity one recently? All a bit of a minefield seeing how so many lie about capacity. I use mine a lot for work but in the space of a few weeks my Xiaomi has given up the ghost and my ebay special got nicked! 

Ideally I'd find a high quality case which takes 6 18650s but can't find such a thing. 

Guess important features are that it charges itself and phone at 2A or more. 

Anyone used EC Technology or Tecknet? Not sure I can be bothered to wait for a China order as may need it at work before then.


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## pesh (Jan 22, 2017)

I've got the EC technology one... Bit big and a bit heavy but other than that it's fantastic. It does take 24hrs to fully charge at 2A though.


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## Wolveryeti (Jan 22, 2017)

I have this one - like that you can charge 2 things off it and as far as I can gather from 8 months of use, it is the stated capacity:

Anker PowerCore 20100 - Ultra High Capacity Power Bank with Most Powerful 4.8A Output, PowerIQ Technology for iPhone, iPad and Samsung Galaxy and More (Black):Amazon.co.uk:Electronics


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## Mojofilter (Jan 22, 2017)

Anker stuff is consistently decent in my experience.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## rich! (Jan 22, 2017)

I (and everyone else who plays Ingress, it seems) swear by Anker ones.


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## 2hats (Jan 22, 2017)

I got my hands on this RAVPower 26800mAh/5.5A 3 port powerbank. Seems to do the business as claimed but have only had it a couple of months thus far.

I've also been happily using Anker products for several years so would always take a punt on them too.


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## ViolentPanda (Jan 25, 2017)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> Anyone bought a decent high capacity one recently? All a bit of a minefield seeing how so many lie about capacity. I use mine a lot for work but in the space of a few weeks my Xiaomi has given up the ghost and my ebay special got nicked!
> 
> Ideally I'd find a high quality case which takes 6 18650s but can't find such a thing.
> 
> ...



I bought a case (aluminium, and very robust) and internal circuitry from fasttech for about a tenner, then 6 high-quality name-brand (Samsung) 25000Mah 18650s, a couple of years back. Handy having a power-pack that can recharge my tablet and phone several times each before it needs recharging, especially if I'm visiting somewhere that might take offence to me using their mains supply.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 14, 2017)

Went for the EC as it was the cheapest of the ones mentioned, without being no name Chinese with over inflated specs.  

Anyway does what it says on the tin, lasts ages and construction seems pretty decent. 

ViolentPanda that was my preferred option, but again it's hard to sort out the crap. It's not so cheap if your pairing it with 4 to 6 decent 18650s. I ordered a one cell version a while back and it looked so dodgy I put it straight in the bin!


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## ViolentPanda (Feb 14, 2017)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> Went for the EC as it was the cheapest of the ones mentioned, without being no name Chinese with over inflated specs.
> 
> Anyway does what it says on the tin, lasts ages and construction seems pretty decent.
> 
> ViolentPanda that was my preferred option, but again it's hard to sort out the crap. It's not so cheap if your pairing it with 4 to 6 decent 18650s. I ordered a one cell version a while back and it looked so dodgy I put it straight in the bin!



Some of them ARE shit! I made sure I ordered one with overload protection, and had a mate check it with his scope to make sure it was all up-to-snuff. I went for one with a milled aluminium casing too, as I wanted it to be a bit more robust than some of the polycarbonate ones I've seen for sale in Argos and on eBay.


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## dervish (Feb 15, 2017)

Just bought one of these for £20 to use with my Xiaomi one, kept finding that we were running out last year.


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## Saunders (Dec 6, 2022)

Can anyone recommend a ‘Decent powerbank, ideally something that can power a MacBook Pro’ 
It’s for a Christmas present for my son, who will be travelling a bit in the early new year. He  prefers well made long lived things and doesn’t like getting lots of stuff he doesn’t want, I like to give him a few presents so I guess I’m thinking less than £50. But maybe the really good ones are £100, and he’d never buy one himself but wishes he had one. I have no idea about this sort of thing. Thanks


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## gentlegreen (Dec 6, 2022)

It's a tough one as I'm at the other end of the spectrum...
Sadly the people I respect are DIY too and tend to review stuff they fully expect to be pants ...


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## Sweet FA (Dec 6, 2022)

Saunders said:


> Can anyone recommend a ‘Decent powerbank, ideally something that can power a MacBook Pro’
> It’s for a Christmas present for my son, who will be travelling a bit in the early new year. He  prefers well made long lived things and doesn’t like getting lots of stuff he doesn’t want, I like to give him a few presents so I guess I’m thinking less than £50. But maybe the really good ones are £100, and he’d never buy one himself but wishes he had one. I have no idea about this sort of thing. Thanks


I've got a couple; both 24800mAh. One's branded iPosible  and cost £49, the other's EC Technology for £22. Both are now 2-3 years old and work really well. They can each charge a MacBook a couple of times or more and a phone loads of times. Not sure how rugged they'd be though I guess you can buy 'ruggedised' versions or cases.



