Stacking both Baseus 20% off Code (CHARGER20) + eBay Code (TOPH20, TOPH22) for a Total of 36% off (37.6% off with eBay Plus)
10000mah 15W - $19.19 ($18.71 eBay Plus)
20000mah 15W - $23.03 ($22.46 eBay Plus)
30000mah 15W - $28.15 ($27.45 eBay Plus)
10000mah 20W - $23.03 ($22.46 eBay Plus)
20000mah 20W - $29.43 ($28.70 eBay Plus)
30000mah 20W - $38.39 ($37.43 eBay Plus)
Note: the 30000mah (111Wh) Power Banks may require airline approval when travelling
Cactus here, these are for a very specific use cases nowadays imo - but do have their places.
Usually LiPo/flat cell banks in the cheapest end of banks suck but because these are low power, the cells on them don't undergo as much stress so longevity wise these are good.
I don't have data for these exact ones (these might be a diff revision/model) but very similar baseus banks did a lot better longevity wise. I would probably expect them to last 12-18 months comfortably.
Efficiency sucks and on top the cells usually lie about their rating so expect the true capacity to be up to 35% less than the rated.
Remember these take a bit to charge, at least 6 hours if not up to 12 depending on capacity/charger so you'll need to leave em overnight.
It's mostly basic slow charge and at best the old slow "fast charge" that does 9V 2A so don't expect crazy charging speeds.
These are great for backup banks or stuff you don't use primarily but keep for an emergency so for that they are great.
For what they are 2.5/5 succulents.
"It's mostly basic slow charge and at best the old slow "fast charge" that does 9V 2A so don't expect crazy charging speeds."
For clarification, please: are you saying these 20W and 30W power banks are little faster at charging devices than my old 9V 2A power bank?
If so, is that also true if my phone usually has 30W recharging?
Is this a general issue with power banks, or Baseus brand specifically?
I'm going overseas soon and will have some days where I am out for long hours and likely be taking a lot of photos and videos on my phone that has only a 4020 mAh battery.
With the 30W mains charger I can recharge to 80% in a few minutes, but I can't easily take a mains charger and socket adapter around with me even if I have access to mains power.
Is there an affordable (cheap), fairly fast power bank you would recommend?
And 9V 2A would be 18W, right?
If so, I understand why 20W wouldn't be much faster
But my phone charges much faster with its 30W mains charger than my previous phone could charge with its 20W one (much faster, same brand - Motorola). Would it do the same with a 30W power bank as the source, or is it due to the technology of the mains charger?
I last bought power banks over 5 years ago and hardly used them - I had a well-reputed Anker that was supposed to be suitable for Apple & Android, but just seemed to drain my Android phone instead of charge it.
Then as a Christmas gift, I received 9V 2A 10,000mAh one from Target - but I don't think it has ever been used - I have no idea what its capacity wpuld be after all these years lying uncharged.
9V, 2A is the input rating - so what the power bank can charge itself at.
However these power banks in particular only do up to 12V, 1.5A, so 18W max anyway.
What is your model of phone? That way we can see exactly what charge voltage it supports.
Also, what is the specific model of Anker power bank you have? Some of the older ones had limited support for fast charging.
@Prong: Ah, Input. Well, 9V, 2A is better than the InTempo (Target) Power Bank with 1A input.
The Anker is probably even older than I initially said, perhaps 7 or 8 years old. It's input is also low. Output 5V, 1A and … drat - I just wiped it to read it more clearly and now I have obscured all the print. It has one of those tacky finishes along the sides.
It's not powerful, but it worked for my iPod, which now has quite terrible battery life. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CEZJT2E/
My phone is Motorola Edge 30 (XT2203-1).
@sam buster: Yep fair enough. Any decent PD spec power bank with 30W output or higher should give full speed charging of your phone.
It just depends how large a power bank you want, and your budget. And if you want to charge any other devices, such as a laptop.
Some 30W+ options to Google to get you started, in no particular order.
imuto X4G, X6G
INUI B62, B63
Romoss PSW20 Pro, Sense 4S Pro
Baseus Blade Pro, 65W PPADM65 . (check the other Ozbargain deals on these)
Charmast C100W
On the higher end -
ZMI No.20
Anker 737, 537, 533, 543.
Ugreen 145W (Model 90597A)
How are they vs the cygnett brand?
