Thank you for these great reviews HKJ. It really helps to get an idea of what these products are so we don’t have to order blindly.
I have a question about using cells of different voltages in this or other boxes. Why is this not a good idea? Shouldn’t they balance each other out since they are in parallel?
Also, would using different types/rands of batteries within the same box be OK? (eg Sanyo UR18650FM and Panasonic NCR18650B)
And lastly, Any chance that you could review this USB battery box?
QIDIAN 3-Piece 3A 1-4*18650 Dual USB Output Mobile Power Pack Battery Charger Kit
They will balance each other out, usual in a couple of minutes. To avoid this high cross current, it is better to start with about the same voltage on the batteries.
It is the same when charging in parallel, it is recommended that the batteries are close in voltage, before you start.
It will work, but you might not get the full advantage more batteries. With four of the same, they will always share the load. If you mix UR18650FM and NCR18650B, the UR18650FM will have the main load at the start and the NCR18650B will have the high load at the end.
Yes, there is a very good possibility. I have it in queue (That means that I have), but that queue is rather long at the moment, i.e. it will probably be more than a month, before I post a review.
Going to buy this from fasttech as they’re providing a suitable ac adaptor… Problem is that I’m in Australia so I need a converter from here: http://www.fasttech.com/products/1183109
Sorry, what do you mean by more solid adapter? Is there a better one available somewhere I should be buying instead? Or did you mean that with the 10A it will work better?
Also, will panasonic 18650 protected batteries fit? The length is 69.4. I know you said 70 is the maximum length, just double checking
My niece bought one lookalike as JIB LB20000, she told me she just able to fully charge her iPhone 4 about 3-4times.
I pry open which also in turn, broken all the plastic hinges, the PCB charging current is +–800mA measured.
Inside consists of eight 1100mA noname blue wrapper 18650 batteries, which takes 11 hrs to fully charge the unit.
While I do not own the JIB version, maybe it uses different battery.
She’s very happy that I gave her one of my portable power supply, consists of two Sanyo Red 2600mA and a 4 ports USB wall adapter, in terms of compactness, hours to charge the portable power supply & able to charge her iPhone 4 about 2.3times.
Thanks for pointing that out to me, but it looks like it is the 240 volt version, whereas I got the USA version with the 2 flat blades and I don’t see that model in the review, with that said though I haven’t even used the usb plug-in charger it came with, rather I used the Samsung charger that came with my phone. The battery power box itself seems very well built and arrived 3/4 charged already, took no time with the Samsung usb charger to top it off.
Again thanks for the heads up, to be safe I’ll probably not use the included usb charger even though it’s a different model than reviewed.
One detail I do not check, is how the charge circuit handles lower input voltage. If it reduces the charge current, it will probably work with most chargers.
You can get USB chargers that are powerful enough to handle this box at full charge current or you can take the batteries out and charge them in a normal LiIon charger.