?



			https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08D7FFLWV?psc=1&th=1&asc_refurl=https://www.rollingstone.com/product-recommendations/electronics/most-durable-power-bank-charger-1278320/&language=en_US&asc_campaign=amp&ots=1&asc_source=amp&linkCode=gg4&tag=rollingston07-20


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## Saunders (Dec 6, 2022)

Sweet FA said:


> I've got a couple; both 24800mAh. One's branded iPosible  and cost £49, the other's EC Technology for £22. Both are now 2-3 years old and work really well. They can each charge a MacBook a couple of times or more and a phone loads of times. Not sure how rugged they'd be though I guess you can buy 'ruggedised' versions or cases.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Sweet FA said:


> I've got a couple; both 24800mAh. One's branded iPosible  and cost £49, the other's EC Technology for £22. Both are now 2-3 years old and work really well. They can each charge a MacBook a couple of times or more and a phone loads of times. Not sure how rugged they'd be though I guess you can buy 'ruggedised' versions or cases.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for that. I omitted the ‘ideally _smallest thing that can power_ a MacBook Pro’ my earlier post, is either of those things small that could tuck into a rucksack?


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## gentlegreen (Dec 6, 2022)

My gut instinct is to stay well clear of anything with a solar panel.
Fun fact, the ones in calculators were often fake.
They are at best ineffective unless you leave them on a parcel shelf and cook the battery and electronics into the bargain...

Also maybe look at the price of good quality Liion cells like 18650s by cost and avoid powerbanks making crazy capacity claims

26800mAh is 10 decent 18650s

I don't know about iPads, but these days phone chargers have turbo mode.



			Amazon.co.uk : power bank


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## Saunders (Dec 6, 2022)

gentlegreen said:


> My gut instinct is to stay well clear of anything with a solar panel.
> They are at best ineffective.
> Also maybe look at the price of good quality LiIon cells like 18650s by cost and avoid powerbanks making crazy capacity claims


Ha thanks. I appreciate the ‘not solar-powered’ advice, which is is the sort of thing I could have ended up looking for. I really don’t know anything other than I want to tick a present off my list which is a small but well made and effective powerbank that someone can go travelling with.


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## neonwilderness (Dec 6, 2022)

You'd probably need one with a high watt output for charging a Macbook. 

This one by Anker is 140W which is the same as the current Macbooks Pro chargers I think. A bit pricey though.  









						Anker 737 Power Bank (PowerCore 24K)
					

Ultra-Powerful Two-Way Charging: Equipped with the latest Power Delivery 3.1 and bi-directional technology to quickly recharge the portable charger or get a 140W ultra-powerful charge. High Capacity and Long-Lasting: Featuring a 24,000mAh battery capacity and 2× longer-lasting battery life...



					www.anker.com


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## Sweet FA (Dec 6, 2022)

Saunders said:


> Thanks so much for that. I omitted the ‘ideally _smallest thing that can power_ a MacBook Pro’ my earlier post, is either of those things small that could tuck into a rucksack?


The iPosible:



			https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075M9LXNY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 6, 2022)

Can't speak for Macbook but I've a collection of fairly decent powerbanks and none of them push enough to charge my Dell, so it definitely needs to be something advertised for charging laptops.


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## gentlegreen (Dec 7, 2022)

Sweet FA said:


> The iPosible:
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075M9LXNY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1


That's a very weird option of a power bank plus muc-off !
22 for 25000 mah again... That would be 10 full phone charges.
It'll be a flat cell. Yes easily 10 times the volume of a phone cell...So credible..
But I saw a test of one yesterday where it was a teeny cell and a weight... And there are 18650s with hollow centres and some packed with sand.. and many recycled ones with dummy end caps to hide the welds..
I hate that tech that's safety and mission-critical and so easily tested is a gamble... But then they still do it with LED lamps.. 'Chinese watts".
I went to town on one seller on Amazon, but there are always hundreds of them lying about the same product with the claimed wattage / lumens increasing a the time.


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## belboid (Dec 7, 2022)

neonwilderness said:


> You'd probably need one with a high watt output for charging a Macbook.
> 
> This one by Anker is 140W which is the same as the current Macbooks Pro chargers I think. A bit pricey though.
> 
> ...


I just got one of these.  You really do have to use the recommended new apple plug to get it to charge itself up or it takes twice as long, but it charges my new MacBook Air fully 1.3 times, whereas my other (much smaller) one barely gets it ticking over - I can type and surf but watching TV or playing a game would totally bugger it.  4 USB-Cs and 2 USB-B's.  £99 but worth it, imo.


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## editor (Dec 7, 2022)

I got this fella for £17 (it's now gone up a bit). I took a shine to its power output and shape. 





			https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08VD632WJ/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item


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## DaphneM (Dec 7, 2022)

Make sure you have enough watts!








						The best power bank for MacBook Pro owners
					

With a whopping 140W output, the Anker 737 140W power bank is designed to handle heavy workloads.




					www.zdnet.com


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## gentlegreen (Dec 17, 2022)

A 9 *million *mAh powerbank.


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## Ted Striker (Dec 17, 2022)

Saunders said:


> Can anyone recommend a ‘Decent powerbank, ideally something that can power a MacBook Pro’
> It’s for a Christmas present for my son, who will be travelling a bit in the early new year. He  prefers well made long lived things and doesn’t like getting lots of stuff he doesn’t want, I like to give him a few presents so I guess I’m thinking less than £50. But maybe the really good ones are £100, and he’d never buy one himself but wishes he had one. I have no idea about this sort of thing. Thanks



IME Powerbank charging a Macbook/laptop is a bit of a false economy...The AC/DC conversion (or something) is so inefficient that a full 20k battery bloc will give you about 20-30 minutes of extra juice.


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