I agree baseus products have been pretty average especially their cables.
Out of interest, which models did you discover were lying about their capacity rating?
I have found Baseus is generally quite conservative with their 5V rated capacity, and efficiency figures.
35% less than the rated capacity is probably a faulty power bank. And quality control has been an ongoing problem for Baseus, based on comments here.
I test banks and over the years the universal constant is that nearly all banks lie about their capacity on a cell level to some degree (without looking at discharge losses) and the few that don't are usually higher end 18650 or 21700 cells that are within manufacturer ± tolerances. LiPo cells or flat banks, especially high power ones are usually always the worst in longevity, but it's overlooked because few test remaining capacity after a period of time.
I don't expect most to be at 35% and I only ever see such high numbers on banks claiming to be 30,000-40,000mAh or greater that are suspiciously cheap.
On average I see 10-15% for cells between 20-30k and usually much less for those below 10k.
There are a lot of uses of refurbished or used cells that are circulated in China, a lot of manufacturers don't use new cells because of how cost prohibitive and cutthroat/competitive the market is, on top of that most manufacturers do not perform individual testing on each cell rather on a few per batch when manufacturing banks so they slip through VERY often.
I would need to dig up the unit, but it was a 40k mAh unit that was selling for <$40 at the time, thing is nobody ever opens these up and tests the cells so it's not surprising people wouldn't know.
Yeah there are a trillion no name brands with wildly inflated numbers that will use whatever cells are cheapest.
I wouldn't lump Baseus in with those sort of brands though, as they seem to have a reasonable focus on quality. I suspect many of their recent issues stem from Covid supply chain impacts. It's getting better, but was noticeable across pretty much every sector, not just tech. Suppliers cut corners everywhere, and brands didn't have the capability to effectively manage the massively increased quality control requirements without taking losses. So they made quality control the consumers problem, and took the reputation hit.
But IMO Baseus takes a decent approach with their real world ratings, and seem to use the worst case scenario. I certainly don't see any evidence they lie about their capacity ratings. Many brands don't even publish real world ratings or efficiency.
The Baseus power banks I picked up over the past year or so of cheap deals all tested when new at much higher real world capacity and efficiency than the Baseus rating.
I have a 6 month old, 20W, 30,000mAh Baseus power bank on the load tester now. The low output wattage helps, but it had 85% (95Wh) of the 111Wh capacity usable when new - much better than the 75% rating from Baseus. It has had comparatively heavy use because I use it for various projects thanks to the 12V output. It gets regular full cycles running LEDs, but is also a go to to chuck in a bag as a spare power bank with oodles of capacity and decent charge speeds.
I just bought another since they are so handy, and for low wattage uses, IMO it's amazingly good value for the current sale price of $30.
@Prong: I would lump Baseus in with those because Baseus have enough product skus that follow these practices, so too do some well known brands.
This is more so an issue in higher power banks, but is still there in lower power banks to a lesser degree.
Again the reason you don't hear about evidence with them is because there's very little in depth individual testing done on these banks, the results and data just aren't always on the internet.
I've tested enough of their units to know they're a decent company, but not exceptional or amazing. They are as inconsistent as many others.
Much of this is inflated with a false sense of quality because of their market reach and product availability.
This isn't an issue of no name banks, this is a widespread issue in nearly all banks to varying degrees if you rip them apart and then test them.
This isn't a recent issue either, this has been a thing for a long time. The market is built on obfuscating and deceit, people buy x bank because it's specs say it's identical to something that's 2x the price, and consumers don't know better as to why they should bother paying for the thing that's 2x, nobody tests either in depth enough for consumers to know better either.
I would suggest going and testing the capacity of your higher power units over a period of time to evaluate.
The market is built on obfuscating and deceit,
Also many companies send out top notch products to reviewers, and use premium components for the first production run. Then they use cheaper components or second-hand batteries. Cygnus (or their OEM) was caught doing this last year.
If you buy a lot of powerbanks, it might be worthwhile getting a USB power monitor that shows total mAh.
I would lump Baseus in with those because Baseus have enough product skus that follow these practices, so too do some well known brands.
Ahhh ok. I mistaking assumed you were talking about a different brand as I could not really find a likely Baseus model I thought matched 40k mAh unit that was selling for <$40 at the time and you did not say Baseus.
What are the Baseus SKUs are you referring to?
What were the other brands? Name and shame IMO!
