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Just bought one for my new steam deck so I can play more Baldurs Gate 3 while out and about.
Seems like a good price for it, not sure how well it works but we will see.
Enjoy if you want unlimited powaaaah
Baseus 65W 20000mAh Type-C PD Powerbank for $54.90 ($46.66 with Coupon, $45.57 eBay Plus) Delivered @ Baseus eBay
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acek47 on 12/10/2023 - 15:11 ebay.com.au (3780 clicks)
Last edited 12/10/2023 - 15:14 by 2 other users
Last edited 12/10/2023 - 15:14 by 2 other users
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I bought this last time before I saw all the warnings, mine was DOA. Made of pouch cells which are not the most reliable.
Pouch cells are the most economical, lighter in weight and fill up all the rectangular space nicely to to maximize the W/Hr numbers.
This. Like any other cell, there are good and bad.
This is actually untrue, especially on the budget and battery bank space. You are correct only when it comes to high end/expensive and appropriately priced pouch cells.
Pouch cells are the most efficient space wise, and on paper you are right.
In reality not so much because the cells used in these basically are anything and everything that fit. QC fails, degraded cells, refurbished and used cells, rebadged and rebranded cells, are all used here on new products from my testing.
LiPo absolutely are capable of being excellent batteries. But on a budget you truly get what you pay for, and in the cases of battery banks where it's a cut throat industry built on lying and deceiving customers, nearly all budget banks are not what you should expect on paper, they're far from it.
For example this unit is closer to 15,000mAh and after 12months of moderate use most of the units I've had access to have degraded to 50-70 percent of that true capacity.
Thanks mate - this rings true to powerbanks I've bought. Got Xiaomi ones that are still going strong 5-7 years on but cheaper ones worked well for a year before swelling or dying or just plain hopeless capacity. Seems a wild west out there now with so much demand.
@aNoPHeLeS: The earlier Xiaomi Powerbank sports LG 18650 cells, which was one of the best. The charging and 5V output stepup IC from Texas Instruments. No cutting cost to produce a good product.
If you don't want to risk getting fake, refurbished or used cells stick to brands like Anker, Zyron, Xiaomi, Baseus. They are considered higher tier brands.
Secondary batteries are consumable items. The rate of wear depends on a number of factors such temperature, speed of charge, depth of discharge and cycles. The worse case is using them warm at 40C, fully fast charged, PowerDelivery to a laptop and completely depleted on every full charge. This sort of use cause highest wear to the cells.
It is also common for the capacity to decrease as the number of cycles near the end of service life.
Have you ever come across one of these in all of your battery bank testing?
https://www.dell.com/en-hk/shop/dell-usb-c-laptop-power-bank…
@spaceflight: I had seen something similar but I haven't tested/opened it.
If I can source one down the line I'll look into them.
They seem to be feature rich, regardless of the quality of the bank I think there's some cool bits about it.
Exactly, mine swelled after 2 years. I have the exact same ones
I have two which I use for travelling and they have worked fantastically. Charges my MBA and the various phones I and my partner use.
I bought one of these for my wife and they are great. At the price if you need one it is a no brainer.
Bought one from a previous deal. PD didn't work for any of my Lenovo laptops. ( even my 20W PD power bank charged them when the lid closed, but the Baseus 65w couldn't do that)
The PD mode works fine for phones without any issues.
If you have one of those small USB-C docking hubs that supports power passthrough try charging through that.
Have an old Dell that doesn't activate charging on some PD chargers but works when running through the hub.
My Baseus 30000mah 65w works fine with the Dell though
Will try that. thanks
Tear down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSRhiIsxUXY
Looks like custom battery cells. Unsure of quality or longevity.
Funny how everywhere you look, there are people with poor experiences with these.
Even in the comments of this video.
Mine didn't last 6 months. gahhhhbidge
I know it's like 3x the price but just get the Anker 737 IMO. Pricey, but considering you're dealing with batteries, you want things that deliver the correct wattage, store the correct charge and do so time and time again. Not worth taking a risk of that kind of tech.
Baseus is pretty reputable
I've got a few Baseus but they're sort of touch and go and you gotta read reviews on different products. Seems the powerbank is kinda iffy in that aspect
Far from it IMO. There's been a few baseus deals posted and have had such mixed reviews. Personally, I couldn't recommend them less!
Cactus here, I test chargers and banks.
Baseus chargers are mostly decent/good
Their banks are a hit or miss. It's as much a gamble as slot machines. Because they switch out the cells and use a wide variety of sources for them they are inconsistent.
