Review: cheap 18650 mobile power bank

I was tempted to order one of each of 6 colors from BIC. At $2 each, even just the cell holder portion is worth it.
However, I resisted the urge and only ordered 1 each of black, white and pink.
See, I CAN control my addictions :smiley:

I had 10 in the basket and hovering over the buy button then remembered my wife put the kabosh on my spending till payday, already bought 4 at $1.00 more expensive at banggood



I have a BUNCH of panasonic laptop pulls (thanks 18sixfifty) and itching to try em out, I have two super cheapo tube ones that just can’t hack it and end up going dead because they leave a draw on the battery all the time (plus the batteries suck anyway!)

Just imagine a "mod" and putting this on a 4x parallel 18650 battery pack!

looks good.

Initially I had over a dozen in my cart with the intention of gifting these all out but then I thought -> “I’d better order just one to start out.”

Being one handed I’m not sure how much trouble I might have getting this thing open. Better to just try one out now. I can always order a bunch later if it’s a go.

Thanks for the nice review on this!

AZ

Order two of them to try out. Thanks for the review on these.

They do come with lid open so it’s not an issue…

So V5 is using 2 separate ICs while this one using the same IC for both tasks?

Can anyone recommend some good batteries to put in these? Ideally something under $6? Thanks!

Yes, per the data sheet, it eliminates two separate channels worth of electronics and soldering

I am planning on using laptop pull panasonics (or sony [the red ones])

Decent enough and can handle 1A charge and has enough mAh to actually be worth it

Panasonic laptop pulls? Link?

That is great 411. The coast looks clear to order more then…

thanks!
AZ

Excellent review, what can we buy if we only have protected cells, like the 3400 Panasonic?

Thanx for the review. I have bought 10 of these and am very satisfied with the performance of each. I use unprotected Sanyo 2600mAh cells and they’re good for at least one charge cycle for my family’s gadgets. :slight_smile:

They are Sanyo laptop pulls…sorry

It’s cheap. But I didn’t see it with a brand li-on battery. Don’t know how long it would last compared to these:
http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-Flashlight-Lightning-Sensation-Thunderbolt/dp/B0084Y47SK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394435881&sr=8-2&keywords=ravpower+3000#productDetails

Ordered 5, no pink tho :stuck_out_tongue:

It comes with no battery at all. But I guess if you put 3000 mAh cell of quality brand you will get similar runtime to the RAV power (If the later indeed has 3000 mAh battery inside)

It is cheaper on buyincoins buyincoins

I’ve been cycling one with the top off. As indicated in the review the LED’s are OK when charging but woefully dim when discharging. I can barely see them with the top off….in the dark. Actual charge performance seems OK. Using with laptop pulls.

I have not tried putting the lid on/off yet. I have an identical appearing one I purchased a couple months ago with a battery already installed. The lid is a tad tricky to get off but does if you work it. In the 1st one I got the (no name) battery is permanently installed. I have not idea what it’s capacity is but similar single cell units I have only measured out to 1000mA. I think the new units are a better buy as you can choose your own (decent) battery and replace it easily if required.

Re RAV power: Read the 3* reviews on Amazon. I would not be surprised if the supplied battery is not all that good. For most reviewers it seems to be “I got one, it works, I think it’s fantastic”. They have no data to back it up at all.

Isn’t it true that, ideally, each li-ion have its own charging circuit? I know that paralleling them is commonplace & OK for well-matched cells (not just brand/model but maybe other attributes that change over time?). Talking unprotected cells here.

There are plenty of fleabay USB power packs that clearly & statically parallel 3 or more cells. Wondering, again ideally, if some sort of latch/relay that’d treat the cells separately during charge but parallel them during discharge/use is a better way to go.

Ideally yes they need “balancing” for charging multiple cells, but you can parallel (well-matched as you mentioned) batteries and charge them, is it optimum or proper…no

With that said…got mine in

Plopped in a bunch of Sanyo laptop pulls (I got 20 for $30), kids kindles are charging FAST, I got a few of these cylinder types before to put on the kids kindles so they can use them and not have it die in a few hours, with those el-cheapo types they would push current to the kindle and it would show charging but alas the battery life would slowly tick down (I believe max output was 500mA), with these, the batteries are actually CHARGING and the battery life is showing going up.

I had pre-full charged them about a month ago, two of the units show full charge (blue led) and one went red on charge but went blue pretty quick (I need to find a way to check for parasitic draw though)

The entire unit gets slightly warm as it is pushing 1A continuous (we shall see once HKJ does a full review) but unlike the other ones these are actually charging while using

I got mine for $2.99 and so far pleasantly pleased, the cheapo w/ crap battery cylinder one was $8.99 I believe