Manufacturers of smartphones, tablets, players and other mobile devices, spurring demand, constantly offer new models, reporting on improved technical characteristics and increased battery life of their products. In parallel, specialized Internet resources contain on their pages many recommendations for optimizing the energy consumption of gadgets. Moreover, each owner of a portable device almost certainly came across a situation in which he had to sit next to a power outlet, feeding his electronic friend and assistant. In other words, a relatively fast discharge problem exists and needs to be addressed.
Portable battery
If, being at home, you can still put the gadget on charge from the mains, then in the workplace this can be problematic. And on a trip it’s completely impossible. A solution was found - it was the Power Bank battery.
This device is, in fact, a battery in its own case with USB and mini-USB connectors, although options with an additional Type-C format socket have recently appeared. The first output is used to connect the charging cable of the gadget, and the second - to reimburse the spent capacity. The undoubted advantage is the small size. For example, Power Bank for IPhone can be so compact that it fits easily even in your pocket.
Roulette game
What could be easier than purchasing any gadget accessory? Now it’s enough to make only two or three clicks with the mouse, and Power Bank will be sent by plane directly from distant China.
And if you take into account that, as a rule, sellers have such fabulous characteristics in the product description, then there is no doubt about a successful purchase. For example, with a capacity of 10, 20 and fantastic 50 And you will not surprise anyone anymore - this is, so to speak, the norm. Although the reality is that the declared and actual parameters are two big differences. Of course, not always, but quite often. That's why in this article we will look at how to check Power Bank. Two methods will be offered, one of which must be used before purchase, and the other after.
Source of power
As already mentioned, one or more rechargeable batteries are placed inside the housing of the portable charger . Most often these are sources of standard size 18650. For those to whom the name does not say anything, it is advisable to imagine an enlarged finger battery. This is a cylinder with dimensions of 66x18 mm. They are produced by both large companies (Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Sanyo) and very little-known ones.
Usually there is a relationship between eminence and quality. The most important characteristic of a battery is its electric capacity, i.e., the amount of electricity stored. The higher it is, the more the battery weighs, due to the increased density of chemical elements inside. So, usually a mass of 45-50 g corresponds to 3-3.5 A capacity.
Weighty gain
Actually, the description of the 18650 just allows you to answer the question of how to check Power Bank. Since the dimensions of the entire case and a single power source are known, it is easy to determine how many batteries fit inside. And knowing the mass of each of them, get the final weight and compare it with the declared one. For example, on the market there are many portable power supplies with low cost, declared capacity of 50,000 mA, dimensions of 170x80x25 mm and weight of 300 g. That is, it is obvious that six batteries are placed inside at best (based on weight). The total capacity is 6 * 3500 mA = 21000 mA. Even such an approximate calculation shows that 50 A does not work. Subtracting the weight of the case and auxiliary elements only exacerbates the picture. And it’s completely unprincipled whether it will be Power Bank for IPhone or devices running the Android system. Moreover, inside such a Power Bank, quality batteries are not necessarily installed. Inexpensive varieties have less capacity, which in the end can easily lead to an “honest” 8000-10000 mA.
For very rough calculations, you can use the formula according to which each 5 A corresponds to 100 g of weight.
USB tester
Unfortunately, the above method, despite its obviousness, gives less and less accurate results with each new generation of portable chargers. The reason for this is that some manufacturers began to deliberately weight the product, bringing its weight to the required values.
How to check Power Bank in this case? Quite simple, but its feature is that, firstly, the device itself must be “on hand”, and secondly, you need a special USB tester. In other words, the method is suitable for checking an already purchased source.
Now you can easily purchase an inexpensive device for such measurements, which is a box the size of a USB flash drive, equipped with USB inputs (“father” and “mother”), as well as a small display that displays the amount of voltage consumed during charging current, capacity and some other characteristics .
Usually, there are no problems with how to check Power Bank using a USB tester: the measuring device is connected to the bus connector on the portable charger case, and the wire to the rechargeable gadget is already leaving it. For Apple products with a Lightning connector, for others, micro-USB or Type-C. It remains only to observe the readings on the display. Here is an example: Power Bank was able to charge the smartphone 2 times, and then turned off. In this case, the display showed 6000 mA. This means that the total battery capacity is slightly more than the obtained value.
Perhaps, it’s worth further to explain how to charge Power Bank. In fact, there is nothing complicated: the power cord from charging the gadget (smartphone, tablet, e-book) is connected to the device. The internal controller will automatically stop the process when it reaches the “ceiling”.
Note that there is an alternative way to measure capacitance. It consists in the fact that the tester is connected to the USB port of a computer or charger with the appropriate connector, and from it there is a wire to Power Bank. In this case, the capacity not consumed will be shown.
New in the market
Recently, some manufacturers of the first echelon began to offer Power Bank, in which instead of 18650 installed polymer or ion batteries. Typically, the cost of such solutions is relatively high. An indicative check of capacity through weight and dimensions is not applicable.