From my testing, and from testing about 25-30 units I've had access to from people who have used this moderately for >12 months these have severe degradation on their cells and can no longer hold more than 50%-70% of their true capacity which is 15,000mAh to begin not 20,000mAh
Hey Cac,
Wondering if you ever tested the Xiaomi Power Bank 3 Pro 20000mAh - and what do you think of Xiaomi batteries in general?
Do you happen to have a repository somewhere with all the test data of the devices that you test?
Thanks
Mr Cactus, do you report the results of your tests anywhere online?
Of the big 4, which bank is the best?
Thank you, I just missed the Belkin so get this one instead!
My powerbank had issues with the USB-A ports plugging in too deep and not registering a connection. I have to pull them out slightly to maintain charging. USB-C charging works very well.
I've got one, works great. The battery percentage is a nice feature. Mine's been running for a year now without issue. I like Anker stuff a lot but they do carry a fair price premium
Keep in mind that this is double the capacity some countries allow you to travel with
I thought most airlines have a 100Wh limit? This pack only has 74Wh capacity.
Do you mean carry-on baggage? Is it always ok with checked baggage?
You aren't serious about checking luggage with a powerbank in it?
Batteries not allowed on checked luggage
Bought one during a sale around two year ago. Great power bank with many plugs option. Sad thing is that it died a few months ago. Not sure if it is due to hard user treatment or natural death.
If it’s lasted you just over a year I would hardly call it “natural”
Still under warranty? Australia has 2 years consumer warranty I thought.
Damn this comment made me not buy it lol. Powerbanks I've had for 5 years + are still running stong
Mine didn't even last a year with minimal use. Seems like its hit and miss. might get a good one. flip a coin. lol
QC and cell choice in these units are not good from my testing.
Your experience is fairly common and in line with what I've found from investigating 25-30 users who have purchased and used these moderately for >12months.
Does the power bank come with a capable for laptop charging? THANKS
i think most mordern laptops can be charged through usb c, not sure if they provide it tho but most phones also charge through usb c now
Thanks.
I've had mine for about 6 months. Probably had about 50 cycles through it. Works great and I've had no issues. Recommended for sure!
Got one of these, charged it to 100% and chucked it in my bag for a few weeks. Went to use it and it was completely dead.
Charged it up and it went up to 100% in a few minutes. Tried charging something and it went dead after a few minutes.
They were good about sending a replacement and the replacement has been fine.
This is a common issue in these units I've seen reported.
Particularly when they are exposed to warm/hot conditions they can basically self degrade at exponential speeds.
Even if you took care of these units from my testing and inquiries into purchased units, these rarely last longer than 12months without moderate to severe degradation where they won't hold more than 50-70% of the true capacity (15,000mAh instead of 20,000)
@acek47
Just bought one for my new steam deck so I can play more Baldurs Gate 3 while out and about.
Oh no! Hey OP, Return it right away and ask for a refund, quickly!
Why?
I'm going to just copy paste my previous thoughts on this because nothing has changed since then.
Howdy folks, cactus here
I won't go into how these perform, because they work. That's as much as you'd need to know about that side.
These use lithium polymer cells (the flat pillows of doom). After testing hundreds of power banks over the years, I cannot in good conscience ever reccomend a power bank that uses such cells for anything beyond 20w.
These cells aren't designed for such use at such discharge currents. The circuit topology and design is alright, however the true capacity is closer to 15,000 mAh. This isn't too unusual or crazy for batteries at this price point, they all are fairly off by up to 25% so I don't have any problems with that as you get what you pay for.
LiPo cells you see in these sorts of batteris also degrade faster and have substantially less cycles in their lifespan. I see 21700 cells perform 3-4 times better after several months. Over time these pillow cells hold substantially less charge and the indicator used will not correctly allign with the true capacity (the percentage rating is of whatever the current capacity is, not the total capacity. Meaning 100% can be 5000mAh after significant degradation) so users are often none the wiser when it comes to detecting degradation. It's most obvious when you notice you can't get x amount of charges of ur phone that you once did, but as this degradation happen so slowly people tend not to realize. Which is why such issues are systematically under reported in reviews and long term sentiment regarding such battery banks. The best analogy I can give is if you've experience battery issues with your phone after years where they don't hold charge as well, but they'll still go up to 100% despite lasting minutes or hours instead of days.
But more problematically when they get to the end of their lifespan, they can swell and cause safety risks if you are lucky enough to not have them flat out die/stop working suddenly after 12-18 months.
