Lightweight 18650 charger/powerbank better than Folomov A1

Hello folks!

I like to travel lightweight and want to bring my 18650 powered Zebralight. Has anyone got a working lightweight solution for using 18650s as a powerbank for charging an iPhone? The powerbank should also be a USB-powered charger for the 18650:s.

I bought the Folomov A1 and while it does charge 18650s it fails to charge my iPhone. I even got a replacement unit, and it has the same problem.

Your nick is offensive to some people…

Right, I did not intend to insult anyone. In the languages I know it means nothing.

A very good option is the cheap, reliabe and robust Nitecore F1 (Flexbank) charger. It will be able to both charge your 18650ies as well as use the energy stored in them to charge other devices in power bank-mode. Also it has a nifty Voltage meter with readout (or rather: blinkout ;-)) in 0.1 Volt steps. Should be less than 10 dollars, and very lightweight. Micro-USB in, USB-A out. And I know for a fact you can charge an iPhone with this setup. It even gives you LED information about the battery level while charging a device.

Or https://eu.nkon.nl/charger-65/battery-charger/li-ion/nitecore-lc10-powerbank-batterijlader.html

Quick research shows iphone 12 and above require 9 volt and 2+ amps minimum. The A1, and other similar, will charge batteries at 1 amp. Using a battery as a power bank I believe it’s 0.7 ish and at just under 5 volts. So it’s likely that the phone doesn’t want to recognize piddly power even if the phone is slightly older than the 12. And a bigger battery is not going to change the output.

Ah, that is of course relevant information … the iPhone I charged is way older, iPhone SE 1st gen.

Discontinued. May be hard to find.

Get a Wurkkos TS21 version w/ Anduril2.

Thanks! That explains it.

Thanks, but that light uses a 21700 and not 18650.

Welcome to BLF Pedalski.

Surely this is the requirement for fast charging and it can still charge on a legacy 5V USB port, right ? It would be quite egregious, even for Apple to drop USB charging support.

Maybe test if it charges with a random USB brick.

Check out the Xtar PB series. I had the original, now discontinued, version and I thought it was pretty good.

My PB2 stopped working after one of my children dropped it, the cells fell out, and they were put in backwards. I’m not sure whether it was the drop or the reverse polarity that killed the charger, but the newer models have some improvements so I would buy one myself if I had a need.

I understand words can have different meanings in different languages and regions, but as BLF is a diverse community, it’s be worth considering the other meanings of you username now that you are aware.

Your profile doesn’t include your location, and even if it did people wouldn’t know your intent (e.g. there are plenty of Polish speakers outside Poland).