4 ms·

This is a very poorly researched article. A few things worth considering: - 20,000 mAh is the rated capacity. Anyone who has tested 18650 batteries (which are

• 1oooqooq 1y ago
  you don't have to go that far. probably that demographic won't even carry a power bank to begin with.
• emilfihlman 1y ago
  >18650 batteries (which are the cells typically used in these battery packs) Absolutely not. Pouch cells are what most powerbanks have.
  • mbesto 1y ago
    "Power bank cells are mainly divided into 18650 cells and polymer cells. The most common one on the market is 18650 lithium-ion batteries, with a market share of 70%." https://www.benzoenergy.com/blog/post/type-of-cells-used-for-power-bank.html https://www.benzoenergy.com/blog/post/type-of-cells-used-for...
    • saidinesh5 1y ago
      Looks like the article you've shared is from 2019 (at the bottom of their page?). Things changed a lot since then. Most power banks these days use just lipo pouches.
• coin 1y ago
  > Watthours is more important than amp hours I'd go a step further and say that amp hours is meaning less since voltage is not specified. The only valid battery capacity unit of measure is watt hours. While most battery packs use a single 3.7 lithium ion battery, Apple's first gen MagSafe battery pack used two internal batteries in series, throwing off everyone's amp hours only comparison.
  • sixothree 1y ago
    The package says 3.85v so certainly this is a lipo.
  • nwallin 1y ago
    > The only valid battery capacity unit of measure is watt hours. I would also accept Joules. But yes, the unit should be a unit of energy.
    • beAbU 1y ago
      You are probably making a joke, but just in case and for those that don't know, a joule _is_ a watt hour. 1 joule is 1 watt-second to be precise. So 1Wh is 3600 joules.
      • numpad0 1y ago
        So that's why it doesn't align with existing industry units and always requiring conversions...
        • bregma 1y ago
          Thank goodness SI units are power-of-ten based so converting between watt hours and joules is just a matter of moving the decimal place. Oh, and throwing in an ancient Sumerian constant approximating the number of Earth rotations as it revolves around the sun once.
          • lotsofpulp 1y ago
• serf 1y ago
  you're never going to construct a lightweight pack with cylindrical (18650/21700, whatever) cells. a real light weight battery construction isn't going to have redundant casings and fuses; it'll be the bare minimum pouch/plate style construction, the bare minimum fuses at main junctions, and as light a protective shell as can be produced to house it all in. It probably won't have a BMS of any kind on board, with the functions handled up-stream from the battery. here's something close, although with plenty of weight compromise for reliability and safeties' sake. : https://global.honda/en/tech/motorsports/Formula-1/Powertrain_ESS/ https://global.honda/en/tech/motorsports/Formula-1/Powertrai...
  • lelandbatey 1y ago
    While that's technically true for highly specialized applications such as an F1 car such as the one you listed, the parent article is discussing USB compatible consumer battery banks. Consumer battery banks are worth building with cutting edge-but-still-mass-produced cells, multiple layers of redundancies, and integrated BMS.
• mrheosuper 1y ago
  typical li-po pouch, bet it's 2*10Ah pouch connected in parallel.
• tredre3 1y ago
  I don't think this power bank uses 18650. You could fit 3 18650 in it, but the highest capacity 18650 out there is less than 15Wh and this advertises 77Wh. Even the tested capacity of 55Wh is higher than the before-loss 18650 capacity you could fit in it. > This is a very poorly researched article So, yeah, pot, kettle, all that.
  • mbesto 1y ago
    I think you're right, however, 18650 batteries do carry, on average, more energy density per volume and weight. > but the highest capacity 18650 out there is less than 15Wh and this advertises 77Wh. 10x 2000 mAh 18650 batteries in parallel gives you 20 Ah @ 3.7V. > So, yeah, pot, kettle, all that. Totally unnecessary comment but thanks.
    • n2d4 1y ago
      > Totally unnecessary comment but thanks. It's not more unnecessary than your comment about the OP article being poorly researched. If the conclusions are true, even if they didn't do the measurements themselves, I find it quite excusable to skip past the detailed specs of the battery.
      • shlant 1y ago
        yea considering they made 6 bullet points all just to say "rated and tested capacities are usually different" reeked of pedantry (although not surprising as we are on a tech site) and IMO did not warrant the label of "very poorly researched article"
• anigbrowl 1y ago
  It's consumerist advertorial, which is why most of it is filler. 'Decent seeming new power bank happens to look cute' isn't that interesting of a sotry, so it has to be spun into a phenomenon that will allow the article to link out to 10 different products.
• masklinn 1y ago
  > Watthours is more important than amp hours Although that is completely true, pretty much all discussion, speccing, and marketing of batteries and power banks is done in Ah. So the article working in that unit is logical and consistent.
  • beAbU 1y ago
    The bit that annoys me always (and what makes Ah a meaningless measurement for power banks) is whether the amp-hours rating is just the internal batteries' spec summed together, or is it as measured at the 5V outlet? Huge difference!
    • masklinn 1y ago
      I would assume it’s whichever gives the highest number which is usually going to be the internal voltage. For instance I have a 20000mAh power bank which also has a 74Wh capacity printed on, a conversion factor of 3.7V matching li-ion chemistry. Not to mention with PD neither the neither input not output voltages are limited to 5V.
• harrall 1y ago
  A lot of battery packs do not use 18650s but rather pouches, which are a lot smaller at the cost of some stability.