YZXStudio 8 Power Bank Review (4x18650)

That’s cool! Before you had to get hold of the English firmware and flash it.

Yeah. That’s why I bought stm programmer, but looks it’s useless now.

Sorry guys. My store was closed for about a week as I was very busy packing stuff up at home to prepare for my move overseas. The store is now open again. Unfortunately I will not be carrying any YZXstudio products anymore. I made a post on the EEVBlog forum a while ago explaining the reason: Starting a new chapter - Page 1

—Franky

The concept is exciting, but the batteries are put in parallel, or without ORing MOSFET control, the weaker battery will kill the others. The iPad batteries are connected via ORing MOSFET control, which is the “secret” for battery longevity.

How can I buy this power bank?

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.117.d0fa2880UCL3OM&id=564706369813&ns=1&abbucket=5#detail
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.172.d0fa2880UCL3OM&id=520229554757&ns=1&abbucket=5#detail

Thanks!

Is it normal that I can’t find any XYZStudio products in BuyInCoins?

Is it also normal that I can’t login in even if I registered?

Finally, how I actually use a Taobao agent? Sorry, first time done it.

Bump. Sorry.

I don’t know BuyInCoins, so can’t say if anything is normal.
Why not just buy from taobao?

Because for some reason, my credit card company blocks Taobao transaction every time, and the hassle of having to go and physically approve the transaction is too much in my opinion.

I have some questions regarding this very interesting power bank (thanks for the nice intro & review!):

  1. Is version 8 still the newest variant? The review is from 2016
  2. If not, what are the differences btween it and the newer verison(s)?
  3. What is the standby current when the display is turned off and the device is lying around unplugged?
  4. If I reduce the charge voltage of the batteries and increase the minimum voltage to prolong their lifespan (for example min = 3.5V, max = 3.9V), does the percentage display react accordingly?
  5. What happens to the percentage display of the remaining capacity when a fast-charging device is plugged in and the voltage of the batteries drops?

To me the most interesting details about this power bank are that one can set the min & max battery voltages to increase the lifespan and that high-drain batteries can be used. They work much better in cold temperatures wallowing the power bank to truly be always ready.

  1. Yes, it is still the latest variant from YZXStudio.
  2. Standby current should be lower than in generation 7, because the springs have been replaced with soldered cells.
  3. I would expect the powerbank internal BMS to react accordingly.
  4. I like to try this when my copy has been married to some cells. Currently i have to find an service provider who offers point laser welding on batteries.

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I have some questions for this forum too:
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Which cell is best suited to use in the YZXStudio Powerbank?

And does the powerbank use a sensor to control the temperature of the cells?

Thanks for your answer!
It doesn’t matter which of those cells you use. I would buy the cheapest of those three. They are very similar.

There seems to be a 9th generation:
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.20141003.9.639f5802VLcdYI&scm=1007.10011.70203.100200300000001&id=15147936768&pvid=57d6d592-0078-4f3b-bc4c-3859ced4e1d8

You’re right, great!
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.20141003.9.639f5802VLcdYI&scm=1007.10011.70203.100200300000001&id=15147936768
110€ without cells and 160€ with 3x 3450mAh 18650 cells.

But the 8th generation has 4x 18650 capability and there’s an version with even 8x 18650.

But does it still have the display with the U.I. etc.? That’s one of the main features for me. It’s also extremely expensive!

It’s ~75% more expensive than the 8th generation.
And you could be right, i don’t see any display on the 9th generation.

Here are some pictures of the 8x18650 8th generation:
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.20141002.11.495271aaOKJCyJ&scm=1007.10009.70205.100200300000001&id=38192040727&pvid=57ea0344-4e4f-400d-b322-8decc74dfb9f

The difference with the 9th version is I’d had USB C-PD changing, and you can charge it with USB C-PD also.
So if I read it correctly it can charge at 60 Watts, and charge other things like the iPad Pro and iPhone X at 29 Watts and maybe faster?

I forgot I bought the 8th version until recently, I’m lacking to move and ran across it.
I build it tonight, but noticed it has firmware 2.03 (still English).
Does anyone have firmware 3.0 or higher for the version 8 (4 cell) or and manual of calibrating it for the cell I installed?

I’m moving soon, and I bought one of those thermal electric portable refrigerators. The problem is running it fromthe car power or pulls 33 Watts and gets way to cold for my insulin and the 10 hour drive ahead of me. It also runs off USB and is the perfect temperature to not free thousands of $$$ of insulin.

I want to get the new firmware so I can have better control. I can have the battery charge a little while still powering this portable fridge. Then the battery should have enough kf a charge when I stop for breaks or food to keep the fridge running since the car power outlet turns off when the car shuts off.
Once I get back to the car in an hour or so and start it, the battery can keep rinnkng the fridge while also topping off the charge for the next stop.
But to have this control I need the firmware 3.?

My other option was to program and Arduino micro and control the current n/off and temperature regulate the fridge. But I don’t have the time, I packed the Arduino stuff already. But when I went to pack the battery bench I found the gen 8 again and still didn’t pack the spot welder. So I put it together tonight with 4 new Sanyo 18650GA 3500mA cells.
Seems to work good, default setting are 13,600 and tat acceptable for these cells. Once calibrated I should get s little more from them.

Once firmware is updated I will also have more control over the charge cutoff and other features. Despite missing USB C-PD I would like it to last and set the max voltage charger to 4.10 volts per cell. Besides, I already have a car power adapter to USB C-PD that does 29 Watts for other devices.

If you can post the firmware I would appreciate it. I have the programmer already and know I firmware 2.p3 doesn’t update over the micro USB port, but I know how to program it, and understand I might need to change the language back to English.
I think version 3.0 has English built in, I just need to navigate the menu to select it.

Thanks,
Scott
Gamdget Review Videos

The YZXStudio official firmwares page is here (mostly in Chinese, but filenames are in English):

There is a Terminator 8 dated 2018 (the only file dated 2018). I presume it means v2.12.