For Those Who Have The Cygnett ChargeUp Pro 20,000mAh (Question on PD charging)

FuzzyWolf on 26/12/2018 - 19:02
Last edited 30/12/2018 - 11:09

Have you tried yours on a usb-c PD charger and does it work? If so what charger/cable did you use? I tried using my mbeat and ipad pro 2018 usbc pd charger and they don’t work. The mbeat pd charger supports all its input voltages while the ipad charger only support one of it (5V 3A I think, the ipad uses 9V2A 18w charging which the cygnett support output but not in).

When I plug in ipad charger it lights up as if attempting to charge the charger.

With mbeat charger, USB A to C works. But the usb c pd doesn’t and I thought it’s a cable issue but the usb c cable that came with the mbeat doesn’t work nor does another usb c cable I got. It intermittent work with ipad cable but doesn’t seem like it’s stable, the blue light blinking showing its charging but green light to indicate fast charging/usb c pd just keeps going in and out along with the rest of the blue light battery indicator. The usb c cables previously work with an xps 13 I tested and if I use it from the powerbank to iPad, fast charging/usb c pd green led lights up and it charges the ipad fine. It seem input is the issue but not output? Is it possible that it is broken?

The mbeat charger: https://www.amazon.com.au/mbeat-Gorilla-Portable-5-Port-Char…

And the Cygnett: https://www.cygnett.com/products/20-000mah-usb-c-power-bank-…

TLDR: cygnett chargeup pro 20k can’t charge with my USB C PD chargers, works fine charging out ipad pro 2018 fast charging (via pd as indicated by green led on powerbank) with the cables I own, but these wont work for charging the powerbank. Bought it at HN earlier today.

Just an Upadate since I can’t edit my update. The replacement actually works charge by PD using ipad charger. So the old unit was faulty.

Electrical & Electronics 27000mAh Cygnett Power Bank

Comments

  • tabz on 26/12/2018 - 20:24
    +1

    I'm using the BlizWolf BW-S11 with the USB-C to USB-C cable that came with my MacBook and works fine.

    Edit: Actually, I didn't check if it's charging via PD (indicated by the LED lights) as I leave it on overnight. I just know that it charges using USB-C.

    • FuzzyWolf on 26/12/2018 - 21:16

      Hmmm yeah, I couldn’t get it to charge on pd at all. How long did it take yours to charge? And yeah if its PD it’ll have the green led lit up (either charging or discharging according to the manual).

      • tabz on 27/12/2018 - 10:44
        +1

        I'm just testing it now and it definitely has a green LED while charging.

        Can't really say how long it will take to charge as I've never fully discharged it or timed it.

  • charng on 27/12/2018 - 01:36
    +1

    it seems there are compatibility issues.
    i've used a Lenovo 65W USB-C charger FRU 01FR024 to charge the powerbank. no issues. the powerbank recognises PD on its type c port. BTW it gets hot on the powerbank side when it is on PD mode.

  • charng on 27/12/2018 - 01:41

    now i am very curious whether my lenovo 65w can fast charge my ipad pro 3rd gen.

    • Mostly Melbourne on 27/12/2018 - 10:08

      You will be pleasantly surprised that it will charge close to 30W (much faster than the 18W stock charger iPad Pro comes with)

    • FuzzyWolf on 27/12/2018 - 11:33

      Is the 3rd gen the 2018 one? If so yeah as mostly Melbourne mentioned apparently it charges around 30-35W with usb c pd. I think even with previous gens apple didn’t include the fastest charger with it. I only use the included charger if I plan to charge overnight, and also why I bought the cygnett because its up to 45w so technically should be able to fast charge the ipad. It does get warmer though when charging with higher power charger.

      • charng on 27/12/2018 - 18:37

        the 20000mah shouldn't be able to fast charge the 3rd gen, at least now very fast. i have read some reviews about the 3rd gen ipad pro charging. it supports 9V @ 2A max and 15V @ 2A max, appox. 20000mah supposts 9V but not 15V, only 14.5V. so you can only expect appox 18W when charging the ipad pro. in my opinion the 20000mah is designed for the first and sedond gen ipad pro 12.9 and the first macbook shipped with 29w type c charger.