I know it's convenient to have slimmer and smaller batteries, but there's a good reason the top power banks all use 21700 cells and previously 18650 cells in their design. I wouldn't suggest any battery bank that uses such cells if you want it to last longer than 12months without starting to present issues of some sort.
If you're on a budget or are strapped and really need something that works for a year, or you don't care about contributing to the E-Waste issue and you're okay with the process of correctly disposing of batteries (please don't throw these into the garbage bin, it's extremely dangerous and costly for your council and waste management organizations) then these work as a viable option.
For anybody else, id implore you to spend money on something more expensive that will instead last you several years, as the best modern battery banks should last you 2-4 years of heavy use at best and longer with moderate to mild use.
3/5 Cacti
Any recommendations on something that would last longer, 5 years, around 10-20k mAh only slow charge needed.
The one and only Xiaomi Zmi No.20 210W 25000mah USB PD Power Bank QB826G, Backup Battery for MacBook/MacBook Pro/Pixelbook/Nintendo Switch https://amzn.asia/d/abVJAXJ but not at that price wait till a good sale
ZMI no20 is the best bank money can buy, and is also a bank that has LONG TERM data available for it.
I have a review in a post for the last sale.
Longevity wise -
I have had a few units personally and access to dozens of units amongst friends and colleagues that have been used for nearly 3 years with the cells still at >90% health. This is because they use some of the best 21700 cells on the market.If you're only going to slow charge and not put much strain on the cells, these will last you 5 years easily.
Is the 22.5W 20k a much better option for occasional phones charging? Thanks
Yep don't need laptop charging, just need a slow charger when travelling. I read your previous comments and the ZMI20 honestly looks great and I may just get that on the next deal, yes it's overkill for what I need, but happy to pay for good components!
hey for someone who has no idea with how to "grade" powerbanks, could you explain to me like I'm 5 what the mAh, watts and cells mean and how to determine what number is good/bad?
This place probably isn't the best to ask because it's an extremely lengthy topic that doesn't have a tldr.
Even when you grasp the fundamentals it's meaningless because the industry is designed on deceit and obfuscation.
The rated mAh (capacity) of cells are usually always lies either straight up or by technicality. The wattage output is inconsistent because some units can't provide the rated wattage in a sustained manner, cells aren't advertised so you won't know what they are.
It's good to learn about this stuff, I'm sure there's YouTube videos on it. But after that remember you'll still have to come back to reviews and other testing to supplement whatever you do understand and find from your own interpretation of the specifications and ratings.
appreciate the insight mate!
do you have any thoughts on the cuktech p23/no.20? It's advertised as a ZMI no.20 upgrade but does it hold up?
One is $75 and the other is $46, shouldn't that be enough to make your decision on ?
Is this flight safe or whats the wh value does anybody know?
Yes; anything under 27,000mAh is fine to take onto planes. (100kWh / 3.7V batteries = 27Ah)
You can take up to 43,200mAh, if you fill out paperwork before your flight (or just get lucky, which is usually the case). (160kWh / 3.7V batteries = 43.24Ah)
I have 3 of the 10,000 variant. After just over a year, they broke - battery popped out.
.
Can you do pass through charging on these? I had an Idea, and not sure if its a silly one. I need a USB-C charger for Laptop for Vanlife. Instead of buying a Car charger + a wall charger, I coulld buy one of these for less, charge it via USB during use, and get the additionality of a power bank for portable use too. Any downsides to this setup?
Don't expect to do pass through or ups charging on cheap banks. In cheap products, even if you can do it you'll likely be destroying the cells too as they aren't set up as true pass through
Another reason why I suggest folks get the ZMI no20 is because it has hardware level pass through to do exactly what you're trying to do.
Just saw in the last 6 mins of this review, that the baseus will cut off 65w whist trying to do passthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkRW3qaU67E
Does the ZMI do passthrough at 65w or higher?
I bought the 30,000mAh version (112wh).
Actually prefer it over my Anker 737.
Perfect for SD/AllyAnyone used this to run a car dashcam with parking mode + USB wifi modem for 24/7 remote viewing? Is it suitable to leave it in a hot car?
Absolutely not.
Bought one and now waiting for eBay to call me as the one I got is dead on arrival!!!!!
Been charging for the last 2 hours and still at 0% charge level!!!!
Never again will I buy a Baseus power bank! Now looking for a better one!!!!
Received mine and it won't reliably charge.
It starts to charge and then drops from 2amps to 0 and sits there flashing at the same percentage.
I think I will return it and get something better.
bought one of these earlier in the year. works great.