"smaller, thinner, lighter" and more powerful – Anker updating power banks

[Jorge Villalobos]

Looks like my beloved 10,000 mAh will be the first one to get updated. Link to article.

[R Banks]

I just wish wall chargers were smaller. A 30watt+ dual usb charger is a pretty bulky.

[John Rowan]

They have a new wall charger/battery combo out (I think it was like 5000 maH), which I found really intriguing, since it replaces 3 items with one (battery, charger plug, and USB cable to charge the battery- still need a lighting cable for my iPhone) and lets me drop a few ounces, but I do wish that they were making a slightly higher-capacity version so that I could get a few more charges out of it, since I’m not sure it’ll be quite enough for my PCT LASH this year. (I can probably get by with 2 recharges but would love 3.)

[James holden]

anker and every other company is generally limited by the bats themselves

currently the highest capacity 18650 popular bat is ~3500 mAh ….

white the weight of the casing and other such can be reduced a bit … each bat still weights ~45g or so ..

theres simply no way around this until new bats become cheap enough and the bat capacity increases … or they develop their own specific bat like cell phone makers

;)

[Jim C]

Amazon already has the 20,000 mAh PowerCore II, and it does not use 18650 cells, but rather flat, rectangular cells.

However, if the stats on that page are correct (scroll down until you see the comparison chart), the PowerCore II is slightly heavier than the 20,000 mAh PowerCore.

[Jorge Villalobos]

I’ve had my eye on their “Fusion” charger @jrowan mentioned (I think that’s what they call it), but digging a bit found it doesn’t seem to be capable of charging its internal battery while at the same time charging other devices plugged into it, which kind of defeats the purpose IMO. But at least it seems we’re closer, and it’s likely just a matter of time now until the right charger comes along.

@jimothy interesting, that’s a bummer. Those stats are sometimes wrong, though, so let’s hope that’s the case.

Also hoping once they switch to USB-C on all chargers they’ll be able to shrink them a bit more. I’ll probably pass on these “II” versions because they still seem to use micro-usb, and I already have a perfectly functional 10Ah one.

[James holden]

jim are you sure it doesnt use 18650s ..

its basically the same capacity, weight and dimensions as the 20100 which uses 6 18650 bats …

;)

[Jim C]

Eric,

I thought this photo was on the Amazon page, but it’s only on Anker’s site.

[James holden]

thanks jim

its interesting to see that despite proprietary flat cells its not any lighter and smaller than the 20100 with 6 18650 bats

this actually means that should the bats start wearing down (ususally its 70% after ~ 300-500 cycles) you cant just stuff new 18650 bats in there

of course these days the retail on the bats will probably cost as much as a new powercore

also speaking personally i TRUST panasonic 18650 bats … at least you wont be using them as a hand grenade like a certain samsung phone proprietary bat …

;)

sorry but this meme is just too good to pass up !!!!

 

[John Rowan]

^ Okay, that’s pretty funny.

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