        • Mostly Melbourne on 27/12/2018 - 18:59

          The Cygnett spec looks like it has 5 USB PD PDOs
          USB-C Output (PD):
          5V-3A (15W), 9V-3A (27W), 12V-3A (36W),
          14.5V-3A (43.5W), 20V-2.25A (45W)

          So should be able to do the highest power possible with 2018 iPad Pro

          • charng on 27/12/2018 - 19:08

            @Mostly Melbourne: i only listed the relevent charging voltages. did you miss the part where i mentioned that ipad pro 3rd gen supports 9v and 15v charging? how is 5v 12v 14.5v or 20v going to apply here?

            edit: actually i need to add one more voltage. ipad pro 3rg gen also supports 12v charging as well. maybe we can charge this gen using 20000mah @ max power after all.

            • Mostly Melbourne on 27/12/2018 - 19:31

              @charng: Yeah fair enough. I don't have 2018 iPad Pro to test myself, but just looking at the specs (in theory) when using Cygnett 20K and 2018 iPad Pro wouldn't it fall back to 9V3A in the absence of 15V, and output 27W power?

              • charng on 27/12/2018 - 19:38

                @Mostly Melbourne: i now think you are right. with 20000mah's 9v @ 3A and 12v @ 3A, we might just get lucky.
                i wish i had one of those ChargeLab meters to measure these things. they are expensive, a PD supported one could cost around $75 plus shipping. i am out.

                • Mostly Melbourne on 27/12/2018 - 19:43
                  +2

                  @charng: I gave away a number of Juwei USB testers at the Melbourne OZB meetup, these could be used for basic measuring of voltage, current, power, and energy. Retails for ~$10 + Shipping on Aliexpress, might be a cheaper alternative than ChargerLab(Power-Z) meters.

  • Mostly Melbourne on 27/12/2018 - 10:56
    +1

    TBH it sounds like a fault with the input, get it replaced at Harvey Norman or raise a ticket with Cygnett

    • FuzzyWolf on 27/12/2018 - 11:28

      Yeah I think I’m going to try get back to HN, because it’s really weird to have compatibility issue as PD supposed to be able to negotiate power.

    • FuzzyWolf on 28/12/2018 - 17:53

      So just an update I think its a compatibility issue as @charng said. I went to HN and asked their “tech support” to try it on some usb c chargers and he just said there’s no time to test and gave a replacement instead. I even bought one of cygnett usb c armoured “100w” cable so I guess it just doesn’t want to work with the new ipad charger or my mbeat usb c pd. USB A(probably qualcomm quick charge) to usb c works though so I guess I’ll just use that.

  • halfpastdead82 on 09/04/2019 - 13:56

    Anyone still having issues with PD fast Charging?

    I am using a 18w Apple USB-C Charger and the unit will not charge via USB C - either slowly or quickly.

    After numerous attempts, the only work around I can find is to charge the unit via the 10w USB A Apple adapter, using a USB A to USB C cable. This charges the unit slowly. Once the unit is charged up above the 75% mark, the USB C fast charge function seems to work (complete with the green light).

    I have spoken to Cygnett who can’t explain the issue although say that nothing is wrong with the unit and it must be the charger or cable, despite me trying to charge the unit with two seperate chargers and two seperate cables to remove the risk of error with the cable or charger.

    Has anyone had any similar issues?

    My last attempt will be to get hold of a 30W Apple USB C charger and give this a go, if it doesnt work right away, the power bank will be going back for a refund….

    • FuzzyWolf on 09/04/2019 - 14:27

      Yeah I’m getting compatibility issue with it. Sometimes it works and other it doesn’t with the apple 18w charger that came with 2018 ipad pro. It doesn’t work with my mbeat usb c pd charger either which is 60w rated. I have an android phone and it seem to charge reasonably fast with quickcharge chargers (18w too) so I kinda gave up with usb c pd for it. I think it uses apple’s old usb c pd charging protocol that doesn’t really follow the regular pd spec as it listed apple devices supported and also supports fast charging the nintendo switch(which doesn’t follow pd specs either). Apple’s new chargers and devices now follow the pd spec and it seem to be able to charge devices with pd spec but charging in it doesnt like it.

      I think one different from pd spec is apple’s old supports 14.5v while regular pd spec is at 15v. Also, apple 18w charger only does 5v and 9V when the cygnett input only supports 5v,14.5v, and 20v. My mbeat charger supports this but not the 14.5v and instead 15v and thus doesn’t seem to want to work. No light even just nothing happens. Please update if you found a working charger!

