5 ms·

Am I missing the tech specs section? I see that it can charge 15W wireless when plugged in, but how big is the battery? For comparison's sake, here's the Anker

by danso 5y ago

Am I missing the tech specs section? I see that it can charge 15W wireless when plugged in, but how big is the battery? For comparison's sake, here's the Anker 5,000 mAH magsafe battery pack for just $45. However, it doesn't appear to charge above 5W even if plugged in. I bought one during Prime Day but haven't had much need to use it. It definitely looks beefier than the Apple version. https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Magnetic-Wireless-Portable-PowerCore/dp/B08TW7BRTJ https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Magnetic-Wireless-Portable-Powe... OTOH, at least it comes with a USB-C cable! edit: the Anker pack has a standard USB-C port, which you can charge directly from far more efficiently. The Apple charger appears to charge via lightning port...I'm assuming there's no way to directly wire charge your phone from it, nor power any other non-magsafe device

kondro 5y ago
I can’t find the source right now but I believe it’s around 12Wh.
- vernie 5y ago
  It's visible in one of the photos (11.13Wh)
ni-hil 5y ago
1460 mAh https://imgur.com/1khiiEj https://imgur.com/1khiiEj
- cbsmith 5y ago
  Damn, talk about reading the fine print.
- Kirby64 5y ago
  To note, that it's 7.62V (i.e., 2S), so it's equivalent to most ~3000mAh packs. Still not great for the money, but not as bad as it sounds.
  - skavi 5y ago
    Why did the mobile industry decide to use mAh instead of Wh.
    - stevenpetryk 5y ago
      I think that's just the battery industry. Whenever I shop for batteries for robotics or RC vehicles they're in mAh too.
      - foobarian 5y ago
        Maybe it's slightly more convenient because the same value applies no matter how many cells are in the battery pack. So it helps distinguish the packs by electrical current output capacity which we can't get from a power value because power combines two different measures.
        notatoad 5y ago
        mAh doesn't change as you add cells to the battery pack? i'm pretty sure that's not correct.
        samatman 5y ago
        This depends on whether they're wired in series or in parallel. Wired in series, mAh won't change, wired in parallel, it's additive.
        foobarian 5y ago
        Most commonly RC battery packs are referred to as "1S, 2S, 3S," etc. indicating how many single cells there are in the pack wired in series. Those are also individually rechargeable via a low-current charging cable.
        Ancapistani 5y ago
- DeRock 5y ago
  "mAh" are useless here without voltage. Its like using 50KM/hr as the towing capacity of a truck.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    It's actually very useful. Ah is the best way to compare battery capacity.
    - vizzier 5y ago
      I think the idea is that watt-hours (Wh) serves the same purpose and doesn't miss information about capacity if voltage is omitted. Technically though the units in watt hours should cancel out to be Joules which may be the best unit. Are amp hours in some way better due to the varying voltage across the charge profile of a draining battery perhaps?
      - jacquesm 5y ago
        It's mostly because the voltage is assumed to be constant across the discharge profile (even if it isn't), and Ah is taken to the point that you can safely discharge the battery to. So you compare two batteries with the same voltage on their Ah, and systems in terms of Wh (and then the voltages are irrelevant). One problem here is that what looks like a battery on the outside is often a system under the hood, so the output voltage is not necessarily the voltage at which the battery operates due to for instance DC-DC convertors and other electronics embedded in the battery housing.