Don't get me wrong, I think it is well worth buying quality power banks where possible or appropriate, and most of the cheaper brands are generally not great for heavy use. But they have their place.
I would suggest going and testing the capacity of your higher power units over a period of time to evaluate.
Yep, I capacity test every power bank I own, and any individual cells. I do follow ups based on usage, but aside from a few, they don't get high number of cycles so wear is low. I stopped doing things like tool batteries because I have too many, and the results are boring. Except for one I use on a hacked stick vacuum, that gets enough cycles to make longevity testing worthwhile. I don't really use any LiPo packs for RC use anymore, but used to do them too.
I have never seen any faster than expected capacity loss that can be attributed to wear. I'm fairly careful about heat and charge state, so don't see much degradation if not used. I have had various failures over the years. Most appear to come back to sudden faster than expected self discharge dropping cell voltage to the point protection circuitry kicks in. Which also seems to be a common problem based on comments I have seen from others.
For example, a cheapish iMuto 20k power bank had this problem (they sent a replacement, which has been problem free). I caught it before the voltage got too low, and could run some tests, and then pull it apart. The control circuitry seemed fine, but one of the cells appeared to have a much higher self discharge rate. The cell internal resistance was not noticeable different to the others but I did not investigate further. I salvaged the other cells (and the control circuitry) and they are still used for other projects. I have no doubt they are not A grade cells, but don't appear to be refurb or used cells.
Definitely cheaper brands will use lower grade cells, and spend less on quality control, and be more likely to have these sort of issues slip through in higher numbers. But in my experience, most brands struggled with this during Covid supply chain issues. I even had one Samsung 30Q from a batch that had a very high self discharge rate, and it became unusable after a few load test cycles.
My Baseus 20W, 30,000mAh power bank finished its capacity test overnight, and it has about 3.8% loss of capacity from wear. I didn't set up to specifically longevity test it, so have not tracked total Wh in and out and there's some other minor margin for error, but it's done at least 35 cycles from full to zero running LEDs over 6 months or so, plus some other lesser use. The wear rate is probably a little better than I would have expected, considering it is a $30, 30,000mAh power bank! But is certainly way higher than what I see from higher end power banks, like my now older QB823. Notably it still provides significantly more Wh than the Baseus capacity rating (though that will be more about differences in their conservative rated efficiency vs efficiency for my use).
I also bought a Baseus 65W, 30,000 mAh power bank ($55 or so on sale IIRC) used with a PD trigger and one of those expendable fishing pole style with twin flat panel, 20W LED lights. I added a cheap PWM controller with a remote and it is a fantastic camping / area light. A friend has borrowed that, but at some point I will see how wear is going on that power bank. But when new, it tested out with 80.5% of the nominal cell capacity available in real world use - which again is higher than the Baseus real world use rating.
Of course, it would be great if power banks had expected life cycles ratings, as most higher end brands would get two or three times what the cheap ones do, and total cost of ownership for heavy use is much better. Plus you generally get things like better sustained output without throttling. But in my experience, the majority of users don't need those features. And many power banks (expensive or cheap) tend to end up left behind somewhere or lost, cooked in a hot car or damaged etc.
Tested any Xiaomi powerbanks? From memory they use LG 18650 cells. I’ve got a 7 year old 20kmAh Xiaomi powerbank that is holding up better than an 18mth old 20kmAh Baseus LiPo powerbank
Yeah, my decade old Xiaomi power bank is holding up better than anything I've bought since. Just a pity it predates fast charging outputs.
You can still get the Xiaomi powerbank 2 on eBay for $29 new. Supposed to be better than the original and does 18W: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/xiaomi-mi-2-powerbank-20-000m…
Yes, they usually perform exceptionally well. For being a Chinese company, Xiaomi pump out some extremely high quality products.
The ZMI no 20 which is a Xiaomi company make one my top 3 power banks of all time… I also think it's likely the best bank cost, performance and longevity wise that you can get.
They've been out for about 3yrs and out of my 4 units and the dozen or so units I have had access to from friends and family all have minimal degradation despite being used heavily, they're feature rich and are very high power. I've got some writeups in posts with them if you're interested.
They're the only bank that I know of that uses Genuine Samsung 21700 cells too which is part of why they're so good.