      • halfpastdead82 on 09/04/2019 - 16:37
        +1

        Thanks for the reply Fuzzy.

        Since my post earlier this afternoon, I went to another retailer and purchased a new unit just to ensure that my power bank itself was not faulty. Indeed, the new unit performs exactly the same as the initial one. Plugging in the USB C cable via the Apple 18w charger does NOTHING, not even trickle charge the unit. The power bank actually behaves as if it is trying to charge an input, as it displays the battery level blue lights.

        Again, I could only get the unit to charge by USB C adapter (and fast charge at that) when I charged the battery to almost full using a USB A to USB C cable in an old 10w Apple charger - it seems once the battery is almost full, the PD charging via USB C cable and charger work as they should.

        I’m pretty pissed off to be honest - Cygnett whilst initially responsive, have wiped their hands of the problem, saying nothing is wrong with the product, despite it clearly not operating as designed and advertised. I was advised to contact Apple in regards to the charger, which clearly is working as designed (despite Cygnett saying the 18w USB C charger should work fine) I have then gone to the time and effort to give them the benefit of the doubt and tried it again, on a different unit, using different cables and chargers and still, no success.

        My biggest issue is not even the fact it wont fast charge reliably, more so it will not charge at all, not even trickle charge, via USB C to USB C on an 18w USB adapter…

        Whilst I love the looks and practicality of the power bank, I think I will be returning both of them tomorrow to their respective retailers for a refund on the basis the units are faulty or do not operate as advertised. At an RRP of $149 each, I want to be able to fast charge them and I do not want to carry a while variety of chargers and plugs just to manage the thing.

        I’m pretty frustrated with the outcome as I really want this to work as designed - I’ve also lost faith in Cygnett who obviously don’t want to acknowledge or fix the issue, despite multiple people in this thread as well as on other forums facing the same issues.

        If anyone has any bright ideas, or has an alternate product which actually may do what it says on the box, please let us know!

        EDIT - I messaged Cgynett with a link to this thread as well as my latest testing results. They have replied and said they will look into the matter again, with assistance from this thread and get back to me which is positive - I will be happy to revoke my previous comments about Cygnett based on the how this pans out.

        • FuzzyWolf on 09/04/2019 - 17:10

          Yeah I did the same albeit got a replacement instead of buying a new one and ended up with the same result as you. I kept mine because I could use my android charger and it seem to charge rather quickly and that I got it during boxing day for around $90. If I had paid full price at $150 I would’ve returned it asap without a second thought.

          I choose cygnett mainly because it seemed like a good brand and an Australian company(it’s everywhere and usually you get what you paid for) and that I bought an ipad pro and would not risk using a cheap powerbank but in the end it seems like their powerbank wasn’t designed properly and requires workaround.

          In hindsight, think what I should have done was bought their type c 27k as on paper it seems to use the standard usb c pd charging spec and not that much more expensive (although, idk if I’d still trust cygnett but there doesn’t seem to be many options for usb c pd powerbanks at local retailers). I did check the specs before I bought this one (the 20k) that it took the 14.5V(should’ve been a red flag) but expected it would be “smart enough” to use other options when plugged in rather than just outright not charge on in the case of apple’s 18w charger tries to charge the charger instead.

          Edit: Well, do keep us up to date with what they offer for solution. Maybe I should also contact them about this.

          • halfpastdead82 on 09/04/2019 - 17:58
            +1

            @FuzzyWolf: No problems, I will most certainly keep you up to date with any progress or updates I get back from them.

            I would suggest you also contact them via their Facebook page - I sent them a PM and they were quite responsive. The more people who raise the issues with them, the better.

            • FuzzyWolf on 10/04/2019 - 21:52

              @halfpastdead82: Just an update, so I decided to contact cygnett to see what they think about this and they have requested that I send the powerbank to them for investigation. Their support seems really good and well lets see how it goes from here.

  • cygnett on 10/04/2019 - 15:38
    +1

    Hey guys!

    George here from Cygnett.

    This is something I've spent today looking into and have been trying to re-create from our end with our product development team.

    I've tried the 18W Apple Wall charger with the ChargeUp Pro 20k at varying levels of charge and have found the power bank to charge normally every time - not disagreeing this is an issue, I just can't seem to replicate it in our office.

