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I'm pretty skeptical of portable powerbanks at the moment. I wish Apple came out with an official one because I would buy it in an instant. I left my power adap
by humblebee 8y ago
I'm pretty skeptical of portable powerbanks at the moment. I wish Apple came out with an official one because I would buy it in an instant. I left my power adapter at my home when I took a week trip to visit my parents. On the last night of my trip I had left my laptop plugged into my powerbank after discharging my laptop pretty low (probably ~15%). I did not pay attention to which way the power was flowing though, and came back to a laptop which wouldn't turn on or respond to anything. I ended up having to take it to an Apple store where they send it off. I'm unsure what exactly happened as Apple doesn't seem to provide such insight after repairs. However, I believe the powerbank fully drained all the power out of the laptop and some how damaged the power manager. The laptop would not charge for any reason.
Since the repair, I've also had issues with the laptop not waking up correctly, or turning the screen on, and frequently have to power cycle to get the screen to wake up after closing the lid for any extended period of time. I was rather shocked that the laptop would allow itself to be damaged in such a way by having it's power drawn down by some external device.
I now no longer use a powerbank with it.
The powerbank was a "USB C Power Bank RAVPower 26800 PD". Absolutely love it, still use it with other devices. Just not on my laptop anymore at the moment.
I think it can be safe to use, if one pays close attention and never let the powerbank charge from a laptop. Accidents do happen and I simply can't afford one at the moment again.
- petercooper 8y agoUSB-C devices still seem to be notoriously likely to not entirely support standards when it comes to power levels, etc. So yeah, official stuff would be ideal, though I've had nothing but success sticking with Anker brand stuff so far both for chargers (I've not used the Apple one in months) and powerbanks. I am not surprised by your story though, sadly.