Garmin inReach Messenger (Preview)
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A few photos that are hopefully illustrative of power output from different USB connectors.
This is an XTAR PB2S battery bank connected to a Google Pixel 6a. The PB2S comes empty, and you insert your own 18650 or 21700 cells. What’s nice about it though is the readout which tells you how many volts and amps it’s delivering when charging, or that it’s accepting when being charged.
As you can see, with a USBA cable, it’s only delivering 5.7 watts to my phone. With a USB-C cable, it’s delivering 11.4 watts, so twice the power. Twice the power means roughly half the charging time, although I’ve noticed sometimes the Pixel 6 charges in a sort of battery maintenance mode which is purposely slow to condition the battery. According to USB.org, the most recent PowerDelivery 3.1 standard for USB-C can deliver up to 240 watts. Probably not useful for phones, but keep in mind that USB-C is the standard charging port for laptops now, too.
From what I can find on Google, USB-A won’t ever support more than about 5w. It’s a dead end standard only kept around for backward compatibility. That’s why I try to remind my family members to stop getting USB-A cables and move to USB-C so that charging their iPads and phones doesn’t take forever.
It makes sense for hikers too. If you’re sitting at Red’s Meadow trying to charge up your phone or power bank off of a shared power strip, you want to charge and move on as quickly as possible. Invest in a good USB-C charger like the Anker Nano II and a USB-C to USB-C or a USB-C to Lightning cable.
Same with the power banks. If your existing power bank is only USB-A, it’s probably pretty old and it may be time to upgrade.
Another thing I like about the XTAR PB2S is that if the batteries “wear out” I can just replace them without having to throw away the electronics. And if I need more capacity that provided by two 21700 cells in the bank, I can carry a 2nd set of cells (or even a third), safely stored in the little plastic case that they come shipped in, and swap them out as they get depleted in the field. That gives me a lot more flexibility than having one big 20K battery bank, or a small bank for weekend trips plus a large bank for longer ones.
David,
According to this chart I found (and the specs of the PowerCore 1000), yeah, your battery bank supports the original 2014 PowerIQ 12W output, but seemingly only with certified USB-A to MicroUSB or USB-A to Lightning cables.
It doesn’t support the higher output PowerIQ 2 or PowerIQ 3, nor does it support Power Delivery. Power Delivery is a different standard. And there seems to be a THIRD standard called Qualcomm QuickCharge (or QC for short). The whole field of “quick charge” standards over USB is super confusing.
My Xtar power bank documentation claims to support PD 3.0 and QC3.0, but only up to a maximum of 18W both for input and for output.
Most phones will indicate somewhere on the screen whether they are “charging” or “fast charging” but beyond that, it’s impossible to tell just how much power is being delivered without an inline USB power meter and a bunch of experimenting.
It’s a good topic of discussion. Similar to Stephen S’s excellent articles on garment breathability and such, I think it would be really informative (but also expensive) to get a decent USB Power Meter, different cables, chargers, power banks, and phones, and see how various combinations work together. Maybe there’s already some good articles like that out there somewhere.
My impression, based on seeing my family use these things, is that most people don’t pay enough attention to know the difference, and are often stuck slow charging their devices and waiting up to 6+ hours for a full charge.
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