    I would appreciate if any of you who are still having ongoing issues could shoot me an email at [email protected] - we might need you to send the power bank back to us to investigate this further.

    Kind Regards

    George

    • jmc787 on 14/02/2020 - 19:46

      Hi George I have a Cygnett ChargeUp Pro 20,000 and it will not accept a charge from Apple 18W USBC charger paired with a PD USBC - USBC cable.
      I have a USBC power meter and it shows the Chargeup Pro is sending power towards the Apple 18W Charger instead of accepting a charge from it.
      I have two of these genuine Apple 18W USBC chargers and they both do the same thing so it is not the charger at fault.

      Did you ever get a resolution to this problem ?

  • TheMindsetTraveller on 15/04/2019 - 12:19

    My Cygnett 20,000 no longer charges up.

    Have used it for a month and then moved houses and forgot all about it for around 4 months.

    I read online that if you don't use it regularly, you could damage the battery through severe battery depletion- guess I am in that situation.

    So despite being 5 months old, it is now dodgy - and I can't find my receipt for warranty purposes.

    Might go find a replacement , such as a dodgy yet cheap battery made from one of many chinese companies.

    • cygnett on 15/04/2019 - 16:13
      +1

      Hey there

      Very sorry to hear you are having issues with your Cygnett power bank.

      Please drop us an email at [email protected] and we can work through some troubleshooting to help resolve this issue for you!

      Kind Regards

      George @ Cygnett

    • OpayuOnam on 08/06/2020 - 21:26

      Don't know if you have fixed your issue or not, but my unit has very rapid self discharge (after 1 month it is less than half). I had a similar scenario to you where I didn't charge the power bank for a couple of months and it ended up being so flat that it didn't charge at all.
      I was able to revive it by plugging it to a normal USB charger (your typical 2.4A USB charger) and every 1 hour or so I would unplug and re-plug again. After 3/4th re-plug LED on power bank indicated charge. Once the light came on it took more than 10 hours to charge (possibly due to the "dumb" charge I had it plugged into).
      So anyone else in the future might find this helpful.

      Also I have the same issue as the OP in which my unit does not charge using any USB C PD charger. I have tried: ThinkPad 65w Charger, Gorilla mBeat 65w charger and Switch Charger (I know, I know, Nintendo not using standard PD etc… but it charges my phone and laptop just fine).

      • OpayuOnam on 08/04/2022 - 22:19

        For anyone else reading this in future:

        I contacted Cygnett Customer service and they were super friendly and helpful, they offered to replace my PowerBank and the new one worked with a lot of PD chargers (still not all of them). It didn't have a self drain as the first one.
        However after less than a year of intermittent use due to mostly being home thanks to lockdown, I picked it up the other day to charge my phone. The usual USB C - C cable (Cygnett 100w) didn't work, so I tried USB A - C (Cygnett USB 3.0). This was able to charge my phone, however battery indicator rapidly dropped from 4 to 1 in matter of minutes. It was only able to charge my phone 20% before it died.
        When I got back home, I realised the depth of the issue. The USB C port does not work at all, meaning I'm unable to charge the bloody thing… I've tried more than 20 different cable and charger combination (all working with my phone).

        I've given up, this unit is dead as well… I have to say although these look good and feel great in terms of build, looks like they have some serious issues with their electronics work.
        I've got 6-8 year old Xiaomi power banks still working fine (albeit with less capacity). This is the only one that's died twice on me. It's a pity as I need a USB C PD with high wattage for charging laptop on the go/powering switch dock without mains.
        Now I need to find a replacement for this.

        @cygnett if George still checks this forum and wants to get my unit back to their head office for further testing in more than happy to do so, as it is now just an expensive door stopper…
        Unless he has other suggestion for me to try.

  • 1jwoz on 03/08/2019 - 10:18
    +1

    Just posting in here to say my unit won't charge PD on any of my PD chargers, except for my Nintendo Switch power adapter. That's what I'm forced to charge it with the last few months.

  • jmc787 on 06/07/2020 - 18:40

    I've had success fast charging mine via USBC by using higher wattage chargers

    Apple 18W USBC, no good
    Belkin F7U061au 27W USBC, works
    Lenovo 65W laptop USBC, works

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