Everyoneâs use case is different, and we all think ours is the ârightâ one. :sunglasses:
I have a couple 5 port BlitzWolf chargers, one with a quick charge port and one without. I think if you are making a new charger, QC ports (at least a couple) are mandatory. Having extra space so a USB meter can be used on any given, or even adjacent ports is a very good idea. I would prefer that the power supply have a standard power cord rather than a wall wart brick so I can plug it in and keep it on my desk without finding space for another transformer. If you do use an external power supply, please use 12VDC in, with a center positive, âstandardâ connector. By doing so, it could fairly easily be used in a car, boat or anywhere a 12V deep cycle battery might show up.
USB C capable seems like it is where the industry is going, I donât have anything that needs it yet, but if it is backward compatible with USB 2 & 3, go for it.
Having the charger be functional as a high speed USB hub would be absolutely marvelous, and I would buy one immediately right after HKJ approves it, and probably 3 or 4 more soon thereafter. I work with several High School competitive robotics teams (FIRST) and being able to (quick) charge multiple devices between matches while still using them to program changes and debug would be very helpful.
An onboard power switch with LED indicator would also be nice.
To Minimoke: Thanks for your advice, quite practical.
To Maukka: May I further ask, if there is a LCD screen on the charger itself displaying charging current, voltage and things like that, will you still prefer using power meters when charging?
Thank you! There is no doubt you made a wonderful conclusion of all we had talked about :+1: and 12v DC is new.
Our present CU6 has a LED indicator, but it makes no big sense in fact, I guess.
Everything should be at least 2A. By that I mean 2A for each USB port and 2A for each battery. For the VC4 that means 20A in total.
The 6 ports on the VC4 fit perfectly so anything less than 6 ports would be bad.
Some additional wishes (for another product)
- A power bank function would be great.
A flashlight function (if a power bank). Nothing fancy. Just an emergency light.
I fully agree with the suggestions made by âLazy-R-usâ but have one extra suggestion
I think the polarity shouldnât matter. Itâs quite easy to âcorrectâ the polarity.
I have a Braun battery powered razor. I just put it in the charging cradle. It accepts everything from 6 DC to 240 AC. Flexibility is great.
I think it shouldnât be complicated at all.
The question shouldnât be âHow many ports?â but âHow many batteries?â
The number of batteries defines the size of the charger. Then simply add as many USB ports as possible.
I think best sellers fall on 2-ports because they are cheaper and/or smaller. Nobody hates more ports.
Maybe you should take a 2 model and start thinking how you could add an extra port without increasing the size of the device.
Itâs about size AND functionality.
Iâll explain that from my own personal situation
I fly from Europe to the USA 2 times a year.
I take with me:
- A phone, a tablet and a bluetooth device for audio.
- A 13500 mAh powerbank.
- A charger which I use when waiting at the airport.
A few batteries for my flashlight and a charger.
With limited time at the airport itâs very important the charging goes as fast as possible.
When your charger also has a power bank function I no longer need a powerbank + flashlight batteries + charger. Only your charger.
So while your product may be a little bigger than other products itâs 2-in-1. For me it would save space and weight.
One function Iâve never found in any powerbank is the ability to charge low power devices. I have hearing aids and a small bluetooth device that streams audio from my phone and tablet to my hearing aids. It small so has a small battery with which only takes a few mA to charge. Powerbanks just switch off at such small loads. They assume my device is a large battery on âtrickle loadâ.
So allowing tiny loads would be great. But not only for people who are cursed with bad hearing. I have a small USB to HDMI device so I can play movies stored on my tablet on a TV (in an hotel room). That device needs external power. And guess what. It draws so little power my powerbank switches off.
To summarize a charging option for very low power devices (uses a regular USB cable)
The reason I specâd center positive is that so much of my other electronics gear already has center positive. So I have lots of cables made up that way, several wall wart transformers and a couple cigarette lighter (or are they now âvehicle power outletsâ?) cables. The LiitoKalla Engineer 500 charger supplies are my most recent addition.