They're $160 shipped on aliexpress if ur after a new bank, otherwise they are available on Amazon but they've had a price hike since Im pretty sure the seller is on OzB and has been keeping up with conversations about it.
Great to know! The Xiaomi powerbank I was referring to with the LG 18650 cells was the original Xiaomi 1 powerbank, well over 10 years old. However, according to here, the LiPo Xiaomi powerbank 2 performs even better, and they can be had for $30 new today: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/xiaomi-mi-2-powerbank-20-000m…
Have you tested the 100W Baseus Blade?
Also, can you recommend a 30,000mAh powerbank that does 65W to charge my Dell XPS? I have the Baseus one, however it doesn’t want to charge my XPS 15
@antik: 30,000 mAh and 65W narrows the options a lot, as most brands keep larger output models under the flight limits. There are a few 27,000 mAh options if that still works?
Also what issue do you get with charging the Dell? And what model is it? There might be a way around the issue.
@Prong: What 27,000mAh options could you recommend?
The Baseus 30,000mAh 65W just doesn’t want to charge my XPS 15, the Baseus Blade 20,000mAh 100W charges it at 65W fine. I’m using a Baseus 100W USB-C cable. XPS 15 is a 9550 model
@antik: Yeah the 9550 is early enough that USB-C charging was subject to a lot of Dell shenanigans, and it doesn't like many 65W chargers. There's unfortunately not a simple workaround that I can see in this case.
I spoke a bit too soon re: there being a "few" 27,000mAh, 100W options.
There only one I see is that isn't an unknown to me brand or very expensive, is the iMuto X6G. 27K, 100W, $105 after coupon on Amazon.
Here are a few other options that do at least 100W output, but they are 25K or 24K mAh.
Anker 737 (24K, $200)
ZMI No. 20 (QB826G) (25K, unavailable on Amazon, but $200 or so usually. Or up to around 20% less than that if buying from places like Aliexpress.)
UGREEN 140W (90597A) (25K, $200)
Cygnett Charge Up Pro (25K, $200)
INIU B63 100W (25K, $80, pre-order. $68 with code "iniuthatmark".)
The INIU B63 100W is delightfully cheap, but the quality won't compare to the much more expensive options above. It has a 3 year warranty, but I have not tested an INIU power bank beyond a little 10K one. I have not tested the iMuto power bank, but have an older 50W one that has been fine.
If you need to do a lot of charge discharge cycles, the more expensive power banks are worth it. They are occasionally on sale for 20% less than above prices.
@Prong: Cheers for the info. My XPS 9550 can only do a maximum of 65W charging via USB-C, so the higher wattage ones are a bit overkill. Also, my XPS has a larger 97Whr battery, so a larger capacity powerbank is what I’m looking for. I already have a Baseus Blade 100W 20,000mAh powerbank but it only charges my XPS to about 40% from memory, would be good if I could get it to 60%+ from a larger powerbank
@antik: Yep sorry I did not word my comment well.
I was meaning that based on what I read, the XPS 9550 appears to not work with 65W USB-C chargers more often than 100W ones. Like you say, it is limited to 65W max either way.
I suspect its something like an issue when negotiating for 20V. The laptop will be saying, hey what voltage and wattage can you supply me? But isn't accepting the 20V, 3.25A the 65W Baseus power bank offers. But is happy to accept the 20V, 5A the 100W Blade offers, even though it won't use the full 5A.
Other brand 65W power banks might be fine, or might have the same issue.
In terms of the models I linked - I was not choosing 100W+ ones. That is just what is mostly available in higher capacities.
One I missed as I thought it was out of stock is the Romoss 40K, 65W model.. It may or may not charge the Dell though.
There were a few other options but they were mostly out of stock, not worth it, low wattage despite 20V output etc. These include the Anker 537 (65W, 24K), INUI B63 65W (25K), imuto X-30 Pro (27K, 65W, no stock), Romoss PEA30 (30K, 30W)
Another option I have zero experience with is the CHOETECH B664. Which is 65W, but a huge 50,000 mAh. Choetech is not a brand I know much about and I cant spot a review. But the power bank size and weight is about what you'd expect for that sort of capacity. It might still not charge your XPS though.
You can also get DIY power bank shells, which you can fill up with self sourced 21700 or 18650 batteries. I don't have any I know offhand that would work, but it is a potential option.