      - samatman 5y ago
        I'd argue that the undecomposed watt-hour is in fact the superior unit for batteries. Because what I want to know about a battery is exactly how many hours I can use it at a given wattage. The voltage is determined by application, and the only amp-related stat I'm interested in is maximum current, which is more useful to me in watts anyway. So a 50 Wh battery which I'm going to draw at 10 watts? five hours of use time. 20 watts? 2.5, and I can do this in my head all day. Joules are less convenient because going from seconds to hours is too annoying to do as mental maths.
gimmeThaBeet 5y ago
Yeah, kinda bizarre that they don't specify, that's like...the spec. Sites have said it's 11.13Wh (~comparable to a iPhone 12), but then even at that, how efficient is the Qi charger itself? How much of that capacity do you actually get?
- arcticbull 5y ago
  Qi charger efficiency is roughly 50% right, I suspect that should be a good approximation.
  - addaon 5y ago
    This seems a bit low, do you have a source? While I haven't worked with the Qi standard directly, I've used 200 kHz inductive power transfer in other contexts, and efficiency numbers in my experience are in the 75% - 85% range for well-aligned coils. The total efficiency will be a bit less than this (moving charge in and out of a battery is pretty good, but not 100%), but I'd be surprised to see 5W transfer with a total efficiency much less than 70%.
    - arcticbull 5y ago
      This article is a bit sensationalist, but they claim to have gotten mid-60s efficiency [1]. I think I misread them initially when they said "47% more power" - I took that to mean 47% efficiency, but on re-reading it's closer to 66%. My bad! [1] https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-48afdde70ed9 https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-...
Tagbert 5y ago
Yes, this new Apple pack holds less charge than that Anker one, but it is much slimmer and attaches with magnets. It’s meant to give you some extra battery life in a sleek form that fits on your pocket. If you are going to be away from a power source for days, the Anker might be a better choice but if your just looking for some extra juice on a long day of use and don’t want something bulky to carry around, this would fit the bill.
- laurent92 5y ago
  Thank you for the explanation. I’m already frustrated that the iPhone doesn’t include enough battery for a full day of work (when the iPhone 7 could last several days initially), I find it amusing that Apple proposes an additional “short-term” battery.
  - billyhoffman 5y ago
    Apple has had smart battery cases since the iPhone 6/7 era. I think it depends on usage. In my home city, my phone goes all day no problem. On business trips to NYC with all the tall buildings and taking more ride shares than normal, the battery gets hammered and dies. I had a smart battery case for years that I just used on trips. The simplicity of Apple's design was (to me) worth the premium. (no extra wire from battery to phone. no turning the battery case on and off, one wire to charge both, etc)
  - Jcowell 5y ago
    My iPhone 11 certainly could last an entire day of use when it first came out (and it released with the fats charger so it was an insane jump)
- Someone1234 5y ago
  The linked Anker one also attaches via magnets.
- layer8 5y ago
  > it is much slimmer Apple neither states the dimensions nor provides a picture with a 90° side view, so I’m wondering how slim it really is.

