Test/review of Xtar PB2S Charger & power bank

HKJ · 2019-09-14T13:13:15.000Z

Phlogiston:

Not good if I deplete the powerbank whilst travelling and it’s a few days before I can charge it again.

The nice thing about this power bank/charger is that you can easily remove the cell when they are empty to avoid any problems.

It would, of course, have been better without that 5mA draw and instead doing a total disconnect from the batteries when they are below 2.8V.

Phlogiston · 2019-09-16T15:37:26.000Z

HKJ:

Phlogiston:

Not good if I deplete the powerbank whilst travelling and it’s a few days before I can charge it again.

The nice thing about this power bank/charger is that you can easily remove the cell when they are empty to avoid any problems.

Good point :person_facepalming:

Now that I think about it, I generally use 18650s, so I could fit a little piece of plastic or silicone sheet in as an isolator if I didn’t want to have some other container for the depleted cells.

fluke · 2019-09-16T15:41:54.000Z

Did i miss something in the review?

What is the standby current when left with batteries in place and no external power?

HKJ · 2019-09-16T15:43:51.000Z

fluke:

Did i miss something in the review?

What is the standby current when left with batteries in place and no external power?

Around 0.1mA, but there is a curve showing that at 2.5V on the battery it increases to 5mA.

fluke · 2019-09-16T15:48:25.000Z

Thank you.

fran82 · 2019-09-16T20:44:05.000Z

HKJ: the low current hidden mode works ok? Or does it have noise in the output?

Phlogiston · 2019-09-16T22:48:07.000Z

Oh, that’s interesting! I went looking for more info about the low current mode, and the ZeroAir review:

ZeroAir Reviews - A site for things that interest a flashlight fan! – 13 Sep 19

XTAR PB2S Powerbank and Charger Review - ZeroAir Reviews

The XTAR PB2S Powerbank is an upgraded PB2. It has noteworthy improvements - USB-C and support for bigger cells. Read on for testing!

has a picture of the user manual. Quoting from that:

IV. Button Function
[…]
When discharging, press the button to start USB output or capacity checking. When the charger is off, long press the button to enter to low-current output mode, and then long press the button to close USB output.

I have a couple of small devices that would be useful for

TheIntruder · 2019-09-17T06:36:32.000Z

Phlogiston:

Oh, that’s interesting! I went looking for more info about the low current mode, and the ZeroAir review:

XTAR PB2S Powerbank and Charger Review - ZeroAir Reviews

has a picture of the user manual. Quoting from that:

IV. Button Function
[…]
When discharging, press the button to start USB output or capacity checking. When the charger is off, long press the button to enter to low-current output mode, and then long press the button to close USB output.

I have a couple of small devices that would be useful for

Calvin from Illumn shared that with us weeks ago.

I’ve been looking forward to this test, and appreciate the insights it provides.

XTAR did much to address the weaknesses of the PB2, and while not perfect, what other product out there can offer the combination of capabilities it has? Or better it? From a widely distributed, reputable brand name?

Serious question.

HKJ · 2019-09-17T07:06:00.000Z

I had missed that low current mode, the review is now updated with it.

fran82 · 2019-09-17T14:06:33.000Z

HKJ:

I had missed that low current mode, the review is now updated with it.

No worries…

samgalax · 2019-09-17T17:23:02.000Z

Interesting to see the behaviour at that hidden low mode…. Waiting for the update.

Btw… Thanks for all your hard work

HKJ · 2019-09-17T17:27:27.000Z

samgalax:

Interesting to see the behaviour at that hidden low mode…. Waiting for the update.

I have updated, there is no new curves only a few points extra in the power bank section.
What it does is disable the low current shut off.

samgalax · 2019-09-17T17:28:24.000Z

HKJ:

samgalax:

Interesting to see the behaviour at that hidden low mode…. Waiting for the update.

I have updated, there is no new curves only a few points extra in the power bank section.
What it does is disable the low current shut off.

Thank you Sir!

Klotski · 2019-09-17T17:57:28.000Z

HKJ
So if I wanted to use a solar panel to recharge the battery’s once the solar panel quit charging due to clouds or whatever it would need to be powered cycled to resume charging?
Thank you

HKJ · 2019-09-17T18:02:49.000Z

Klotski:

HKJ
So if I wanted to use a solar panel to recharge the battery’s once the solar panel quit charging due to clouds or whatever it would need to be powered cycled to resume charging?

No, I show it in this chart:

The “brown out voltage” at the bottom is how low the output from the solar panel vent.
The cyan dots shows what happens during the low voltage and the red dots show what happens when the voltage returns to full again.

On the PB2S the red dots are at full current all the time. It do not matter if it was a small or large voltage drop, it will resume full current again when it is over.

samgalax · 2019-09-17T18:10:32.000Z

That is another good point about it… Still expensive… Hope it gets lower price

chiclet_fanboi · 2019-09-18T05:56:34.000Z

Thanks for the extensive testing, did you do some USB PD tests as well (or anybody with this device)?
Mine sadly has USB PD issues (voltage drop and eventual reset) and I wanted to know if this is sort of common. Sadly I don’t have a QC compatible device at hand, I’ll try to get one.

HKJ · 2019-09-18T06:25:11.000Z

chiclet_fanboi:

Thanks for the extensive testing, did you do some USB PD tests as well (or anybody with this device)?
Mine sadly has USB PD issues (voltage drop and eventual reset) and I wanted to know if this is sort of common.

I did run a load sweep:

And a test at 5V 2A:

I did not detect any high voltage support on the USB-C connector.

samgalax · 2019-09-18T06:27:22.000Z

Hmmm… Maybe Xtar will release an updated version??

chiclet_fanboi · 2019-09-18T21:04:44.000Z

Ah, now I noticed, on your device there is no mention of USB PD. Mine has a different marking, PD is mentioned with the “USB-C Output” - the ad on aliexpress also states the PD In- and Output capability. And it works in principle - with both of my USB PD devices (Pixel 3A and Thinkpad X280) it puts out a higher voltage. Just when the devices draw a little more current (above 1 A) the voltage drops and the PB2S turns off (and restarts in 5 V mode). 5 V mode works, but at 1.9 A the voltage also starts to drop to 4.7 V on the devices meters.

EDIT: With a Samsung QC phone it sits at 8.8 V and 1.2 A. Tremendous situation, don’t know if the phone is just happy and doesn’t want more, or it doesn’t ramp up further because it detected voltage drop. I ordered a USB PD cable I can splice into for adding a multimeter and/or additional load. But thanks for the helpful answers so far!