Another option might be a Power Station. Much larger and heavier, but also with high capacities. I have no experience with the brand, but the Allpowers 154Wh model does 60W USB-C output and is on sale for $156. There are many other Power Station brands, but I don't know what the quality is like.
You could also try a USB-C to Dell plug adapter with built in 20V trigger. That way you can plug the 65W power bank into the XPS barrel plug input. The XPS might not charge from it though, depending what it detects.
About the only other option off the top of my head is to get a second Baseus Blade. The newer Baseus Blade Pro (a bit smaller) is currently $78 on eBay. Since they do proper pass through charging, you could plug one blade into the other Blade, then that into the Dell.
The first Blade would be drained first, as the second Blade (if fully charged) just passes the power through to the laptop. Once the first Blade is drained, the second one will start charging the laptop.
Potential issues would be that when doing pass through, the output is limited to 60W, which the XPS may not like. I also don't know what the daisy changed Blades will do once the first one is flat. It may start charging from the second power bank! I am curious, and have a second Blade on the way myself, so will try it.
Of course you could just have two power banks and swap the USB-C plug over. Two power banks will be a bit bigger than one larger capacity power bank, but not by a huge margin.
@Prong: Appreciate the additional info!
The Romoss 40K seems like a great powerbank, if it charges my XPS that is.
The Choetech also seems good, albeit it’s size, however I’m a little sceptical as I can’t find input/output specs anywhere online. They don’t even list input/output specs on their product website…
As for a secondary Blade, I was considering that. I probably wouldn’t want to pass through/link them as I believe there would be conversion losses, better off just using them individually. I’d be able to travel with 2 of them too, rather than not be allowed to travel with a larger 30/40K unit
@antik: Yeah I helpfully linked to the (same price) Choetech eBay page that didn't have the spec listed…
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/314871890397
The manual is also online. It's often possible to see manuals on third party sites, even when the actual product website has no details!
https://manuals.plus/choetech/b664-power-bank-manual#specifi…
With the Blade, plugging in separately would be slightly better for efficiency, due to fewer cables and connectors that add resistance.
But the Blade does proper pass through, which means it acts like a USB-C hub. So the power bank directly passes the 20V power from the input, out to the laptop on the output. No conversion needed so no particular losses beyond a tiny bit of extra resistance. Then whatever power is leftover, it uses for things like charging it's own battery.
Depending how the power banks are set to negotiate input vs output, they may feed power the opposite way to expected. Normally this is not an issue because the input is from a wall charger, which can only flow power the one way.
'very specific use cases nowadays imo'. Why? It's a powerbank. Powerbanks are ALWAYS a backup.
Because not all banks are equal.
You can't charge a laptop with this, nor any high power device, and even if it could pump that much power you shouldn't with these batteries.
Which is better when compared to this one from the Baseus AU store? It works out slightly cheaper using the toph20/toph22 codes.
the main store has the same product on different listing and priced differently with incorrect description for the magsafe powerbanks.. expected more for a known brand..
Heymix are also having a fire sale on amazon offering up this one. for $14.99
https://www.amazon.com.au/HEYMIX-Powerbank-Portable-10000mAh…
"fire" sale… Heh
Did I missed it or too late? It is showing $29.99
Tick 50% box off
30000mah 20W $29.94 for ebay plus here
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/313728765341?hash=item490bb10d9d…
The 10000mAh is $20.58 for ebay+ too
Nice find. That 30k power bank was immensely popular and sold out last time. It's very slightly cheaper this time.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/773828
I bought one and it tested out at 85% efficiency (95Wh usable). Pretty good really and I just bought another. I use it with a PD trigger module to get 12V and run sound triggered addressable LEDs for various events.
It has been used a bunch, so I will stick it on my load tester and see if there is any noticeable degradation in capacity.
I only did the one load tester run (they take a while) so there is a little more margin for error than my original tests, but I am seeing about 3.8% loss of capacity due to wear.
That's a pretty good result IMO considering the price, and the amount of use this power bank has had. It certainly gives me confidence it will a few hundred cycles at least.
Of course, that is a lower lifespan compared to higher end battery banks using different cell chemistry and/or better quality cells. But it is $30 delivered, so bang for buck is good!
dammit i've paid $37, the shame of it
I bought the 20w 20000mAh one from the deal posted around 9 months ago. Use it to run a dashcam for about 8hrs per day in my work vehicle. Full charge lasts 4 days. Been very happy with it and would recommend it to others.