by danso 5y ago

kondro 5y ago

I can’t find the source right now but I believe it’s around 12Wh.

vernie 5y ago
It's visible in one of the photos (11.13Wh)

ni-hil 5y ago

1460 mAh https://imgur.com/1khiiEj https://imgur.com/1khiiEj

cbsmith 5y ago
Damn, talk about reading the fine print.
Kirby64 5y ago
To note, that it's 7.62V (i.e., 2S), so it's equivalent to most ~3000mAh packs. Still not great for the money, but not as bad as it sounds.
- skavi 5y ago
  Why did the mobile industry decide to use mAh instead of Wh.
  - stevenpetryk 5y ago
    I think that's just the battery industry. Whenever I shop for batteries for robotics or RC vehicles they're in mAh too.
    - foobarian 5y ago
      Maybe it's slightly more convenient because the same value applies no matter how many cells are in the battery pack. So it helps distinguish the packs by electrical current output capacity which we can't get from a power value because power combines two different measures.
      - notatoad 5y ago
        mAh doesn't change as you add cells to the battery pack? i'm pretty sure that's not correct.
        samatman 5y ago
        This depends on whether they're wired in series or in parallel. Wired in series, mAh won't change, wired in parallel, it's additive.
        foobarian 5y ago
        Most commonly RC battery packs are referred to as "1S, 2S, 3S," etc. indicating how many single cells there are in the pack wired in series. Those are also individually rechargeable via a low-current charging cable.
        Ancapistani 5y ago
DeRock 5y ago
"mAh" are useless here without voltage. Its like using 50KM/hr as the towing capacity of a truck.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  It's actually very useful. Ah is the best way to compare battery capacity.
  - vizzier 5y ago
    I think the idea is that watt-hours (Wh) serves the same purpose and doesn't miss information about capacity if voltage is omitted. Technically though the units in watt hours should cancel out to be Joules which may be the best unit. Are amp hours in some way better due to the varying voltage across the charge profile of a draining battery perhaps?
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      It's mostly because the voltage is assumed to be constant across the discharge profile (even if it isn't), and Ah is taken to the point that you can safely discharge the battery to. So you compare two batteries with the same voltage on their Ah, and systems in terms of Wh (and then the voltages are irrelevant). One problem here is that what looks like a battery on the outside is often a system under the hood, so the output voltage is not necessarily the voltage at which the battery operates due to for instance DC-DC convertors and other electronics embedded in the battery housing.
    - samatman 5y ago
      I'd argue that the undecomposed watt-hour is in fact the superior unit for batteries. Because what I want to know about a battery is exactly how many hours I can use it at a given wattage. The voltage is determined by application, and the only amp-related stat I'm interested in is maximum current, which is more useful to me in watts anyway. So a 50 Wh battery which I'm going to draw at 10 watts? five hours of use time. 20 watts? 2.5, and I can do this in my head all day. Joules are less convenient because going from seconds to hours is too annoying to do as mental maths.

gimmeThaBeet 5y ago

Yeah, kinda bizarre that they don't specify, that's like...the spec. Sites have said it's 11.13Wh (~comparable to a iPhone 12), but then even at that, how efficient is the Qi charger itself? How much of that capacity do you actually get?

arcticbull 5y ago
Qi charger efficiency is roughly 50% right, I suspect that should be a good approximation.
- addaon 5y ago
  This seems a bit low, do you have a source? While I haven't worked with the Qi standard directly, I've used 200 kHz inductive power transfer in other contexts, and efficiency numbers in my experience are in the 75% - 85% range for well-aligned coils. The total efficiency will be a bit less than this (moving charge in and out of a battery is pretty good, but not 100%), but I'd be surprised to see 5W transfer with a total efficiency much less than 70%.
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    This article is a bit sensationalist, but they claim to have gotten mid-60s efficiency [1]. I think I misread them initially when they said "47% more power" - I took that to mean 47% efficiency, but on re-reading it's closer to 66%. My bad! [1] https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-48afdde70ed9 https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-...

Tagbert 5y ago

Yes, this new Apple pack holds less charge than that Anker one, but it is much slimmer and attaches with magnets. It’s meant to give you some extra battery life in a sleek form that fits on your pocket. If you are going to be away from a power source for days, the Anker might be a better choice but if your just looking for some extra juice on a long day of use and don’t want something bulky to carry around, this would fit the bill.

laurent92 5y ago
Thank you for the explanation. I’m already frustrated that the iPhone doesn’t include enough battery for a full day of work (when the iPhone 7 could last several days initially), I find it amusing that Apple proposes an additional “short-term” battery.
- billyhoffman 5y ago
  Apple has had smart battery cases since the iPhone 6/7 era. I think it depends on usage. In my home city, my phone goes all day no problem. On business trips to NYC with all the tall buildings and taking more ride shares than normal, the battery gets hammered and dies. I had a smart battery case for years that I just used on trips. The simplicity of Apple's design was (to me) worth the premium. (no extra wire from battery to phone. no turning the battery case on and off, one wire to charge both, etc)
- Jcowell 5y ago
  My iPhone 11 certainly could last an entire day of use when it first came out (and it released with the fats charger so it was an insane jump)
Someone1234 5y ago
The linked Anker one also attaches via magnets.
layer8 5y ago
> it is much slimmer Apple neither states the dimensions nor provides a picture with a 90° side view, so I’m wondering how slim it really is.