Recommend me a Power/Battery Bank for my Mobile

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Recommend me a Power/Battery Bank for my Mobile

nzkiwiman

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#161683 16-Jan-2015 09:39

I want to get a Power/Battery Bank to recharge my Nexus 4 when I am away from a wall port for a while (or expect heavy usage - ie, overseas and using GPS)
But there are so many makes and models and it all seems to very confusing.

I did purchase a 4000mAh battery pack while in the USA, after leaving my hotel at 6am and finding I was out of charge by 12-1pm.
My phone tells me it has a 2100mAh battery, so I would have assumed that I could get close to 2 charges out of the battery bank, but in actual use it seems to be less than one full charge (and it takes forever to get 10% into the phone)

Thinking that I want to get a charger around the 5000mAh range, is able to provide a lot of power into my phone in a short period of time (if possible), is small/slim enough to fit into my pocket with the phone and doesn't take 12-15 hours to fully charge itself (which may require another wall charger)

So, hit me with ideas
Please
Thanks

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#1215866 16-Jan-2015 09:56

Suggest you read reviews on Amazon.

Curious what you do with your phone that depletes the battery so quickly. You'd just about have to have the screen on 100% the whole time to use that much battery. My S4 gets light usage during the day - phone calls, email and facebook one or twice an hour, a few text messages, at the end of the day the battery's around 80%, but I keep mobile data, wifi, bluetooth, and gps off unless required. If I stream music for a few hours in addition to above it gets to maybe 60%. I can go two days easy.

Have you tried basic power savings? Have you looked at what's using the power? BetterBatteryStats and settings -> power are good sources of information.

mrdrifter

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#1215867 16-Jan-2015 09:56

I have two that I use at present and would purchase again:

Adata PV110 - 10400 mAh - I got a good deal on this at ~$35 and it has 2.1 amp & 1.0 amp USB plugs
Xiaomi - 16000 mAh - Took a while to get here from dealextreme but uses reputable cells and has many positive reviews - also has 2.1 & 1.0 amp USB.

These work well for the family phones and tablets.

nzkiwiman

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#1215904 16-Jan-2015 10:21

timmmay: Suggest you read reviews on Amazon.

Curious what you do with your phone that depletes the battery so quickly. You'd just about have to have the screen on 100% the whole time to use that much battery. My S4 gets light usage during the day - phone calls, email and facebook one or twice an hour, a few text messages, at the end of the day the battery's around 80%, but I keep mobile data, wifi, bluetooth, and gps off unless required. If I stream music for a few hours in addition to above it gets to maybe 60%. I can go two days easy.

Have you tried basic power savings? Have you looked at what's using the power? BetterBatteryStats and settings -> power are good sources of information.

Battery depletion is quicker when I am overseas, using my phone constantly - yes screen on almost all day, GPS, Data and Bluetooth. (GPS is what kills it)
When I am home doing my normal thing, my phones battery usage is around 20-30% per day

Via Amazon, I have looked at these
http://www.amazon.com/Anker-6400mAh-Portable-External-Technology/dp/B00HA5RXYY/ref=sr_1_6?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1421354850&sr=1-6&keywords=battery+pack
http://www.amazon.com/GMP10K-GearPower-Capacity-Station-Smartphones/dp/B00A35KPQQ/ref=sr_1_7?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1421354850&sr=1-7&keywords=battery+pack
http://www.amazon.com/PNY-BD7800-7800mAh-2-4-PowerPack/dp/B00B7UKVHY/ref=sr_1_13?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1421354850&sr=1-13&keywords=battery+pack

Leaning towards the Anker

Haven't checked any NZ suppliers yet

timmmay

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#1215919 16-Jan-2015 10:33

Fair enough :) There are a bunch of good brands that are well reviewed - shame NZ has no retailer big enough to collect a useful number of reviews.

shk292

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#1215922 16-Jan-2015 10:45

I occasionally use one of these, and have found it much better to turn the phone off completely while you're charging from the external battery

sidefx

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#1215924 16-Jan-2015 10:50

I'm pretty happy with the one I got from PB tech thanks to a link on these forums:

http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=BAPAPA1120

(think it was ~$21 at the time)

Haven't really got much to compare it to and not sure how long it will last, but used it a number of times while holiday\camping after christmas and found I could comfortably get 2 full charges (and a bit) of my Lumia 920 from it. I wasn't turning off my phone while charging it, but that's a good thought so will have to try that.