Have you tested/Do you feel safe leaving a powerbank inside a car on a hot day (30+ degrees) all day? Curious as I'm considering doing the same for my car dashcam when I park it out in public for insurance purposes.
Wondering the same, how do u keep the power bank supply power constantly to dash can tho?
Put the power bank in a well insulated container, and then put it in the glove box, or under a seat. Wherever is out of the sun.
It does not take that much insulation to reduce the heat flow, and smooth out the temperature extremes. Since the period of heating during the day is of limited length, even when really hot inside the car, there is not enough time for the heat to transfer through the insulation. And since the car spends most of its time at a lowish average temperature outside the peak, there is more time for it to cool off than heat up, so heat never builds up.
I noticed this when leaving a vacuum insulated water bottle in the car. As long as it was out of the sun, the water inside was still cool even after a day in the hot car.
I tested some insulation options with an Inkbird IBS-TH2 (temp only) Bluetooth logging temperature meter. Currently on special for $13.60 from eBay.. Or the Plus version with a screen and external probe for $17.89.
It was pretty easy to created an insulated area that stays well under 30 degrees. I have some foam I cut to fit in the bottom of my center console, to create a little cool area for meds, snacks etc. And just stuff an insulated cooler bag under a seat if I need to leave anything with batteries in the car.
For a power bank that is in use, it will generate a small amount of heat, and the insulation will tend to trap that. So some additional testing may be needed. If you open the insulated area at night or remove the power bank when not in use, then no issues.
If you want something that stays sealed up, then it will require more creativity. One approach might be adding extra thermal mass such as water bottles. That way they will absorb the heat from the power bank, and limit the max temperature. Then you need to fine tune the amount of insulation, so at night the bottles cool off enough, but the amount of heat that flows in during the peak temps during the day is still reduced.
If kept cool, there is no particular extra safety risk. But you would need to do testing, and having temperature logging is critical IMO. Though of course, a power bank (especially a bargain, high capacity one) is always a mild safety risk in of itself.
For better safety, you could use a power tool battery. Ozito 2.5Ah batteries are just $25 with charger currently. And Ozito has a USB attachment that does 5V, 2A - so enough for a dashcam.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/809478
https://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-pxc-18v-usb-power-station_…
The comparative downside is charging, as you need to remove the battery and charge it, or rig up a custom charge option.
Another option would be a power bank where you buy the batteries separately. That way you can pick your chemistry.
Another good deal is the Baseus 100W Pro power bank for $77.99 using TOPH22.
I have and love the older version (which will now be used by my partner), as I bought the Pro the other day. The older version cost me $70.54. It's worth noting that while I have had no issues, Baseus quality control has seemed hit and miss since Covid supply chain disruptions.
The Pro is smaller and lighter, but otherwise the same spec. I like this style of power bank because it slips into a laptop bag easily. It's still a large and relatively heavy power bank though, and some people don't like this style.
A key feature is pass through charging, up to 65W (as long as the input charger is higher wattage than the output). This is handy for laptop use.
The original model does throttle the output when drawing 100W for a sustained period. (which is normal for a cheaper power bank). I will do a side by side comparison of the the two and see if the Pro is better in that regard.
Shout out to some OzBargainers who were keen on the Pro model back in May. (It was called the Blade HD then)
@ben1680
@futaris
@jerjergege
@h0mbre
You should look into the longevity reports for these baseus blade units.
The few I had and know friends and family had didn't last very long with moderate use.
The 2 I had lost around 40% of its usable capacity after 12 months of moderate use. I've seen similar cases in other units that weren't my own where depending on use case, environment (how hot they're kept) and how hard they're driven (wattage used) they would either die or have significant degradation after 1-1.5yrs
My google-fu is failing me re: longevity reports or long term testing of the Blade?
Certainly I have seen comments here about quality control issues of DOA units and early failures. Baseus really dropped the ball there. But it doesn't seem to be cell issues from what I have seen - I suspect mostly control circuitry issues that result in high quiescent power draw down to zero capacity, then self discharge (or further circuitry draw) dropping the voltage to the point the safety cut outs prevent it being charged when plugged in again. I have even seen this happen from people leaving USB-C to Lightning cables plugged in.
