What To Consider Before Buying Any Power Bank

Do you know the basic features you need to
keep in mind while going for a good portable
battery charger? If not, then keep reading
before grabbing one of the best power banks
online. This article will guide on your key
considerations when buying your power bank.

•Power Bank Capacity

 
Capacity of a power bank is the primary
feature of a portable battery charger,
indicating how much electrical energy it can
retain within itself and can utilize the same
while charging your mobile devices.

The unit for measuring the electrical energy
capacity of a portable battery is mAh. You
might have come across figures 10400 mAh,
5200mAh, 2600mAh etc. They happen to be
multiple of 2600 mAh because the base of a
Li-ion battery cell is 2600 mAh.

But before elaborating what Li-ion battery cell
is, let me wrap the capacity section up by
mentioning that though the common
conception goes like bigger capacity power
banks are better, yet, it is a mistake as those
who say these forgets that with capacity, the
physical size of the portable charger also
gets increased and so does the price.

So, go for the highest capacity that your
budget allows.

•Li-ion or Li-Po

 
Li-ion and Li-poly are nothing but two
variation of the battery cells which are
popularly used to constitute the best power
banks. Most of the battery packs go for the
Li-ion as they are cheaper but portable
chargers being constituted with Li-ion tends
to become much bulkier in comparison to the
Li-Poly.

Not only Li-poly, being sleeker, can provide
the provision to the manufacturers to
manipulate the size and shape of the power
banks further, they are safer in terms of usage
as well. A Li-Po Battery can also retain its
charge longer.

•Input and Output current rating

 
Input and output ratings imply how fast your
power bank and the devices gets charged.

Typically, they come with a figure of 5V at 2.1
A and 5V at 1 A. Obviously, 2.1 A rating
would make the device charge faster.

However, for a 2.1A rated power bank to get
charged fast, you should also use a 2.1A
rated wall charger as using a lower rated
charger like a 1A rated wall charger that a
usually more prevalent will be counter-
productive.

•Number of USB ports

 
Number of ports on a Power Bank plays the
vital role if you are going to have a need to
charge multiple devices simultaneously.

Usually most of the portable chargers below
10000 mAh capacity (smaller capacity) does
not come up with multiple output port option.

The reason is obvious; they are simply not
large enough to charge up more than one
device at a time.

By the way, it is important to know the the
number of output ports of a power bank affect
output current when charging multiple devices
at the same time. To get more clear about
this, let’s take the example of the Mi 16000
mAh power bank, which comes with two USB
output ports (whereas the 10400 mAh variant
has only one output port) and claims to
charge devices (smartphone or tablet) at 2.1
A at 5V.

However, this claim is only true when
charging only one device at a time. When you
use both ports at the same time, this
particular power bank is capable of providing
at max 3 A at 5 V (i.e. 1.5 A per port)
instead of otherwise presumed 4.2 A. So,
before picking one battery pack, especially if
fast charging is a priority to you, then this
aspect should be taken care of scrupulously.

It is a good idea to go through a reliable
power bank review about a certain portable
charger to get to know more about these
specifications for that particular power bank.

•Pass through charging

 
The last feature you might be seeking to
make sure it is supported by your intended
power bank is pass through charging. At this
point you may be thinking what the heck is
that!

It is simple, any power bank with pass
through charging feature would be able to
power up itself (self-charge) and at the same
time be charging your smartphone(s).