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khull

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#1215929 16-Jan-2015 10:54

I have a Hyperjuice 16,000mAh - just keeps going and going

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nzkiwiman

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#1216101 16-Jan-2015 13:47

The Adata PV110 looks good, and is only $40 ish
However may be a little big for my needs - pocket-able for ease of use overseas

richms

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#1216109 16-Jan-2015 14:06

I have bought several 5 and 6 cell cases from ebay and then opened up old laptop packs to fill it up. Great value even tho the capacity may not be that great since some of the cells are old. But as they are all in parallel that isnt a huge issue.

Just be sure to charge them in it one at a time to get them all to the same level before sticking them all in. Generally when a laptop pack goes "dead" its because one cell is below cutoff voltage, the others will still have quite a bit of charge in them so if you put them in parallel the full ones will charege the flat one far too quickly and cause problems.

Richard rich.ms

sbiddle

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#1216126 16-Jan-2015 14:21

I have one of these and rate it highly. Not sure if you'll be able to get one in NZ though.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You need to remember that all USB battery packs are not created equal.

Efficiency and output can vary significantly between devices. Lots of people don't understand that just because something has a USB port, it doesn't mean it's suitable for charging a device. Lots of devices these places these days (and one classic example is planes) have USB ports. Plug your average phone into one of these and it'll charge at ~400mAh and take hours to go anywhere. Most newer phones charge at anywhere between 1A - 1.8A.

To charge devices at full speed they need to be compatible with newer phones and tablets that support fast charging. Many battery packs still don't support this and require something like this to charge at anything more than a trickle charge.

I recommend buying a USB voltage module such as this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-LCD-Backlight-Mini-Digital-USB-Current-Voltage-Meter-Tester-Mobile-Power-Charger-Detector-Portable-Voltmeter/32232402231.html so you can measure various devices.

richms

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#1216128 16-Jan-2015 14:24

Untill you get a pack that just shuts down when the current is too high for it unstead of having a current limited output. Like several apacers.

Also I am yet to find a pack that supports fast charge. I did see one on ebay that you can manually change the output voltage, but I dont know what the note 4 would do if it got 9 volts without asking for it so am not going to risk it. Plus the chances of plugging something else in when its set to 9v and blowing it up is too great to just have a USB port set to 9v sitting around.

Richard rich.ms

blackjack17

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#1216170 16-Jan-2015 15:35

I have one of these

http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=BAPMIX10400&name=MI-Power-Bank-10400mAh-Vibrant-Alumimum-Casing-Dua

MI Power Bank 10400mAh Vibrant Alumimum Casing Dual Battery Cell Technology from LG and Samsung Output Current:2.1A 250g

charges my S4 very quick,, small but feels robust.

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pinkydot

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#1216193 16-Jan-2015 16:36

I bought the xiaomi powerbank while im in South East Asia. When they started officially launch in SEA last year.
Bought it on their official website.
Not bad so far been using close to a year & still going strong.

jarledb

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#1216233 16-Jan-2015 17:29

I got a Lenmar 11000 mAh one that I am happy with. Got 2 mobile outputs (5 volt, 1A) and 1 tablet output (5 volt, 2.4A). Very handy to have with me on long haul flights and traveling. With the house full of family they have also been used to help people charge their phones when all (easily accessible) wall socks have been in use.

I see Harvey Norman has a 20800 mAh Lenmar - Looks intersting. I find that its always nice to have more. But its a beast (14 x 11 cm and 2 cm deep), and has 2 x mobile outputs and 2 x tablet outputs.

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networkn

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#1216372 16-Jan-2015 22:26

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?tag=geekzone-20&ie=UTF8&psc=1

Could I ship this to NZ with youshop? Is there an issue with batteries being sent internationally? At $20 + probably $20 for shipping hard to go past.

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