My Blade is just approaching a year old, but is fairly well used. I got significantly better efficiency and real world capacity than the Baseus 5V rating when new but I will stick it on the load tester and see how it performs now. It's not had an easy life, considering I originally used it as a test option to run a small camping fridge for a few hours. (Using a PD trigger for 20V, and pass through charging so it could be charged from a car/ wall / DIY solar USB-C charger without disconnecting from the fridge). And after doing that for a while, it has lived in my shoulder bag and is used quite a bit, but total cycles are not excessive.
What is moderate usage in your view? How many total cycles at what sort of wattage would you say yours did before reaching that 40% capacity loss figure?
Excluding a surprise capacity test result from mine tomorrow, overall IMO it's a great power bank for the $70 I paid. The form factor alone is unique enough to make it worthwhile as an extra, and unless cycling it near daily or leaving it to cook in a hot car, I suspect the cells will hold up just fine all things considered. It certainly won't suit everyone, and it has some foibles, but there's nothing else comparable in the price range.
I ran the Blade through a few cycles this morning. Efficiency varies depending on wattage, throttling etc so ideally I'd average a bunch of test runs so there is a small margin for error. I also didn't plan for very exacting wear testing, so I am using different cables which will have slightly different resistance, the temp is different etc.
But I am seeing mildly higher useable capacity at 30W (which is what charging my laptop averages around). It's under 1% though, so within the margin for error.
At the full 100W until thermal throttling, then max sustainable output till empty, I see slightly less usable capacity than when new. 1.2%, which is also within the margin for error here. Total useable capacity is around 82% of nominal cell capacity, and well above the Baseus real world rating.
As a comparison, my Anker 737 gives 85.2% of nominal cell capacity at 100W (and does not throttle), and gave 85.6% when new. (It has much better cells and probably fewer cycles, and of course these results are also within the potential error) Notably the Anker real world rating is 78% of nominal capacity available.
While Baseus has or had some big QC issues, including for the Blade, I am not seeing any evidence that would suggest that the cells they planned to use are not up to the task. Definitely some of the cells that ended up in these banks were not up to the task!
For heavy use such as multiple cycles a week or high sustained loads, a higher quality power bank from UGREEN or Anker or Xiaomi would absolutely give better value for money long term. But for lower end use, and a very unique form factor, the $70 makes for a pretty good deal IMO.
Thank you my friend.
Purchased one to replace the one I left overseas :)
whats with the 22.5w. How is this different? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/314607275126?hash=item49400e0c76…
thanks all
Waiting patiently for another ZMI No20 QB826G deal…
They're $160 shipped on aliexpress rn.
Yep, but the delivery was mid Jan last time I checked 🙂
I negged because I had to return mine as this powerbank failed to continuously charging my 3 different phones. It kept turning on and off by itself. Later i learned that Baseus wirless powerbank has lots of issues. I had to ask ebay to step in for refund as baseus ebay reluctant to accept return request .
Sorry in advance for my noob question, but I'm looking for a power bank for my laptop - would any of these be suitable?
What do I need to look for? Thank you!
These will not be suitable to charge laptops as they are only 15W/20W.
You'll need to look for a power bank with the required W for your laptop (usually 45W+)
The price of Baseus Bipow 20W 20000mAh powerbank drops to $23.55 / $22.96 (eBay Plus) at the moment.
Only the 15W version though, which is 5V only and doesn't do fast charging.
No, it's a price drop, $22.96 for the 20W version.
Ahhh right you are, and sorry about that.
I was adding and removing various options to compare and must have missed coupon not being applied.
Which is not a good excuse, because I should have also noticed the price for the 15W would be slightly different to what you said.
So, ahhh, keep up the good work and ignore me!
Hi I click and select the option but it's showing $42.39 after 20% off coupon with ebay plus. Can you explain how to get to $22.96? Thanks
Noob here. Which option is good enough for charging iPhone 12?
I got mine today. There is minimal instructions, if any. I stuck mine on charge, it flashed up 188 on plug in (All LED's on - OK with that), and then reverted to 33 - which I suspect is the initial/test charge state. While charging, only the 2nd 3 was blinking. When I later checked, it was at 92%, with the 2 blinking.
Is that how there are supposed to work? Is the 2nd digit meant to be the indicator that it is charging? OR are both digits meant to flash?
Edit: Coming from a Romoss powerbank user
Yet that is the same as mine (though different initial charge level), and second digit flashes when charging.
are the magsafe iphone chargers included in this?