How much do you know about portable charger?

Don’t buy external battery before you read this!
As we have more and more gadgets, we are expecting our gadgets can always work when we need them. Our gadgets can do almost everything — until they run out of fuel. Times when you need to make that important call, send out an urgent e-mail, or need to use the apps on your device – but alas there is no battery…we’ve all been there and know first-hand the stress of being offline when you need to get things done!
External battery is indispensable for our smart life, but how much do you know about the external battery? Does your external battery really charge your gadget or make the damages to your battery of gadgets?
1) What’s external battery?
External battery serves as an ‘extra battery’ or external charger for your phone or other electronic devices.
2) Where is external battery made from?
Majority of the external batteries in the market are actually made in China. And the battery cells or PCB modules are from different countries.
3) How do I charge the external battery?
You can charge your external battery via the charger that came with your phone, computer usb port or using other external battery
4) How long do I need to charge the external battery?
It depends on the REAL CAPACITY of the external battery. The larger REAL CAPACITY, the longer charging time may required. Different charging methods may result in different charging time as well. Charging with the original charger will be faster than charging with computer usb port.
5) Why sometime I need longer time to charge the same external battery?
Even though using the same charging method, the charging time may be differ due to environment, temperature, power flow and etc.
6) What is mAh?
mAh mean milli Ampere Hour, the capacity of the external battery is measured with mAh
7) Is a 12000mAh REAL CAPACITY external battery, able to charge a 1500mAh capacity phone for 8 times full?
This is a common mistake made by most of people. For rough calculation of the total charge time, kindly use this formula
REAL CAPACITY * conversion rate * phone battery health / phone capacity = total charge times
EXAMPLE: 12000 x 0.8 x 0.8 / 1500 = 5.12 charge times (0.5-1 times plus minus)
8) What’s conversion rate?
Conversation rate is the remaining percentage of the battery after the battery loses in heat or PCB operation.
9) What’s phone battery health?
In simple, it means how ‘healthy’ your phone battery is. Phone battery storage capacity will be lower and lower. That’s also the reason why our phone can last longer when it’s newly bought than after 3-6 months of use. Different mobile phone models also will affect the calculation as some phones drain battery faster than others.
10) What’s PCB?
PCB means Printed Circuit Board, which controls all the operation flow inside the external battery. A good quality PCB will allow the external battery to charge more and have better durability
11) What’s the difference between 18650 and Li-Polymer in the external battery?
- 18650 size and dimension are fixed. Li-Polymer size and dimension are flexible.
- 18650 produces more heat. Li-Polymer is much safer
- 18650 is cheaper. Li-Polymer is more expensive
- 18650 has a higher self discharge rate. Li-Polymer has a very low self discharge rate
- 18650 battery capacity drops faster. Li-Polymer battery capacity is more durable
12) What’s the common REAL CAPACITY in 18650 external battery in the market?
- External battery using 1pcs 18650 is 1200mAh – 2600mAh
- External battery using 2pcs 18650 is 2500mAh – 4400mAh
- External battery using 3pcs 18650 is 3750mAh – 6600mAh
- External battery using 4pcs 18650 is 5200mAh – 8800mAh
- External battery using 5pcs 18650 is 6500mAh –11000mAh
- External battery using 6pcs 18650 is 7800mAh –13200mAh
- External battery using 7pcs 18650 (no info)
- External battery using 8pcs 18650 is 10400mAh –14400mAh
1 3) Is there any external battery with a capacity higher than 2200mAh per 18650?
Yes. There are, but it’s not common due to the expensive pricing.
14) What’s the difference between branded external battery and generic external battery?
Branded external battery is mostly sold in REAL CAPACITY. Generic external battery is mostly sold in MARKING CAPACITY. That’s the reason why you will never see any branded external battery (standard size) with a capacity as high as 30000mAh – 50000mAh. That’s also the reason why a good 12000-13000mAh external battery is able to charge more or almost the same as the market level of 30000-50000mAh. Most of the external batteries sold on amazon.com with low price are MARKING CAPACITY but not REAL CAPACITY. Those with higher price and long warranty(more than one year, some brands offer 18 months of warranty, like Sony, KINKOO, Xstorm) are REAL CAPACITY and reliable.
15) Is it true branded external battery won’t explode and generic external battery will explode?
Anything to do with battery will have a chance to explode. No matter it’s branded external battery or generic external battery. But chances for both branded and generic external battery to explode are very low, except for those cheap and poor-quality 18650 batteries. And the Li-Polymer is safer than 18650 battery, it’s easy to fit the high-temperature environment.