A supply like your Braun that is happy with whatever you feed it would be absolutely perfect.
If the display is accurate I donât see the need for an external power meter on a daily basis, but sometimes I still like to log voltage and current to a file via bluetooth on my YZXStudio Meters (1266 & 1270).
Iâm not sure but there may be some confusion.
Obviously itâs great all your center positive stuff works with the charger. Likewise itâs great it works with center negative.
So my reply/idea was that itâs no problem for the engineer who designs the charger, to add a simple electronic circuit inside the charger so it doesnât matter itâs center positive or center negative.
Most plugs Iâve seen (lately) are center positive. Unfortunately the diameter of the plugs is far less uniform. Thatâs a far bigger problem than polarity because the there are only 2 ways around that: a] Separate conversion plugs. b] The device as many inputs that accept all plug formats.
Option b is great for a desktop charger for which size doesnât matter. But the space simply isnât available on a compact travel charger.
Pardon? Do you mean a product combining ALLMAYBE CU6, XTAR VC4 and even a power bank together?
Since my meaning of âUSB chargerâ refer to USB wall charger, which should have no batteries at all, I am a little puzzled by your post. Would you please further explain?
I try to explain more clearly.
Add 6 USB ports to the XTAR VC4. When the wall charger is plugged it charges 4 batteries and all devices plugged into the USB ports.
When the wall charger is not plugged in, the 4 batteries should supply power to the USB ports.
Thatâs power bank functionality.
Another way to look at it is: A power bank with removable batteries.
I guess it shouldnât be a big problem. Any smart USB charger can do this. Strictly speaking, USB chargers are not exactly chargers. They are wall adaptors.
As HKJ said in his new thread âAlso remember that any usb âchargerâ only provides power, the actual charging is always controlled from the phone or pad.â In this way, USB charger only offer power but does not determine when to cut off charging as powerbanks.
And âsmartâ means âThe charger has a chip that automatically select the best coding for fast charging at 5 volt.â Since itâs a case of 5V output, I would highly appreciate if you could forward some photos of your low power devices, especially about the specifications. Then, maybe we can better address the problem. PM or comment below is welcome. Hope it helps.
Itâs just 60x30x8mm. The battery is even smaller. So the charging current is really low.
As mentioned elsewhere xiaomi noticed this problem too because their power bank had problems charging smart watches.
I got your meaning, but I guess rare companies, at present, would like to make their powerbanksâ cut-off current as low as being able to charge those low power devices if ports are very limited. The reason is that the powerbank with a too low cut-off current will suffer from a reputation of âtaking too long time to charge to fullâ and thatâs too bad for customer experience, though the charging speed is as fast as others of higher cut-off current. Ie, normally it takes 2 hours to charge your phone to 100, but when cut-off current is made much lower, it may takes 2.5 hours till 100 full is assumed. Uneducated customers may think it a slow charger and give it up.
However, we really appreciate your advice. We will pay special attention to offer an option for those devices when we develop a powerbank.
As for your first advice, adding USB ports to XTAR VC4, in fact, XTAR VC2 Plus already has the function and we are sorry battery chargers are not what we are committed to. Thanks.
Thanks for all your participation and advices. You can never imagine how we value every piece of idea from you.
Though we can not promise every advice will be adopted when developing a new product, we can say every concern and suggestion will be carefully recorded and valued.
Allmaybe is an enterprise and profit is definitely a task we can not free ourselves from, but if that is the only and ultimate goal, Allmaybe will be doomed to be erased from the world. We hope to make charging affairs easy, safe and even pleasant, and address those charging problems you encountered one by one, and with one product after another.
Without you telling, we wonât know some of you suffered the EMI/RFI or low power device charging problem, neither will we truly know some friends appreciate the ideas of USB IN, a switch on the back and more space between the ports. All these are great work.